After a recent power cut I decided to buy a Twin Spot Emergency Light from Toolstation (£47). It differs slightly from the illustration in the catalogue but it does its job perfectly well.
Because Toolstation provides virtually no information about this ‘standby’ light I thought the following might be of interest to anyone considering buying one for their workshop or home.
The unit is designed to automatically provide three hours of emergency lighting from two 20W capsule lamps in the event of a power cut. The unit has no switches and it would normally be left permanently connected to the mains, but of course it could be unplugged and used as a portable light whenever needed.
With the lamps pointing horizontally the unit measures 310 mm wide and 310 mm high, and the case is 70 mm deep.
The metal case is finished in a bluish-white epoxy coating, and the front panel is secured by two screws located centrally on each side. There are three screw slots in the back of the case for securing it to a wall, but it’s quite stable freestanding on a bench or on the floor. A metal D carrying handle in the top plate slides down to lie flush when not in use.
The case has a 20mm diameter knockout in each side and one in the top, but the unit does not come with a mains lead and plug, or a cable gland to fit a knockout, and so I had to buy these separately.
The case contains two 12v, 7Ah batteries both of which power the two spotlights when the mains fails.
There are three exceedingly bright green LEDs in the left side of the case. One of these illuminates to indicate that the batteries are receiving a charge current, and the other two illuminate to indicate that the filaments in their associated lamps are OK.
In the ‘standby’ state, the three LEDs should be on and the spotlights will be off. When the mains fails the LEDs extinguish, and the spotlights come on.
8 photos here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/zesjk8me4xpmbue/d97U7yb6oM
Jack (W)
Because Toolstation provides virtually no information about this ‘standby’ light I thought the following might be of interest to anyone considering buying one for their workshop or home.
The unit is designed to automatically provide three hours of emergency lighting from two 20W capsule lamps in the event of a power cut. The unit has no switches and it would normally be left permanently connected to the mains, but of course it could be unplugged and used as a portable light whenever needed.
With the lamps pointing horizontally the unit measures 310 mm wide and 310 mm high, and the case is 70 mm deep.
The metal case is finished in a bluish-white epoxy coating, and the front panel is secured by two screws located centrally on each side. There are three screw slots in the back of the case for securing it to a wall, but it’s quite stable freestanding on a bench or on the floor. A metal D carrying handle in the top plate slides down to lie flush when not in use.
The case has a 20mm diameter knockout in each side and one in the top, but the unit does not come with a mains lead and plug, or a cable gland to fit a knockout, and so I had to buy these separately.
The case contains two 12v, 7Ah batteries both of which power the two spotlights when the mains fails.
There are three exceedingly bright green LEDs in the left side of the case. One of these illuminates to indicate that the batteries are receiving a charge current, and the other two illuminate to indicate that the filaments in their associated lamps are OK.
In the ‘standby’ state, the three LEDs should be on and the spotlights will be off. When the mains fails the LEDs extinguish, and the spotlights come on.
8 photos here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/zesjk8me4xpmbue/d97U7yb6oM
Jack (W)
