Two-stage emergency lighting upgrade
using Zoneworks XT Hive
for Retail application
Background - Monitored by a system that was no longer supported
Rockingham Centre is a regional shopping centre located south-west of Perth, Western Australia, with a floor area of 62,384 square metres incorporating 215 tenants.
The existing emergency and exit lighting that was installed across the site was powered by NiCd batteries and monitored by a system that was no longer supported which resulted in a very expensive system to maintain. Most NiCd batteries have a lifespan of 3 years and therefore require regular battery or fitting replacements.
In late 2019 Clevertronics was referred to the Facility Manager at Rockingham centre by an existing Zoneworks user to discuss a solution to the emergency lighting system and how they could overcome the issues they were currently facing. The solution that Rockingham Centre was looking for involved a two-stage upgrade of the site. Stage 1 would be the replacement of all emergency & exit lights in the mall areas, where stage 2 would cover the back of house areas, plant rooms and the undercover car park.
The Challenge - New system had to work with the existing system
There were several challenges that this project needed to meet to ensure success.
- The communication between fittings had to be reliable as this was a big issue with the existing system.
- The new system had to be able to work in parallel with the existing system as it was progressively upgraded
- Fitting replacement needed to be as seamless as possible without the need to patch and repaint surfaces
- The fittings required a strong design life and warranty period to reduce replacement and maintenance costs
- The price needed to be competitive
- The system needed to have local support during the setup and during the ongoing operation.
The Solution - Supported with system health checks, training and software updates
The Clevertronics solution of L10 Nanophosphate fittings combined with the Zoneworks XT HIVE emergency lighting system was able to meet all the challenges put forward by the Rockingham Centre team. Zoneworks XT HIVE with its powerful dynamic self-managed meshing technology ensures that each fitting across the site has the optimal communication path, which maximises the efficiency of the overall network.
The only backbone hardware required with XT HIVE is a single controller for every 1000 fittings, so the upfront cost when upgrading is very low and can work easily in conjunction with the existing system.
The L10 Nanophosphate range of products are unmatched for lifetime performance with 12+ years battery design life and the extensive fitting selection provided options to cover all of the existing product footprints, without the need for patching and repainting the surfaces.
The final challenge was met with the Clevertronics Advantage Lifetime Support program which offers all Zoneworks sites a complimentary service. Rockingham Centre will now be involved in this program and will be supported with system health checks, training and software updates by the local Clevertronics team.
The Result - Installed and commissioned without any communication issues
The first stage of the upgrade process has been completed with 346 fittings installed and commissioned without any communication issues. As expected all L10 fittings achieved over 200 minutes in the initial duration test.
It is expected the remaining 304 fittings will be upgraded to convert the entire site to a Zoneworks XT HIVE site in July 2020.
