Key Benefits and FAQs
Common questions about the Sage central battery system, with the proof behind each answer.
Will it work with our dimming and lighting controls?
The Relay sits after the LED driver, so the control system never touches the emergency path. Emergency power is low voltage DC, direct to the LED boards. The driver is out of the emergency path.
What happens if the LED driver fails?
Emergency power enters after the LED driver, low voltage and direct to the LED boards. Even a failed driver can't stop it.
Who runs the monthly and annual tests?
Sage Live is standard with the system. The NFPA 101 monthly and annual self-tests run unattended, and every result is logged and archived.
What does it take to service the batteries?
Building staff change the batteries in minutes from the front of the cabinet, at 24 VDC. No ladders, no lifts, no licensed electrician.
How does the cost compare to a central inverter?
Sage typically lands 35% to 50% below an inverter system on day-one cost.
Is it Buy American compliant?
The Sage central battery system carries both Buy American Act and Build America, Buy America compliance. Documented per SKU: marked on the spec sheets and filterable on the site.
Where do replacement batteries come from?
Non-proprietary batteries. Standard 12 V SLA from any local battery shop: on the reference design, two cabinet locations instead of 111 fixture batteries.
Do we have to replace the fixtures already specified?
Keep the fixtures. The Relay converts the LED luminaires a building already owns into central-battery emergency fixtures.
Has this been done on a real project?
A real 42,000 sq ft school, designed end to end: 87 emergency fixtures on the Relay, 24 exits, two central battery cabinets, one 24 VDC system, computed in AGi32 and priced.
Who designs the system?
Send the plans. Sage designs the whole system: the photometric study, every SKU selected, delivered with the submittal package.
What does it cost to own over ten years?
Lower total cost of ownership. Centralized batteries, automated testing, and building-staff service replace per-fixture testing, proprietary battery replacements, and a licensed electrician on every cycle.
What happens to the UL 924 and ALCR devices on the drawing?
Every UL 924/1008 ALCR device is eliminated. The Relay does that work downstream of the driver.
What does the install labor look like?
MC cable instead of rigid EMT takes 130 contractor labor hours down to 46 on the reference design.
How is this different from integral battery packs?
The batteries come out of the fixtures and go to one cabinet in the electrical room, where hands can reach them, on a low-voltage circuit. Same job, same code, same 90 minutes.
How is the battery sized?
Sized to egress. Fixtures are powered to what egress needs in emergency, never full output, so the system stores less energy in fewer, smaller cabinets.
How long does it run on battery?
90 minutes or more on any utility loss, at 24 VDC direct from the central battery.
What do my reps actually get from Sage day to day?
Your agency gets its own portal: presentations, the full document set, spec sheets, and project uploads in one place, for every person on your team.
What can a specifier do with Sage before they ever call us?
A suite of specifier tools at sageem.co with no login: cross-reference from any competitor part number, coverage estimator, CSI spec writer, and NEC load and voltage-drop math.
Will Sage look at a project we are not specifying Sage on?
Sage analyzes every project you send, whether or not Sage is getting the spec. The full analysis: strengths, weaknesses, cost, and the photometric study.
What stops a contractor substituting us out mid-construction?
The design deliverable, the photometric study, and the per-SKU documentation land in the basis of design together, so a substitution has to beat a design Sage already computed.
Is this only for ground-up projects?
The same system for new construction and renovation. New buildings design it in; existing buildings convert the LED fixtures already installed.
Does the monitoring cost extra?
Monitoring is included on every design: the dashboard and its reporting, at no additional cost. The exception is a government or similarly air-gapped project, where the building's own network rules decide.
Do the exit signs need a normal power circuit?
Exit signs on the central battery need no local circuit. Low voltage from the cabinet is the only wiring to each sign. It carries 12 volts DC in normal service, day and night, and 24 volts DC from the batteries in an emergency.
Send the plan. We send back the system.
Sage engineering selects every module and delivers the final SKUs with the submittal package.