Abstract

An emergency lighting system for providing low voltage DC battery powered illumination to one or more areas of a home, apartment, office or other building structure in an emergency mode upon the failure or termination in such areas of a normal AC power mode. The system includes a voltage step-down transformer with the leads of its primary winding interconnected to a normal AC power source and forming therewith an AC circuit. A power rectifier has its input leads interconnected to the terminals of the low AC voltage secondary winding of the transformer and its DC voltage output leads interconnected to the terminals of an emergency battery power source. One or more low voltage incandescent lamps are interconnected to the terminals of the battery and form therewith an emergency DC circuit. A control relay interacts between the AC circuit and the DC circuit of the system with the DC circuit contacts of the relay interconnected in one of the low voltage leads of the DC circuit between the lamps and the battery and with the coil of the relay interconnected in the AC circuit for maintaining the DC contacts of the DC circuit open during normal AC current flow in the AC circuit and responsive to a termination or failure of the AC power source and cessation of AC current flow in the AC circuit to close the DC circuit contacts of the relay whereby the low voltage lamps are energized by the battery to produce emergency illumination.