IOTA Engineering Emergency-Lighting Power
They say it is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness. We're not really sure who "they" are — the quote's been attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson and the highly prolific Anon. But you get the idea. And given the regular blackouts and brownouts many parts of the country have become prone to in the last few years, you may also get the idea that a generator for emergency lights might not be a bad thing to have. In fact, you might even call it a "bright" idea ... but then your other board members might throw things at you.
The IIS Series "inverter system for emergency lighting loads," as its maker calls it with admirably scientific specificity, comes from IOTA Engineering — which itself hit the spotlight when NASA had it design and develop special high-intensity fluorescent lights for the astronauts aboard Skylab, the 1973-1979 U.S. space station. The IIS generators are designed to provide emergency power to multiple fixtures from an on-board battery supply, and can operate incandescent, fluorescent, LED, ballast and HID lamp types. They're available in three models: The IIS-125 and the IIS-375 are "interruptible" systems for 125- or 375-watt lights, respectively, while the IIS-350-U is "uninterruptible" for what the company calls "continuous, no-break transfer at 350 watts."
The series is UL-listed, naturally, and IOTA says the product meets or exceeds the National Fire Protection Association's National Electrical Code and Life Safety Code emergency-lighting requirements. Which probably means that the lightning bolts in the picture above aren't really real.
IOTA Engineering • 1361 E. Wieding Road Tucson, Ariz. 85706 • (520) 294-3292 • sjensen@iotaengineering.com