SAGE.
Product Deep-Dive

Sage Central Battery.

Low voltage central battery system.

Wall-mounted low voltage emergency power for an entire building's egress lighting. One system, charged on standard lead-calcium batteries from any commercial supplier and monitored through Sage Live™. Two cabinets cover the range. The Keystone at 1000W for larger buildings and the 100W Mini for small buildings and standalone structures. UL 924 listed. NFPA 101 compliant.

2
Cabinets
90 min
Emergency duration
Up to 8
Emergency circuits per cabinet
UL 924
Listing
What it is

The cabinet that powers every emergency-mode fixture in the building.

A Sage Central Battery cabinet is a wall-mounted, low-voltage emergency power source. Two 12 V lead-calcium batteries in series produce 24 VDC; a computer-controlled charger keeps them at float voltage continuously. The cabinet feeds emergency fixtures over standard Class 2 low-voltage wiring, up to eight isolated 24 V branch circuits per cabinet.

When utility AC fails on any monitored branch, sensed by the included Local Circuit Monitor, the cabinet transitions emergency-capable fixtures to DC within milliseconds. NFPA 7.9.2.3 single-circuit egress failure is satisfied at the device level; no generator needed to clear NEC's 10-second dark window.

The system is deliberately open. Batteries are standard, off-the-shelf lead-calcium, available from any commercial battery supplier. No proprietary chemistry. No service-contract gates. Faults report via email and Sage Live™. Status is queryable from anywhere over the internet.

Inside the cabinet

Batteries, charger, diagnostics, and the output stage.

Power source

Two 12 V batteries in series

Standard lead-calcium chemistry from any commercial supplier. Replaced in minutes with no ladders, no lifts, no special tools, and no proprietary parts. The single biggest life-cycle cost saver.

Charger

Computer-controlled, float-voltage maintained

Keeps the batteries at float continuously. The optional fast charger recharges from full discharge in under 12 hours, so a cabinet that carried the building through an outage is fully charged again by morning.

Diagnostics + transfer

Self-test, Sage Live™, and email

The cabinet runs the NFPA monthly and annual self-tests on schedule, and Sage Live™ records each result. Battery voltage, charge current, load condition, fault description, and panel temperature are date-stamped into the record. Faults push by email the moment they occur. Status shows on the front panel.

Output stage

Up to 8 isolated 24 V branch circuits

Eight emergency circuits per cabinet, physically and electrically isolated to satisfy NEC 700.17 branch-circuit independence. Each circuit feeds Signature Series CB Fixtures and exits, and relayed general lighting, over Class 2 low voltage wiring.

Two cabinets

Keystone for larger buildings. Mini for small buildings and standalone structures.

Both cabinets run the same central battery operation. Computer controlled charging, isolated low voltage branch circuits, self-test diagnostics, and Sage Live™. The difference is capacity and footprint.

SpecKeystone (KEY)Mini (MINI)
Capacity1000W100W
Typical useLarger buildings. The reference design covers 42,000 square feet with two cabinets.Small buildings, outbuildings, and standalone structures.
Output24 VDC, 90 minutes or more12 VDC, 90 minutes or more
Emergency circuits per cabinetUp to 8, designed on 12 AWG MC cableUp to 4, designed on 12 AWG MC cable
Input120 VAC standard, optional 277, 347, or 480 VACUniversal 120 to 277 VAC
EnclosureWall mount, 24 by 30 by 8 inchesNEMA Type 1 steel, 16 by 12 by 4 inches, surface or optional recess mount
Circuit monitoring9-circuit local circuit monitor includedNot included
DiagnosticsSelf-test standard, email fault alerts, LCD displaySelf-test and self-diagnostics standard, UL 924
Exit signsUp to 40 exit signs per cabinet on the always-on low voltage exit circuitAlways-on low voltage exit circuit
ChargingComputer controlled, optional fast chargerComputer controlled

Send the emergency fixture schedule. The cabinet, the relay quantities, and the wiring diagram come back in the submittal package.

Open battery system

Standard batteries from any supplier.

Inverter systems lock owners into proprietary battery types, proprietary modules, and factory-authorized service contracts. Replacement cycles arrive bundled with vendor-only parts, vendor-only technicians, and vendor-only test cycles.

Both Sage cabinets run on standard lead-calcium batteries from any commercial supplier. When a battery reaches end of life, the building team or any licensed electrician swaps it in minutes with no special tools, no factory dispatch, and no downtime window.

On our reference design, 111 integral battery packs on 5-year replacement cycles (each swap a licensed-electrician visit) carry 37×the ten-year upkeep of the two Sage cabinets feeding the same fixtures, with standard batteries serviced by the building's own team at low voltage. Full numbers in the battery-pack comparison ↗ Weighing a central inverter instead? Same centralization, 35% to 50% lower day one. the inverter comparison ↗

Sage Live™

Compliance, monitored remotely.

Sage Live™ is the monitoring layer that ships standard with every Sage cabinet. The cabinet runs the monthly and annual NFPA self-tests on schedule, and Sage Live records each result. Faults push by email in real time. Service teams visit the battery cabinet, not every fixture. The test record is ready when the AHJ asks for it.

Standard with every system

One dashboard for every cabinet in the building

Status, test history, and faults for every Sage cabinet on one dashboard, with no site visit needed to read them. Test results are recorded as they run. Faults push by email the moment they occur.

At the cabinet

Sage Live Direct at the panel

Sage Live Direct plugs in at the cabinet for the full program. The panel shows status, and the optional installed printer produces the paper test log on demand for inspectors who want one. Sage Live Local runs the same program on the building's own network for sites that keep monitoring off the internet.

The system at a glance

Cabinet · Monitor · Relay · Fixture.

The cabinet is the power source. The included Local Circuit Monitor senses utility failure on each branch and signals the cabinet on a 12 V loop within milliseconds. The Sage Relay sits inside each emergency-capable fixture, receives the DC feed, and energizes the LED boards for egress lighting. Signature Series CB Fixtures and exits connect directly. The building's existing general lighting joins the same system through the Sage Relay, so the fixture schedule does not change. The fixtures already on the plan become low voltage emergency fixtures.

One system. The emergency fixtures on the plan, powered from the central battery.

Next step

Send the project. We send the design.

Engineers, distributors, and rep agencies send the fixture schedule and the emergency load total. Sage sizes the cabinet, selects the relays, and returns the submittal package.