This guide breaks down the types of emergency lighting you’ll actually specify—indoor, damp, and wet—so you can match each product to its environment. For exterior or wash‑down applications, start with wet‑rated emergency lights. Throughout this guide, we’ll use the term “wet‑rated emergency lights” generically to avoid confusion.
Last updated: October 2025
NEMA/IP Basics (Quick Read)
NEMA 4/4X enclosures handle hose‑down and add corrosion resistance; IP65–IP66 ratings certify protection against water jets. Indoor models typically omit these ratings; damp‑location fixtures can handle humidity and condensation but not direct spray.
What Is Emergency Lighting Used For?
Emergency lighting ensures safe egress during an emergency by illuminating exit routes when the power fails. Whether it’s a fire, blackout, or hazardous incident, these fixtures provide critical visibility to help occupants evacuate safely. Codes like NFPA 101, IBC/IFC, and OSHA drive requirements in most commercial, industrial, and public buildings. Systems are designed to activate automatically and run long enough (typically 90 minutes) to support evacuation and emergency response.
What’s New: 2025 Trends
LiFePO4 Batteries
Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) packs are rapidly replacing NiCd and NiMH batteries in many emergency fixtures. Benefits include a longer service life, stable performance across a wider temperature range, lower self-discharge, and reduced environmental concerns.
Smarter Self-Testing
Self-diagnostic units now perform automated weekly and monthly checks, plus annual 90-minute tests, using on-device indicators and optional cloud dashboards for log retention and alerts. These advances streamline inspection readiness and ensure issues are caught early.
Harsh-Environment Options
Cold-storage battery heaters and IP65/IP66 or NEMA 4X housings are more common, ensuring runtime in freezers, wash-down, coastal, or dusty areas. Hazardous-location models (“haz-loc”) continue to expand with higher LED outputs for classified zones.
Solar-Assisted Egress
For exterior egress and exit discharge, battery-backed wall packs with solar assist are increasingly used. These hybrids maintain code-required illumination during outages while reducing dependence on the grid.
Types of Emergency Lights
Wall-Mounted & Ceiling-Mounted Units
The most common emergency lighting fixtures feature dual adjustable lamp heads with an internal battery backup. These familiar “bug-eye” units automatically illuminate corridors, stairwells, and exit pathways when normal power fails, guiding occupants safely to exits.
Modern LED lamp heads provide high efficacy and long life. Backup batteries are typically NiMH or NiCd, with lithium options (see trends above) increasingly adopted to reduce maintenance.
Recessed Emergency Lights
Recessed models install flush with ceilings or walls for a clean, architectural look. They provide the same code-required runtime while minimizing visual impact—popular in offices, hospitality venues, retail spaces, and healthcare corridors where aesthetics matter.
Use recessed fixtures when you need discreet coverage in lobbies, conference centers, theaters, galleries, and boutique retail—places where surface-mounted “bug-eyes” would distract from the design. They’re also ideal in narrow corridors where protruding heads could be bumped by carts or equipment. Many recessed trims include adjustable optics so you can aim light onto the egress path without glare. Browse low-profile options in our Recessed Emergency Lights collection.
Remote-Head Emergency Lights
Remote-capable units centralize the battery and charger in one base, powering separate lamp heads located where coverage is needed—perfect for high-bay and long-throw applications.
Deploy remote heads in warehouses, distribution centers, mezzanines, back-of-house corridors, tunnels, and atriums where a single central battery pack can feed multiple heads at height. This approach reduces ladder time and concentrates maintenance to one service point while extending egress coverage down long aisles or around corners. It’s also effective for temperature-controlled facilities where you want the battery unit in a conditioned area but lamp heads in cold zones. Explore matching heads and power packs in our Remote Heads collection.
High-Output & Area Lights
High-output models use larger LED lamps and bigger batteries to throw light farther—covering wide floor plates, higher mounting heights, and open volumes.
Choose these for gymnasiums, big-box retail stores, production floors, airplane hangars, and parking garages where standard units can’t meet spacing or minimum foot-candle requirements. Higher-lumen packages simplify photometric layouts, often reducing the total fixture count while still achieving the 1 fc average along the path of egress. Pair them with remote heads to fill dead spots under mezzanines or around obstructions. Browse our high-lumen emergency lights to find suitable options.
Wet-Location & Hazardous-Location Lights
Wet-location units feature gasketed, corrosion-resistant housings and cold-weather battery options for rain, hose-down, or freezing environments. Hazardous-location models add explosion-proof enclosures for classified areas.
Use wet-location lights at loading docks, exterior egress doors, food-processing wash-down lines, wastewater facilities, and coastal sites. For classified spaces like chemical storage, refineries, paint spray booths, or grain handling areas, specify haz-loc fixtures with the correct Class/Division rating to prevent ignition. Cold-storage battery packages maintain runtime in freezers via internal heaters. Start with wet‑rated emergency lights and, for classified areas, see our Hazardous Location Emergency Lights.
Self-Testing & Smart Emergency Lights
Self-diagnostic models automate the required monthly functional and annual 90-minute tests, showing pass/fail status via indicator LEDs—some even add networked reporting.
They’re a force multiplier in hospitals, universities, hotels, and multi-site portfolios where manual testing logs are labor-intensive. Central dashboards can surface failed batteries or lamps, help prove compliance during inspections, and cut down on service trips. In secure or 24/7 facilities, automated testing can be scheduled to minimize disruptions. For large campuses, consider standardizing on self-testing units to unify maintenance. See our curated selection of self-testing emergency lights.
Exit Lights & Egress Path Lighting
Exit signs mark doorways and direction changes, while low-level egress lighting and photoluminescent path markers reinforce the route under smoke or power loss.
Install bright, code-listed exit signs at intersections, stairwell doors, and long corridors so occupants can always see the next decision point. Add floor-level markers on stair treads, handrails, and baseboards to guide movement when visibility is poor. In historic or design-sensitive spaces, pair edge-lit exit signs with discreet path lights for a clean look that still passes inspection.
Temporary or Standby Emergency Lights
Maintained (normally-on) fixtures support critical tasks (healthcare, security, data centers) during outages. Non-maintained fixtures remain off until power is lost. Both types must meet the same runtime and illumination rules.
- Thermoplastic: Affordable, lightweight, indoor-rated.
- Steel: Durable and often remote-capable for industrial use.
- Wet Location: Waterproof, with cold-weather options for outdoors.
- Architectural: Low-profile designs for upscale interiors.
- Hazardous Location: Explosion-proof fixtures for flammable or corrosive zones.
Where Are Emergency Lights Required?
Install emergency lights anywhere people may need to evacuate in darkness, including:
- Office buildings and corporate suites
- Theaters, auditoriums, and places of worship
- Retail stores and shopping malls
- Warehouses and factories
- Government and institutional facilities
- Schools and healthcare centers
- Hotels and multi-unit residential buildings (corridors, stairs, exit discharge areas)
Emergency Lighting Requirements
- Automatic activation: Lights must switch on when normal power fails (within 10 seconds).
- Runtime: At least 90 minutes on battery power (check local amendments if longer runtime is required).
- Illumination: Minimum average of 1 foot-candle along the egress path (measured at floor level), with no point below 0.1 fc. Some AHJs require higher levels on stair treads—verify local codes.
- Testing: Monthly 30-second functional checks and an annual 90-minute full discharge test; maintain records for the fire inspector. Self-testing units can automate these tasks.
Design tip: Use photometric plans or spacing tables to avoid dark spots. Coordinate emergency light placement with exit signs, and confirm you have coverage for exterior exit-discharge areas.
Construction of Emergency Lights
Typical components include the housing, charger/control board, transformer, battery, and LED lamp heads. During normal power conditions, the battery charges; when an outage occurs, a transfer circuit switches power to the LEDs for the required duration.
Battery choices: Legacy units often use sealed lead-acid or NiCd batteries. Newer designs favor NiMH and LiFePO4 packs for longer life, lower self-discharge, and better low-temperature performance. Remember to replace batteries per the manufacturer’s recommended intervals to ensure full runtime when needed. For a deeper dive into battery options, see our Battery Backup Emergency Lighting Buyer’s Guide.
Wall Pack Lights vs. Emergency Lights
While emergency lights are code-required life-safety fixtures that illuminate only during power outages, wall pack lights provide general outdoor/perimeter lighting (often with dusk-to-dawn or motion sensors).
To support egress at exterior doors, many wall packs include a built-in battery backup to maintain illumination during blackouts. Want a full breakdown of wall pack features and types? Read our Wall Pack Lights Buyer’s Guide.
Popular Emergency Lighting Options
Mounting & Wiring (Outdoor)
Use outdoor-rated conduit and watertight fittings, and be sure to seal all entry points where wiring enters the fixture. Avoid over-tightening hardware, which can deform gasket surfaces and compromise the seal. Where possible, mount fixtures under building eaves or awnings for extra protection; fully exposed installations may require NEMA 4X or IP65–IP66 enclosures.
Photometrics & Aiming
For exterior egress paths, confirm each head’s light output and beam spread. Aim one head along the direction of travel and the other to cover landings or stairs. After installation, test at night to identify any shadows or gaps, and adjust heads as needed before final inspection.
Maintenance & Testing
Perform the required monthly functional tests and an annual 90‑minute full discharge. In cold climates, test units at the ambient site temperature to confirm heater packs and battery runtime are adequate. Keep all status indicators visible and document test results for the fire inspector.
Considering an upgrade to self-diagnostic units? Use our Self-Testing vs. Manual Testing ROI Calculator to estimate labor savings and compliance benefits over time.
Summary
Indoor, damp, and wet‑rated emergency lights each solve different challenges. For direct exposure or wash‑down environments, prioritize NEMA/IP enclosure ratings, cold‑temperature battery performance, and fully sealed wiring connections. Always verify photometric coverage, and finish every project with a nighttime aim test to ensure no dark spots remain.