Exit Sign Symbol

The Exit Sign schematic symbol. Standard-specific details are listed below where available.

Definition: The Exit Sign symbol represents a continuously illuminated, battery-backed egress marking fixture — drawn as a rectangle containing the word EXIT (or the ISO 7010 'running man' pictogram) with a small battery indicator — wired with Hot and Neutral terminals on an unswitched circuit, listed to UL 924 in North America and to IEC 60598-2-22 / ISO 7010 internationally.

Also known as: illuminated exit sign, LED exit sign, egress sign, emergency exit sign, running man sign, combo exit sign, maintained exit luminaire.

What the Exit Sign symbol means

The Exit Sign symbol denotes a life-safety fixture whose job is to remain visibly lit at all times — a 'maintained' luminaire — marking the direction of egress from a building. Internally it contains an LED light source, a charger, a battery (in battery-backup models), and a transfer circuit. During normal operation the sign runs from the building's AC supply through its Hot and Neutral terminals; when supply fails, it transfers instantly to its internal battery and must remain legible for at least 90 minutes under NFPA 101.

Because the sign must never be switchable off, its Hot terminal connects to an unswitched conductor of the local lighting branch circuit (or a dedicated, lock-on emergency circuit). In diagrams this constant-hot connection is the electrical signature that distinguishes an exit sign from ordinary switched lighting: it has no switch leg at all, only Hot and Neutral (plus optional chevron/face configuration and remote-head DC terminals on some models).

How to identify the Exit Sign symbol

On floor plans and wiring diagrams the exit sign is drawn as a small rectangle with the letters 'EXIT' inside, often with a filled or half-filled face indicating which sides are visible (single-face vs double-face) and small arrows showing chevron directions. A battery mark or the letters 'EM'/'BB' (battery backup) distinguish self-powered models from AC-only signs. Ceiling-, wall-, and end-mount variants are shown by the position of the mounting tick on the symbol.

Internationally the equivalent symbol is the green ISO 7010 E001/E002 'running man' pictogram rather than lettered EXIT text, and plans reference EN 1838 safety-sign luminaires; in the US, NFPA 101 requires the word EXIT in letters at least 6 inches (152 mm) high with 3/4-inch (19 mm) stroke width, in red or green per local jurisdiction. The schematic side is trivial — a two-terminal load on constant hot — so the identification work happens on the plan symbol, not the circuit.

Live editor identity: Live-library identity: `exit-sign`, 60 × 36 canvas units, 2 logical terminals. Match this exact SVG and terminal list when identifying the placeable editor symbol; do not identify a physical package from the schematic outline alone.

Function and usage boundary

Electrically the exit sign is one of the simplest devices on a lighting plan: a continuous low-wattage load across Hot and Neutral. Modern LED signs draw under 5 W (many under 2 W), a fraction of the 20–40 W incandescent signs they replaced. The internal charger float-charges a small NiCd/NiMH or sealed lead-acid battery; a sensing circuit monitors the AC input and switches the LEDs to battery power on failure, with no visible interruption.

In a typical installation the sign taps the local lighting circuit ahead of all switches (NEC 700.12(H) unit-equipment rule when battery-equipped), so it stays lit when occupants turn the room lights off and it activates on battery when that specific circuit fails. Combo units add two emergency lamp heads to the sign housing, sharing the battery and charger; remote-capable models provide DC terminals to power additional remote heads, which subtracts from the battery's rated head capacity.

Usage boundary: Use the Exit Sign abstraction only when the intended circuit can be expressed through these logical ports: `hot` (Hot), `neutral` (Neutral). Select a versioned physical profile and exact manufacturer datasheet before assigning package pins, ratings, or fabrication dimensions.

Standards: IEC vs ANSI

IEC 60617	IEC 60598-2-22 covers emergency luminaires including internally illuminated safety signs; ISO 7010 defines the green running-man escape-route pictograms (E001/E002); EN 1838 sets luminance and viewing-distance requirements for safety signs (viewing distance = 200 × sign height for internally lit signs); EN 50172 covers testing regimes.
ANSI/IEEE 315	UL 924 is the North American listing standard for exit signs and combination units. NFPA 101 sections 7.10 govern marking of means of egress: EXIT letters at least 6 in high, 3/4 in stroke, visible from 100 ft rated viewing distance, illuminated at all times, with 90-minute emergency operation. NEC Article 700 governs the wiring; letter color (red vs green) is set by the local authority having jurisdiction, not by national code.
Key difference	The US marks exits with the lettered word EXIT (red or green by local rule) under NFPA 101/UL 924, while most of the rest of the world uses the green ISO 7010 running-man pictogram under EN 1838/ISO 30061 — green being reserved internationally for safe-condition signs. Duration requirements also differ: 90 minutes flat in North America versus 1–3 hours by building category in Europe. Both require the sign to be maintained (always lit) and battery- or central-supply-backed.

The displayed SVG is the live editor implementation, not a licensed reproduction or certification of an IEC or IEEE database glyph. Verify the exact official entry and project edition before issuing work.

Variant availability

Editor implementation (available): This is the exact SVG and terminal geometry placed by the CircuitDiagramMaker editor.
IEC 60617 (reference only): IEC 60617 is the official international source. This page does not present the editor SVG as a licensed or certified IEC reproduction.
ANSI/IEEE 315 (reference only): IEEE 315 is the North American reference listed by IEEE as inactive-reserved; use the edition required by the project.

Logical terminals

The live editor exposes `hot` (Hot), `neutral` (Neutral). These are stable logical terminal IDs for diagram connectivity, not a promise that they equal physical package pin numbers.

Logical ID	Editor terminal name
hot	Hot
neutral	Neutral

Polarity and direction

This editor symbol does not encode a universal positive/negative orientation. Do not infer physical polarity or package pin numbering from left/right placement alone.

Reference designator

Project-defined: No single reference letter is asserted for this broad symbol. Apply the project standard and equipment-classification rules consistently.

Where the Exit Sign symbol is used

Above every required exit door and along corridors in commercial buildings, wherever the path to the nearest exit is not obvious
Stairwell entries and discharge doors, marking the continuation of the egress path floor by floor
Assembly occupancies — theaters, restaurants, gyms — where NFPA 101 requires exit marking visible from any point
Multifamily residential common areas and hotels, including low-level supplementary signage in some jurisdictions
Industrial facilities and warehouses, often with high-visibility or wet-location-rated housings
Combo installations where one housing provides both the EXIT face and twin emergency heads for a small tenant space

Key facts

An exit sign is a maintained fixture: it must be illuminated at all times the building is occupied, and battery-backup models must keep it legible for 90 minutes after power failure (NFPA 101).
US signs use the word EXIT in letters at least 6 inches high with 3/4-inch stroke, rated for viewing at 100 feet; letter color (red or green) is decided by the local authority having jurisdiction.
Internationally, exits are marked with the green ISO 7010 'running man' pictogram instead of lettered text, per EN 1838 and ISO 30061.
Electrically it is a two-terminal (Hot, Neutral) constant load on an unswitched circuit — there is deliberately no switch leg.
Modern LED signs draw 1–5 W continuously versus 20–40 W for the old incandescent signs, a major retrofit energy saving.
UL 924 is the North American product standard; battery-equipped signs follow NEC 700.12(H) unit-equipment wiring rules.
Self-luminous tritium exit signs need no wiring at all and last 10–20 years, but require regulated disposal as radioactive devices.
Testing mirrors emergency lights: 30-second monthly functional tests and a 90-minute annual discharge test, with records kept.

Common interpretation mistakes

Treating the Exit Sign drawing (60 × 36 canvas units) as a physical footprint. The schematic outline expresses electrical intent; package and panel dimensions come from the selected physical profile.
Copying `hot`, `neutral` directly to a wire marker or manufacturer package pin number. These are logical Exit Sign port IDs and require an exact ordered-part terminal map.
Assuming every unlabelled or generic Exit Sign terminal has the same role across manufacturers and variants.

Frequently asked questions

What does the exit sign symbol look like on electrical plans?

A small rectangle containing the word EXIT, usually with shading or ticks indicating single- or double-face visibility, directional chevron arrows if used, and a mounting mark for ceiling, wall, or end mounting. Battery-backup models add a battery mark or 'EM' tag. On international drawings the rectangle contains the green ISO 7010 running-man pictogram instead of text.

Do exit signs have to be red or green?

In the US, NFPA 101 does not mandate a color — it requires letters of a color that contrasts with the background, and the choice of red or green is made by the local authority having jurisdiction (many northeastern cities require red; some jurisdictions and most of the world use green). Internationally, green is standard because ISO conventions reserve green for safe-condition signage.

Why doesn't an exit sign have a switch?

Because it is a maintained life-safety fixture: NFPA 101 requires exit marking to be illuminated whenever the building is occupied, so the sign is wired to an unswitched (constant) hot. Battery-backup signs additionally follow NEC 700.12(H), connecting ahead of any local switches on the area's lighting circuit so a wall switch can never dark the sign or falsely trigger battery mode.

How much power does an LED exit sign use?

Typically 1–5 watts continuous — many current models draw under 2 W. Running 24/7 that is roughly 9–44 kWh per year per sign. This is why LED retrofit kits for old 20–40 W incandescent signs pay for themselves quickly in buildings with dozens of signs.

What is the difference between an exit sign and an emergency light?

An exit sign is a maintained fixture that marks the egress route and stays lit at all times, transferring to battery on power failure. An emergency light is (usually) a non-maintained fixture that stays dark until power fails, then floods the egress path with light from its battery-powered heads. Combo units merge both into one housing with a shared battery and charger.

Are self-luminous (tritium) exit signs legal?

Yes — self-luminous signs listed to UL 924 are recognized by NFPA 101 and need no electrical connection, which makes them useful where wiring is impractical. They contain tritium gas tubes rated for 10, 15, or 20 years, after which the sign is no longer bright enough to comply and must be returned to a licensed handler for disposal — they cannot simply be thrown away.

Sources and verification

IEC 60617:2026 DB — Graphical symbols for diagrams (International Electrotechnical Commission) — The current official IEC graphical-symbol database and the electrotechnical areas it covers. Exact symbol identity data requires IEC access.; claim scope: standards
IEEE/ANSI 315-1975 — Graphic Symbols for Electrical and Electronics Diagrams (IEEE Standards Association) — The official catalogue record for North American diagram symbols and reference-designation letters; IEEE lists the standard as inactive-reserved.; claim scope: standards, reference_designator
IEC 61666:2010+AMD1:2021 — Identification of terminals within a system (International Electrotechnical Commission) — General principles for identifying terminals within systems; it does not replace the exact ordered-device datasheet.
IEC 81346-2:2019 — Object classes and reference-designation codes (International Electrotechnical Commission) — The official classification scheme used to form reference designations across technical disciplines.; claim scope: reference_designator
IEC 61082-1:2014 — Preparation of documents used in electrotechnology (International Electrotechnical Commission) — General presentation rules for electrotechnical diagrams, drawings, and tables.; claim scope: standards, usage

Geometry fingerprint: f6825e29de152ff5. A changed SVG, canvas size, or terminal definition invalidates the recorded review.

Related symbols

Physical breadboard, PCB, and panel mapping

No universal physical profile is published for this symbol yet. Create a versioned custom part from the exact manufacturer dimensions and terminal map before fabrication.

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