After paying to have my tower relamped for the third time in two years, I'm tempted to retrofit with LEDs. My current incandescent system is from TWR with a beacon at the top, two beacons at 1/2 and steady-burning triple obstruction lights at 1/4 and 3/4. It seems that LEDs are gaining acceptance. Reducing the power consumption by 95% and not paying for relamps sounds good -- as long as it doesn't come at the price of reliability and ease of retrofitting (including the controller). Any suggestions, recommendations, ideas, warnings, etc.?
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LED Tower Lights
- Thread starter local oscillator
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"Ask the guy who owns one". There have been some horror stories about replacement costs at failure. Whether they're common or uncommon would be my concern.
In my never so humble opinion, retrofitting is still too expensive to justify the cost and expense. Building a new tower is one thing, replacing an existing incandescent system, it's just not worth what money you might save. And like littlejohn, I have heard tower owners that have retrofitted and had nothing but problems.
Tread wisely.
Tread wisely.
I have also heard it may depend whether you have a hot AM tower or just a structural tower like an FM. In other words I would ask about the performance on an AM tower if that's what you have.
I agree that on a hot AM it might not be a great idea. Solid-state relays/flashers aren't either. I know of a local TV station here, KOKH/KOCB, that has been VERY happy with their LED becons and sidelight system.
I am going through a nightmare with TWR's led lighting right now. We have a three tower array with all LED lighting. Several weeks ago the Western most tower lights went completely dead. These have only been up about two and a half years. The climber told me this week and showed me crispy printed circut boards on all three obstructions and the becon. Blown, componets bulbs etc. We are considering going back to the old system. this one was installed when we replaced the towers and was not run past anyone locally for our opinion. Gonna be costly to fix. We haven't figured out if this was caused by lightening or RF. I doubt that the old incandecent would have givin out so early.
OK, had them since 2002 at one AM site and since 2007 on another AM. If you have austin rings at the base it is not a problem, This provides a sort of balanced power to the fixtures. Scroll down to the bottom of this pdf for how to retrofit a LED light to an existing tower light fixture. Easy.
http://www.dialight.com/Assets/Brochures_And_Catalogs/Signaling/Obstruction_Brochure.pdf
They are reliable and you will probably want to call Mark Wullfert for a TLM monitoring system.
http://wulffert.com/
I'm not associated with either of those.
Stu
http://www.dialight.com/Assets/Brochures_And_Catalogs/Signaling/Obstruction_Brochure.pdf
They are reliable and you will probably want to call Mark Wullfert for a TLM monitoring system.
http://wulffert.com/
I'm not associated with either of those.
Stu
Sounds like a wide range of experiences, which makes me think LEDs might not yet be ready for prime time. I really appreciate all of your comments. For the record, mine is an FM only tower.
Proper grounding and other precautions are most defiantely in order as any solid state device would have problems that way. If a site is a lightning magnet, I'd stay with incodecent
TomT said:
It looks like we are getting ready to find that out. They are still available without much problem, but you might want to stock up.
It would be nice if someone came out with a screw in replacement LED lamp that was bright enough. So far the brightest I've seen in stores seem to be the equivalent of a 60 watt light bulb. As I recall, most marker lights use a 116 watt 130 volt lamp that is the same type as used in traffic signals. I'm not sure of the origin of the odd wattage, but it probably has to do with the brightness. I wouldn't be surprised to find out it is the same brightness as a 120 volt 100 watt lamp. But maybe not. The 130 volt part is a good idea since you want these to last a very long time.
A camera stor has the led and flourescent bulbs that screw in. We have been using them in one of our studios for ustreamtv. 1kw flourescent is remarkably bright.
Another question might be:
Why are you getting such short life out of your bulbs?
The set I just changed started burning out after 4 years in service. We discussed whether to convert to LEDs, but given the life we're getting from the old bulbs, and the fact that the tower rigger only charged us $500 (204 ft tower) for the work (including bulbs), we decided to stay with what we have.
Why are you getting such short life out of your bulbs?
The set I just changed started burning out after 4 years in service. We discussed whether to convert to LEDs, but given the life we're getting from the old bulbs, and the fact that the tower rigger only charged us $500 (204 ft tower) for the work (including bulbs), we decided to stay with what we have.
I have been talked out of the LED option, so GG your question is a good one. My tower rigger says that quality lamps are no longer available. It seems that even brand name lamps are poorly manufactured in third world countries. If anyone knows of a source of quality, currently available lamps, I would appreciate the info. By the way, I used to get good longevity from lamps; this problem has popped up in just the past couple of years.
That's the trick. Strangely, the sidelights are the ones that seem to pop quite a bit faster than the beacons. The cost of the LED replacements for the sidelights are quite a bit more affordable than beacons. That makes me think that quite possibly it's now time to go with LED sidelights and just wait on the beacons for a while...
Slightly askew of the topic. Doesn't the FAA circular on lighting say the lamp must be operated a the rated voltage to comply? I.E. A 130 V 116 watt bulb must have 130 V give or take a certain percentage at its base to comply with the regulations. I've always been told to get 120 V bulbs since that matched the voltage that the Austin Ring transformers were tapped at.
HOWEVER, we CAN'T seem to GET 120 V bulbs anymore. Only 130 V.
HOWEVER, we CAN'T seem to GET 120 V bulbs anymore. Only 130 V.
Sadly, this is yet another wonderful goverment stupid regulation from the makers of stupidity, the feds. They should rate things at lumens, but instead they regulate the voltage, etc. They need to flush the FCC and the FAA down the same sewer pipe.
My burnout problem is actually with the 620w beacon lamps. In 35 years, I can remember losing a sidelight only once. My current tower (15 yrs.) has one beacon at the top, a double beacon at 1/2, and triple obstruction lamps at 1/4 and 3/4. Its predecessor (20 yrs.) had a single beacon at the top with double obstruction lamps at 1/3 and 2/3. I've always relamped the entire tower every time any single lamp fails. Until recently, I had to relamp every 2-3 years; I've relamped 3 times in the last 20 months.
I always specify 130 volt 700 watt beacons. The fact that they operate at 120 volts rather than 130 volts results in longer life, the fact that they are 700 watts compensates for the lower operating voltage with increased current. It's a win-win with good life & bright light output. Been getting good lamps from Western States in Denver for a decade or more. Make sure your lightning rod is in place, bonded firmly to the tower & extends above the beacon.
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