Exit Sign and Emergency Light Testing in California
Battery-backed exit signs and emergency lights get two tests: a quick monthly one and a long annual one. The monthly test is at least 30 seconds on battery. The annual test is 90 minutes on battery, and the unit has to still be lit at the end. The owner keeps the written records for the fire authority.
Ask a building manager where the exit sign test log lives. You’ll get a long pause, then a guess. The signs are up and the lights are on, but nobody wrote down that anyone tested the batteries, and that’s the record the inspector asks for first. A unit can look perfectly fine and still die the second the power goes out, which is the only time anyone needs it. Test on a schedule and you find out before an outage or an inspection does.
The testing schedule
The California Fire Code and NFPA 101 (the Life Safety Code) set the rules here, in whatever edition your city adopted. For battery emergency lights, NFPA 101 wants a 30-second test every 30 days and a full 90-minute test once a year. Exit signs with battery backup get the same two tests. Every sign also gets a glance at its light source each month. Moreno Valley’s fire department puts it plainly. Hold the test button for 30 seconds or longer, every three to five weeks. Then once a year, cut power to the unit and make sure it’s still at normal brightness at the 90-minute mark (Moreno Valley fire guidance).
| Test | How often | Duration | What you record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Functional test, emergency lights and battery-backed exit signs | Every 30 days | At least 30 seconds | Unit ID, date, pass or fail, tester |
| Visual check, exit signs and lamps | Monthly | Walk-through | Lit, visible, unobstructed, undamaged |
| Full-duration test | Once a year | 90 minutes | Unit ID, date, still lit at 90 minutes, tester |
| Generator-backed emergency lighting | Per NFPA 110, monthly under load | Per the generator standard | Run time, load, result |
The fire marshal in your area gets the last word on which edition applies. We tell customers to call the fire department for their address and ask what log it wants to see. That beats guessing.
How to test an emergency light each month
- Find every unit. Go room by room. Stairwells, back hallways, storage rooms, restrooms, outside every exit door. Number each unit on a floor plan, and you’ll know when you’ve missed one.
- Press and hold the test button. Most units have a test button or a key switch on the housing. This switches the unit to battery power, as if the building lost power.
- Watch the lamp. A pass is full brightness for all 30 seconds. Dim, flickering or out early? Mark that unit for service.
- Release and confirm. Let go of the button and look for the charging indicator to come back on. No light means the unit may have lost its power feed.
- Log it. Write the unit number, the date, pass or fail, and your initials. Anything that failed gets flagged for repair.
Newer fixtures sometimes test themselves and flash the result on an indicator. NFPA 101 allows that in place of the manual monthly test. The annual 90-minute test is still on you, though. And somebody still has to check those indicators and keep the log.
Annual test: 90 minutes on battery
Most people skip the annual test, and I get why. It takes a while. But the rule is plain: 90 full minutes on battery, and the light has to look normal when time’s up. If a unit quits early, get it repaired or replaced and test it again. Run the test when the space is empty. Put each unit on battery, or cut the circuit feeding them if that’s safe, and come back at the 90-minute mark to look at every one. With dozens of units, work in zones so you never lose all the lighting at once.
Some units will fail. Age, heat and repeated discharges wear batteries out, and the annual test is where the worn ones finally show themselves. Stock spare batteries and lamps for your models, or know who can get them fast, so a failed unit isn’t dark for long.
Exit light testing and inspection
Two jobs for an exit sign: stay lit, stay visible. Walking the building each month, read the lettering, check which way the arrow points, and look for anything blocking it. Stacked boxes, a new partition, a hung banner, a shelving unit. Those take out a sign with a perfectly good lamp. Battery-backed signs get the 30-second and 90-minute tests along with the rest of the emergency lighting. If you’re swapping out old signs, LED ones sip power and the lamp rarely needs replacing, so most of your monthly failures end up being batteries. Our light fixture installation guide and the commercial lighting upgrade guide cover related replacements.
Exit paths connect to accessibility. Doors on an accessible route must open without excessive force, and our ADA storefront door requirements guide and door closer replacement cost guide cover that side of the exit route.
What failures look like
| What you see during the test | Likely cause | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Lamp dim, flickering or out as soon as you press the button | Worn-out battery | Replace the battery or the unit, then retest |
| Charging indicator off | No power feed, a tripped breaker or a failed charger | Check the circuit. If power is present, have the unit repaired |
| Lamp does not light at all on test | Dead battery, failed lamp or failed electronics | Replace the lamp or the unit |
| Passes 30 seconds but fails the 90-minute test | Weak battery that cannot hold a full load | Replace the battery and rerun the annual test |
| Sign is lit but hard to read, cracked or yellowed | Damaged face or aging lamp | Replace the sign |
| Sign is hidden behind shelving or stock | Obstruction | Move the item or relocate the sign |
| Unit stays dark after the building loses power | Any of the above, or it is wired to a switched circuit | Have an electrician check the feed |
A recurring theme is the power feed. An emergency light or exit sign should be connected to a circuit that stays on, so that it keeps charging its battery and so that the building’s normal lighting loss is what triggers the battery. If a unit fails to charge, a tripped breaker is worth checking. Our breaker tripping guide explains how to work out whether a trip is a one-off or a pattern.
Records inspectors ask for
The owner keeps written records of inspections and tests, and the fire authority can ask to see them. Most inspectors want the last twelve months. Make the log one row per unit, with the date, the type of test, the result and who did it. That’s easy to hand over. Keep it in a binder by the fire panel or in a shared drive. If a unit fails, log the repair as well as the failure. A simple log looks like this:
| Unit ID and location | Date | Test (30 sec or 90 min) | Result | Tester | Action taken |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-01, front entry | MM/DD/YYYY | 30 sec | Pass | Initials | None |
| E-07, rear hallway | MM/DD/YYYY | 30 sec | Fail, dim | Initials | Battery replaced, retest passed |
Leasing? Then who owns the testing and the log depends on your lease. Our guide to commercial lease repairs in California shows how to read those clauses, and the commercial maintenance budget guide helps you plan for a cost that keeps coming back.
Repair or replace
Swapping a battery or a lamp is a quick job. A dead charger, a cracked housing, a missing power feed or a broken circuit is an electrician’s job. If an older unit keeps failing, just replace it. The battery is usually the cheapest part, and it’s also the part that dies again soon. We do lighting repairs and replacements, including swapping an old sign for an LED one in the same visit. Details are on our commercial electrician page. For multi-site or retail buildings, our commercial and retail maintenance service and office maintenance guide show how recurring checks fit into a maintenance plan.
Cost
Our commercial rate in the Los Angeles area is $105 to $195 an hour, with a minimum charge of $110 to $210 and trip charges of $20 to $95. Work outside building hours is billed at 1.25 to 1.6 times the standard rate. We can send a certificate of insurance the same day if building management needs one, and we carry $2M general liability. The chart shows the published ranges, and the commercial rates and quotes guide explains how quotes are built.
FAQ
How often do emergency lights and exit signs need to be tested?
The NFPA 101 schedule for battery-powered emergency lights and battery-backed exit signs is a 30-second test every 30 days and a full 90-minute test once a year. Your fire marshal can confirm what applies to your building.
How long should an emergency light stay on during the annual test?
Ninety minutes. At the 90-minute mark the unit should still look normal. A unit that fades early has a tired battery and needs repair or replacement.
Do I have to keep records of exit sign and emergency light tests?
Yes. Keep the written inspection and test records where you can grab them fast, because the fire authority can ask for them. Inspectors often want the last twelve months.
Can self-testing emergency lights replace manual testing?
Yes, if the unit shows its result on an indicator that someone checks and writes down. The annual 90-minute test still applies.
Who is responsible for testing emergency lights in a leased space?
That comes down to the lease. Life safety equipment that’s part of the building shell tends to be the landlord’s, and fixtures inside a tenant suite tend to be the tenant’s. Work out who keeps the test log, because it needs to exist when someone asks.
What do I do if an emergency light fails the test?
Replace the battery, lamp or whole unit, retest it, and put the repair in the log. If there’s no power feed or the charger is dead, call an electrician to look at the circuit.
Need a walk-through test?
Want help with a full walk-through? Call 818-835-0556. And put the log somewhere you can find it, since somebody will ask. You can also read about our commercial handyman services in Los Angeles.
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