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LED Tower Lights

Many small bayonet-style indicator lamps as used on function buttons on printing presses where I work have been
retrofitted with LED types. We will not be buying any more when the present stock runs out.

1. Fail as often as incandescents, anyway.

2. Leakage lighting in "off" mode, too dim in 'On" mode. Is that thing on or off?

3. Still mighty expen$ive for something that only lasts 10% of the advertised lifetime.

Any active circuit put up on a tower will find a way to "act up". No surprise there.


Anyone ever put a lightning rod and then a string of neon bulbs to ground?
Or xenon bulbs? :eek:
 
Bob, 700w/130v lamps sound like they're worth a try. I've found a source of North American made lamps with an 8000 hour life a bit closer to home: http://www.lightsbyhh.com/incandescent-products/code-beacon/. At the next failure, I'll provide my rigger with a set. Lightning protection and grounding are solid and I don't think they are the problem. Thanks.

Tom, I've run into some of the same problems with LED indicator lights. I haven't had as many failures as with incandescents, but they sure do dim down in a hurry.
 
Retrofitting LEDs into an indicator designed for an incandescent doesn't work sometime due to it being designed around the current draw of the lamp. The original Arrakis 1200/12000 modules would even do funky things if the “OFF” lamp was burned out. Sticking LED replacements in it made the module inoperative without adding a resistor to pull more current!

Samt thing goes for retrofitting LED lamps on a tower. Would of course require modification of the tower light monitor & alarm system.
 
I know a tower owner who put 100W equivalent CFL's in his lowest set of side lights...it's worked out well for him. What kills those bulbs is being in a flashing application. Tried one on a flasher once just for kicks...lasted less than 2 days before it failed.
 
It's now over two years since my original post, and I have an update that some of you may find of interest. Last summer, after having yet another problem with incandescent beacon lamp failure, I started looking at LEDs again. In the interim, OTL from Montreal had begun marketing a retrofit L-864 beacon lamp that seemed almost too good to be true. I had to look into it. After several phone calls and e-mails back and forth with OTL, I decided to give a set of them (3) a try. They were installed in early August of last year, so they've been in operation for about 7 months. So far, they've performed perfectly. Late summer storms with wind, rain, and lightning and a Michigan winter with severe cold, wind, snow, and ice have not affected them. They have a bayonet base and are installed into the bottom sockets of the old TWR beacon housings. 110 VAC wiring and conduit are the same as before. The TWR flasher and photocell are the same as before. The current sampling for monitoring obviously had to change, but a new product on the market came to the rescue there, too. It's the TLM-2, an LED version of the TLM-1 incandescent tower light monitor system made by FM Services in Wilkesboro, NC. The OTL beacons and the TLM-2 work well together. Finally, earlier this year the FAA with the cooperation of the FCC modified its obstruction lighting standards (resulting from the bird-kill studies), which permits the elimination of the steady-burning lights on some towers -- including mine! So, in less than a year, I've gone from six 620w beacon lamps and six 110w side-marker lamps to just three 10w LED beacon lamps on my tower. Needless to say, I'm thrilled with the drop in power consumption. My transmitter site backup generator now has quite a bit of additional headroom, and I was able to get rid of the load-balancing resistors that were required when running the generator at night while the beacons were flashing. I know all this sounds like an ad for OTL beacons and the TLM-2, but I'm just a satisfied user of their products. So far, so good.
 
Do you have a link to the OTL people? Do they have US distributor? I tried Googling "OTL Montreal" and got an sportswear manufacturer.... :)
 
This is exactly what I've waited for. I'm sitting down....How much are these lamps? And did you say that you dropped from 6 beacon lamps to 3? How is the brightness compared to the incandescent lamps?
 
They are $1495.00 each. That is a lot, but they claim they will last 10 years. They have a five year warranty. The manufacturer tells me that you only need to put one of these in a 2 lamp fixture. Going from 3680 watts to 30 watts total should save a lot of electricity, which makes the pay-out look good. If you figure that you won't have to change them every 18 months, the cost of tower climbers quickly makes the equation look even better.

I'm also told that they can be repaired at a fraction of the replacement cost. All-in-all, it looks like a good idea.
 
Bob, I would say they are brighter toward the horizon with a bit less ground scatter than the incandescents. The "pattern" is determined by a combination of the design of the LED module and the lower half of the existing beacon lens. The LEDs flash red, so they work with either red or clear existing lenses. I can confirm Chuck's info.
 
I figure my two lamp beacon pulls ~$500 a year in electricity...this would pull next to nothing. And while I replace my own lamps, the payback still looks good to me. Only thing that worries me is that I've never had a full beacon failure because of having 2 bulbs. I noted that the website says to mount it in the bottom socket. Assuming a guy was willing to pay for peace of mind, I wonder if the lamp will operate 'upside down' so both sockets could be filled? Perhaps a question for the manufacturer.

When you're at a distance, does this look as bright as the pair of 620 watters?
 
I saw local_oscillator's reply after my post...thanks for the brightness report and the info on how the bottom of the beacon is part of the equation. Local : did you remove the red filter from the bottom? My guess is that it would be a little brighter yet with the filter removed. I'm fascinated by this one.
 
The entire lenses that went on our new AM towers in 2000 are red, no red filter insert.
You wouldn't you use white LEDs in that case. Waste of light.

Lucky for another station in town we still had a red filter in the box from our old tower lighting to fix their beacon.
Very expensive and a rare item now.
 
Bob, the lenses on my beacons are red, so no separate red filter to remove. The red LEDs are going through the red lenses and are plenty bright. I suppose if the wavelengths of the two reds weren't close, there might be some attenuation, but I believe all these reds are required to meet FAA standards. In your case, removing the filter makes sense. It's been many years since I had beacons that required a separate filter, but as I recall, they fit closely around the lamps. If that's the case, they would have to be removed to allow for the installation of the LED units.

These LED units shouldn't be put in the upper sockets. They weigh significantly more than a 620w lamp -- I'd guess 5-7 lbs, and I'm not sure two of them would fit. Having two lamps in a beacon doesn't get you much anyway, because even if only one of the two fails, you still have to notify the FAA and have it replaced within 14 days. I did buy a spare unit, so that in case of a failure, I can have the replacement in place quickly and send the dud back to OTL for repair. I'm hoping I won't need to use the spare for a long time.

Three installation tips: 1) OTL recommends making sure that the lower sockets are in good shape -- maybe even replacing them if there's a chance that the center spring conductor might be fatigued. I had my riggers replace my sockets just in case, but when they brought the old ones down, I saw the replacements weren't necessary. The old ones were like new after 15 years. 2) Disconnect the AC wiring between the upper and lower sockets, and either remove it or secure it around the upper socket, out of the way -- this minimizes the chances of any RF or lightning getting to the LED unit. And 3) Be sure to connect the supplied ground wire/lug to the beacon housing frame.

I don't know what else I can tell you. Going to LED beacons did require a leap of faith, but (so far) I'm happy. Disclaimer: "Your results may vary."
 
local oscillator said:
Finally, earlier this year the FAA with the cooperation of the FCC modified its obstruction lighting standards (resulting from the bird-kill studies), which permits the elimination of the steady-burning lights on some towers -- including mine!
Click to expand...
Did they also modify the standards to allow substituting one of these LED lamps for two 620/700W lamps?
 
BobOnTheJob said:
local oscillator said:
Finally, earlier this year the FAA with the cooperation of the FCC modified its obstruction lighting standards (resulting from the bird-kill studies), which permits the elimination of the steady-burning lights on some towers -- including mine!
Click to expand...
Did they also modify the standards to allow substituting one of these LED lamps for two 620/700W lamps?
Click to expand...
Does anyone know when the FAA might enact their May, 2012 proposal to drop sidelights but retain flashing beacons on tall towers? http://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/safety/downloads/TC-TN12-9.pdf
 
Bob, one LED unit replaces both 620w incandescent lamps. The LED units comply with the standards of FAA Advisory Circular 150/5345-43F. The standards for L-864 beacons deal with intensity, color, omnidirectionality, vertical beam spread, etc., not how those standards are met. The standards have been in place for a long time and are discussed in the FAA "bird-kill" proposal only to the extent that a flash rate of 27-33 fpm is preferred to the traditional 20-40 fpm and LEDs are preferred to incandescents due to their instant on/off characteristics -- see page 20 of http://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/safety/downloads/TC-TN12-9.pdf.

Chief, the FAA and FCC have been processing the requests to turn off steady-burning lights since last fall. I started the process in November and was able to turn off my sidelights early this year. The tower looks a bit odd without them, but it's great not having to power them or replace them. The tower is located relatively close to our local airport and is quite an obvious landmark there at night. So, the same day I turned off the sidelights, I called the airport manager to give him a heads-up. The call was appreciated and probably headed off some complaints. Anyway, my effort to gain approval to turn off the sidelights was made incredibly easier by an article written by Hal Kneller in thebdr.net: http://www.thebdr.net/articles/fcc/rules/FCC-LessLight.pdf. I hope that helps. Good luck with the process!
 
local oscillator said:
Chief, the FAA and FCC have been processing the requests to turn off steady-burning lights since last fall. I started the process in November and was able to turn off my sidelights early this year. The tower looks a bit odd without them, but it's great not having to power them or replace them. The tower is located relatively close to our local airport and is quite an obvious landmark there at night. So, the same day I turned off the sidelights, I called the airport manager to give him a heads-up. The call was appreciated and probably headed off some complaints. Anyway, my effort to gain approval to turn off the sidelights was made incredibly easier by an article written by Hal Kneller in thebdr.net: http://www.thebdr.net/articles/fcc/rules/FCC-LessLight.pdf. I hope that helps. Good luck with the process!


THANK YOU !!
Click to expand...
 
I have a close up picture of my beacon and indeed there's a red liner being held in place by 3 clips. Should be an easy removal & allow access to the clear glass beacon.
 
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