Although emergency lighting must remain an autonomous system certified to EN 50172, KNX can be used to automate the monthly functional tests and the annual duration tests required by the standard, via a dedicated DALI-2 gateway to the emergency luminaires.

EN 50172 mandates regular testing of every emergency luminaire: a short monthly functional test (~30 s) verifies that the unit switches to battery, and an annual duration test (1-3 h depending on category) verifies battery autonomy. Performed manually, these tests imply costly on-site rounds. A DALI-2 emergency gateway bridged to KNX automates the tests, centralises the logs and raises alerts when batteries weaken. Crucially, KNX does NOT inhibit the emergency function on mains loss: the emergency system remains autonomous; KNX only orchestrates the tests.

Schedule the automated duration tests outside occupancy hours and stagger them across the building: testing all luminaires at once leaves the site temporarily without back-up if a real outage strikes during the test window.