Solar traffic lights need only two recharges per year
Pike Signals is manufacturing a solar assisted batter-powered traffic light set that in a year long non-stop test only required two recharges.
The road towable XL Eclipse unit comprises of two sets of lights clipped together to form a trailer and has rotating angled solar panels that form part of the battery housing for each light. Once the units are positioned on site, the solar panels are rotated to face south and the lights synchronised using a wireless communication system that can handle up to eight heads.
By using ultra-bright LED for the lights, the power consumption is kept to 300mA to minimise the battery drain and there is an ambient light sensor which reduces the lights' brightness when it is dark. The result is that the unit will run continuously for months without a recharge and has a telematic system that automatically sends an alert if the batteries' charge falls below pre-set levels.
While the units carry a premium of about 15% over straight battery powered lights, Stephen Heaton from Pike Signals said XL Eclipse users will more than recoup the extra investment as they don't need to send staff to recharge the batteries every couple of weeks.
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