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Emergency lighting circuit board 1

No Poke

Electrical
Jan 20, 2021
9
OK, I found an old ReadyLite emergency lighting box missing both lights. It looks unused and I think the previous owner was going to use it with remote lights. It came with a 12v sealed gel cell in it. OK, I hooked it up. It charges well but of the two circuits on the board for the two lights, one is dead. The other works and turns on when the power is cut and shuts off when it's supplied. Thing is, when the power is on and both circuits should be dead the one working circuit leaks 7vdc. Not ideal. I was just wondering if a generic board was available as many of these things work in exactly the same manner. I'm not going to start fiddling around with the board as I don't have the time. I would just like to switch out the board. I was considering buying a unit off Amazon but almost none of those tell you the working voltage of the bulbs/LEDs and almost all of them say they have rechargeable Nicads in them. Not decent batteries.

I looked for manufacturers info on the board and it's nearly unmarked. No makers name, no model no. Just a JAA-3 which Googles to practically nothing.

Ideas??

Thanks.
 
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If this is for your own use, no problem.
If its use is dictated by code, there may be approvals issues that render it unrepairable.
If that is the case, the occasional DIY sale may not support aftermarket spares.
For your own use, add a 120 Volt relay to power the lights when the 120 Volt supply fails.
I hope that I don't have to say;
"Use normally open contacts." grin
 
ooh yeah. A simple and elegant solution. Thanks very much for that Waross. Now you've got me thinking. I have a good used car battery in the shop, a small solar panel 'maintainer' for it and with a 120v relay I could run some real horsepower. Bright 12v MR16 bulbs or LED equivalent and get some real performance, timewise, out of the system. Thanks again.

Oh, it's a residential application by the way. No worries. Interestingly, in my county we didn't even require building permits until about 15 years ago. You could build a house out of pallets if you wanted and wire it with whatever you wanted. Nobody cared. When they introduced permits and inspectors then, the inspectors adopted the unfortunate philosophy of "we're not doing our jobs if we're not finding violations" rather than the more sensible "It's our job to help people safely build houses". Consequently they have ended up a truly hated branch of local government and people dread seeing them turn up. Too bad.
 
No worries. Interestingly, in my county we didn't even require building permits until about 15 years ago.
Interesting.
I'm in Western Canada.
We have had electrical permits and building permits for over 65 years that I know of.
 
Yup, Area H, Regional District of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island. Heck, I was talking to the chief of the Indian reserve out here. He said when his Aunt and Uncle set up the first houses on the reserve in the '70's they built to CMHS standards, even though it wasn't required anywhere. I was surprised too when we came out here from Alberta.
 

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