Power Out. Safety On.
It was just another Thursday in August 2003. Hot, humid, and sticky, the Northeast was buzzing—people commuting, offices running, factories working. And then, in the blink of an eye, the world’s second most widespread blackout in history struck. Fifty million people across the U.S. and Canada were plunged into total darkness.
In New York City, subway cars screeched to a halt. Crowded elevators froze mid-floor. Traffic lights blinked out at busy intersections, replaced by the chaos of blaring horns. Inside high-rise buildings, stairwells became pitch-black, shaft-like concrete passages. The only guide was the faint glow of a phone or an exit sign—barely enough to lead people down uneven steps or across dark subway tracks. In that moment, one truth was impossible to ignore: when the power goes out, survival depends entirely on the lights staying on.
That event permanently reshaped the way we think about emergencies. Safety codes were tightened, making reliable illumination non-negotiable. Emergency lighting standards demand at least 90 minutes of clear, visible egress path lighting. These aren’t random numbers; they are the bare minimum to protect lives.
Fast forward twenty years, and those same standards became our sticking point. Customers approached us asking, “Do you have an emergency version?” and we didn’t.
We set out to build an emergency series that’s better than anything else. Technology has evolved—your emergency lighting should too. We took the trusted durability of our existing fixtures and seamlessly integrated a crucially needed emergency solution.
The RDX Emergency Series delivers confidence. It’s built from the ground up to keep people safer, longer, and is tailored to surpass customer needs and safety requirements. The RDX EM provides the highest lumen output and the longest illumination runtime in its class: 180 minutes (vs. the standard 90 minutes).
Safety & Reliability: Engineered to Outlast the Emergency
Every Red Sky Lighting product is built with one promise: it performs when it matters most. The RDX Emergency carries that promise even further. It’s not just designed to meet standards; it’s built to exceed them.
Certified to UL 924, UL 844, UL 1598, UL 1598A, the RDX EM meets the industry’s toughest safety and performance criteria, including full rating for Class I, Division 2, and Zone 2 hazardous environments. Its extreme durability features—NEMA 4X, IP66/IP67, 10 kV surge protection, IK10 impact resistance, and a 3G vibration rating—ensure it thrives where other fixtures flicker or fail, even in high-vibration manufacturing plants or marine applications.
LiFePO₄: The Power Behind the Promise
At the heart of RDX Emergency is a LiFePO₄ (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery. This powerhouse is known for its chemical stability and non-volatility, meaning it won’t overheat or swell—a crucial advantage in hazardous settings.
This self-contained system provides 3,000 lm for 90 minutes or 1,500 lm for 180 minutes. That’s three hours of light to evacuate safely. Its innovative circuitry ensures an instant, seamless transition from main power to emergency mode, delivering consistent, dependable output without fading. The system also offers maintenance-free reliability via self-diagnostics.
Durability: Built for the Harshest Environments
When you build lights for environments that don’t forgive weakness, durability is the foundation.
- Extreme Temperature Range: The fixture is made for the extreme – up to 60C, the highest ambient temperature rating in its class.
- Corrosion Resistance: Engineered with marine-grade aluminum housing, it passes 720 hours of salt-spray testing and uses stainless steel 316 hardware to resist corrosion in marine or chemical environments.
- Powerful Illumination: In regular operation, it delivers up to 29,000 lumens and an industry-leading 3,000 lumens in emergency mode—the highest lumen output in its class. With Type I, III, V, Narrow, and Medium distribution options, it ensures reliable, uniform illumination across complex industrial layouts.
Simple by Design
Time is safety. The RDX Emergency Series was engineered for simplicity, from the first bolt to the final test. Its modular design allows for tool-efficient access and quick mounting, reducing installation time and minimizing downtime during maintenance. Pre-drilled mounting points and universal bracket options offer flexible installation with 8 configurations, adapting easily to walls, poles, and catwalks.
The RDX Emergency wasn’t outsourced—it was built from the ground up by our own engineers to solve a real problem. Every component was designed, tested, and refined in-house to meet the toughest performance and safety standards, ensuring seamless integration with the RND and RDX families.
Confidence in the Dark
The industry learned a lot from that 2003 blackout: that safety can’t depend on luck, and that light is survival. Codes, standards, and expectations evolved as a result. And just like the industry learned from that moment, we learned from our customers.
The RDX Emergency is the result of listening to the challenges faced in the field, where every second of light can mean the difference between calm and chaos. From that frustration came innovation, and from those standards came a fixture built to protect what matters most.
So whether it’s a refinery in Texas, a shipyard on the coast, or a power plant in the desert, one thing stays true—when everything else shuts down, Red Sky stays on. We don’t just build lights. We build confidence in the dark.
That’s why when the power goes out, Red Sky Lighting turns safety on.
