Camden CX-WC Series CM-AF500 Single Gang LED 'Occupied When Lit' Indicator

The CM-AF500 is an illuminated annunciator sign that reads 'Occupied When Lit' in green. It is not a push button or an exit switch, it does not release a door. It gets wired so that when the space or the restroom is occupied, the LED text lights up and is readable from across a corridor. When the power to the sign is off, the text and graphics disappear entirely into the faceplate, so the sign only says something when there is something to say. Common use is a single occupancy or assisted restroom paired with a door control system.

No. The CM-AF500 is a lit sign, not a switch, so it will not release a door. For a release device, look at the Dortronics 5210 Series with a 1-9/16 inch red mushroom button on a single gang plate, the SDC 410 Series illuminated push button with a narrow frame mount for aluminum stile doors, or the SDC 420 Series with 2 inch buttons. On a restroom job you often need both: a switch to operate the door and the CM-AF500 to tell the next person the room is in use.

They do different jobs at the door. The Camden CM-AF500 is an LED illuminated annunciator that displays an 'Occupied When Lit' message to building occupants - when it is not illuminated the text and graphics are invisible, and when illuminated they are highly visible even in bright daylight. The SDC 410 Series is an illuminated push button exit switch with a narrow frame mount, meaning it is an actuator a person presses to release the door. If you need someone to release the opening, the 410 is the switch; if you need to tell people on the outside that the room is in use, the CM-AF500 is the sign. Many restroom and single-occupancy applications use one of each.

The CM-AF500 is an LED annunciator that displays critical messages to building occupants, so it does not fill an exit button line on a drawing. The SDC 420 Series is described as an illuminated push button exit switch with 2 inch buttons and code compliance, which is the device that answers that line. Order the 420 for the exit button callout and the CM-AF500 separately if the drawing also shows an occupied indicator.

Weatherproof and vandal resistant construction, so exterior door heads, parking structures, and areas that get hosed down are within what the sign is built for. It is a commercial grade device, not a residential trim piece.

Hard wired. The CM-AF500 annunciator carries no wireless communication, so it needs a wired feed from whatever tells it the room is occupied, typically the door control or restroom control board driving the sign's LEDs.

The sign is the output device only. You still need the control that decides when the room is occupied and switches power to it, plus the actuating switch at the door if the opening is an operator, something like the Dortronics 5210 Series or an SDC 410 or 420 Series push button. There is one model on the CM-AF500, so nothing to specify on the sign itself, no handing, no finish choice, no left or right.

They do different jobs and one does not replace the other. Mushroom devices like the SDC 430 Series with a 1-1/2 inch round button, the SDC 440 Series with a 2-5/8 inch diameter button, or the Dortronics 5210 red mushroom marked 'Push to Exit' / 'Emergency Release' are actuators someone strikes to release a door. The CM-AF500 has no button at all, it only displays. If the spec calls for both an emergency release and occupancy indication, they are two separate devices and two separate boxes.

The CM-AF500 is built with vandal and weather resistant construction and is a commercial device, but it is an illuminated message indicator, not an actuator. Where the requirement is a heavy duty control someone strikes with a hand or elbow, the SDC 430 Series is a heavy duty industrial mushroom button switch with a 1-1/2 inch round button, and the SDC 440 Series is a large mushroom button emergency exit switch with a 2-5/8 inch diameter heavy duty design. Use the 430 or 440 for the actuation and the CM-AF500 only where an occupied message is needed.

No - the illumination serves a different purpose on each. The CM-AF500 carries a green LED that renders an 'Occupied When Lit' message legible only when powered, so its light is the message itself. On an illuminated exit switch such as the SDC 410 Series or the SDC 420 Series with its 2 inch buttons, the illumination marks the location of a button a person presses. Swapping one for the other leaves either an unreadable sign or no way to release the door.

Super bright LEDs are what carry it. The sign is built so the legend is only visible when driven, and when driven it reads in bright daylight, which is the failure point on glass front lobbies and exterior vestibules where a backlit plastic sign disappears. Blank when unlit means there is no ghost legend telling people the room is occupied when it is not.

The CM-AF500 gives you one plate size and one legend across the whole facility: 2-3/4 by 4-1/2 by 9/16 inches, green, reading 'Occupied When Lit'. Every unit takes a single gang box, so the rough-in is identical at every door and the electrician is cutting the same box in every wall. That is the piece property managers usually care about more than the sign itself.

Both are mushroom button switches, and they differ in button size and duty description: the SDC 430 Series is a heavy duty industrial mushroom button switch with a 1-1/2 inch round button, while the SDC 440 Series is a large mushroom button emergency exit switch with a 2-5/8 inch diameter heavy duty design. The Dortronics 5210 sits between them with a 1-9/16 inch diameter red mushroom button on a single gang plate labeled 'Push to Exit'/'Emergency Release'. All three actuate the door; the CM-AF500 handles the occupied message on the same opening and needs its own single gang location.