[SML] house light control systems recommendations needed

[Bill Conner]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 1:52 PM, e-mail frank.wood95 via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> Back-up generators are notoriously unreliable. Their starter batteries
> als need maintenance. I was once in a big transmitter station when
> they tested the big diesel back-ups. It took them six minutes to come
> on line! This is not tolerable in a potentially life-threatening
> situation.

That must be a UK condition, since we find them in the US for all
sorts of critical functions - elevators, stair pressurization, jockey
pumps for sprinklers in high rises, and emergency lighting.  They
automatically self test monthly or more frequently, and have annual
inspections.  On natural gas, unbeatable and long lasting.  Always our
first recommendation, because the maintenance for batteries is high
and makes them unreliable.

I'd guess the US reliance on fire sprinklers and the pumps for them
has pushed the development of generators, since batteries would be a
hopeless way to push water up in a high rise or even a tall stage
house, let alone the motors for pressurization and smoke evac and
elevators.

-- 
Bill Conner Fellow of the ASTC