Self-Luminous Exit Signs

Frequent Questions about Self Luminous and Photoluminescent Exit Signs

• Do battery powered exit signs exist? The answer is there are signs that do run on rechargeable batteries however, these batteries are intended for backup power situations, meaning these signs are powered by electricity primarily and then failover to batteries when electricity is not present. We have have many of these types under our LED exit signs section. This "battery powered exit sign" concept though is not the same as with photoluminescent or self luminous exit signs because these two types of signs don't have circuitry and don't have lamps to become illuminated, therefore there is nothing for a battery to power. Self luminous exit signs are powered by a gas-filed tube that emits a beta particle that excites a phosphor coating causing the tube to glow the color of the phosphor. Pholuminescent signs are different and they use an industrial-grade strontium oxide based pigment which stores light energy and emits it in when placed in lower lighting levels such as when there is a power outage. These signs are not as bright as electrical signs during typical settings because they don't have lamps or circuits, but can be very bright in darkness over the required 90 minutes duration.
• What do I need to use photoluminescent exit signs? You need a minimum of 5fc of ambient lighting consistently shining on the face of the sign during building occupancy. This light source needs to be not switched or not available to the public to turn on or off. The light source needs to be either unfiltered fluorescent, LED, metal halide, or mercury vapor.
• What do I do with my expired tritium exit signs? Contact us and we can arrange for them to be recycled. We also run a promotional discount on recycling when purchasing a new replacement sign.