I just used wire ties to form basic cable runs around the basement, and ran all the wires to a pole where I
keep a marine battery on trickle charge. Just above it on the pole I've attached a small box where the wires
all plug in. The box contains a simple 5v relay, with the NC contacts wired to provide power from the battery
to the lights. The relay is powered by a little 5v USB charger brick plugged into line power, so when line
power is lost, the relay drops, connecting power to the lights. It's a simple yet reliable solution.
The only problem I foresee is if the power goes out at like 2am when I don't NEED light, I'm still going to
GET it, and that'll be annoying when I'm trying to sleep. I've been thinking this over, it might be fixable
by using some sort of timer, but it can't be exclusively line-powered since it needs to keep time when the
power is out, but it ALSO needs to keep time when I am using the battery for something else. In the end, it
might be something that's easier to just live with.
The +5v from the USB brick is wired in series with at toggle switch on the box downstairs and also through a
toggle switch upstairs, so I can turn on the emergency lights manually by interrupting the +5 to the relay.
I actually intended to use JST connector plugs, but in the end it was just a lot easier to drop a few screw-
down connector blocks on the board instead. There's no need for a plug if these are never going to move.
1 supply wires (barely fitting into that split loom)
2 wires ready for boxing
3 relay power board connected (I ended up using screw terminals rather than JST connectors)
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