 Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | LED traffic lights? So a town I work in decided after I guess 10+ years the silver traffic light poles look ugly and made all of them black around town.. the traffic lights they had up before were LED's but with the LED array where you could see each LED.
The kind they put up now seems to must have some type of lens in front so it looks like the older traffic lights with a bulb but the switch over from yellow to red is instant.
My question is (given the failure rate) Have most other places switched from the LED kind where you can see each LED?
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It's NOT Ni-kon It's NE-KON!
LG is NOT Lifes Good It's Lucky Goldstar!
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IanR
join:2001-03-22
Madison, NJ | Looks as thugh all the newer intsalls are LED.
They seem to be cheaper to run, but 2 minor drawbacks.
1) They are more directional so if they are not held in position they can be harder to see and if you have a winter storm the old lights cleared themselves of snow/ice because of the extra heat. LEDs not so much. |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | 
They looked like this before taken down | | 
Replacements look something like this but seem LED |
It was hard trying to find how it looks but it's like a fresnel lens inside also the yellow is not as deep of a yellow more like a pale yellow.
I was just wondering if most towns got tired of replacing all those failed LED's modules or half blinking or flickering.. |
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arobertiSarcastic? Me? NeverPremium
join:2000-12-21
Norwalk, CT | reply to Subaru
said by Subaru:made all of them black around town.. the traffic lights they had up before were LED's but with the LED array where you could see each LED.
The kind they put up now seems to must have some type of lens in front so it looks like the older traffic lights with a bulb but the switch over from yellow to red is instant. You aren't talking about Norwalk by any chance, are you? They just did this in South Norwalk.
I've heard that new type referred to as "ball LED"s before, but I have no idea if that's a real name or what.
I've noticed that as those older-LED array lights start to start working in surrounding towns (Stamford, Greenwich, etc) that they're replacing them with the new ones where you can't see the individual LEDs as well, so there must be some benefit... |
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 THZNDUPDeorum Offensa Diis CuraePremium
join:2003-09-18
Lard
kudos:2 | reply to Subaru
They may be along this line:
»www.usbarricades.com/led-signal-···k-ac-705
Seems they use a smaller, tighter cluster of hi-power LEDs feeding a dispersal lens then covered by a colored lens.
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one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything |
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 SparkChaserPremium
join:2000-06-06
Downingtown, PA
kudos:3
 ·Verizon FiOS
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GE's version
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 jrs8084Premium
join:2002-03-02
Statesville, NC
kudos:1 | reply to Subaru
They swapped my town out completely '99-'00. It is rare I see an incandescent-in fact, I forget about them until I travel to another state. You see some with flickering lights-I think for the most part they just leave them that way. I will say I have never seen a light "out" like I did with the incandescent.
The new installs in past two years are the newer style you describe. I actually kind of prefer the older style-the red and green appear brighter. |
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iknowPremium
join:2012-03-25 | reply to Subaru
the new green looks BLUE to me. anyway, the new lights might be less angle sensitive. |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | reply to aroberti
said by aroberti:said by Subaru:made all of them black around town.. the traffic lights they had up before were LED's but with the LED array where you could see each LED.
The kind they put up now seems to must have some type of lens in front so it looks like the older traffic lights with a bulb but the switch over from yellow to red is instant. You aren't talking about Norwalk by any chance, are you? They just did this in South Norwalk. I've heard that new type referred to as "ball LED"s before, but I have no idea if that's a real name or what. I've noticed that as those older-LED array lights start to start working in surrounding towns (Stamford, Greenwich, etc) that they're replacing them with the new ones where you can't see the individual LEDs as well, so there must be some benefit... Whoa  yeah Norwalk, CT they did the SoNo area.. I have to ask.. what was wrong with the old setup anyways? They haven't changed any in Greenwich yet but I wonder how this LED looks inside.
Haha thanks for not making me look crazy haha I bet people here were like Huh?
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It's NOT Ni-kon It's NE-KON!
LG is NOT Lifes Good It's Lucky Goldstar!
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lutful... of ideasPremium
join:2005-06-16
Ottawa, ON Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy DSL
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said by Subaru:it's like a fresnel lens inside also the yellow is not as deep of a yellow more like a pale yellow. The beam spreading is done using both refraction and total internal reflection. The color of the outer polycarbonate dome is trying to match the internal LEDs.
The older designs used many more LEDs because each one had far less lumens. Having more LEDs will increase failure rate for sure ... but the root cause was often less sophisticated power supply and LED driver. |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | So this one should last far longer then right? |
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Subaru1-3-2-4Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT | reply to Subaru
Quick shot of the light I was talking about... they just finished this one Monday.
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LED lights save a lot of power too. |
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I read an article months ago about how the towns that sign with a company to manage or install red-light cameras, part of that contract is to outfit the traffic light with LEDs within 6 months of the camera system going in.
Something about offsetting the cost of electricity to run the camera system, or with all the $$ it shuffles in, they want LEDs as part of the deal. In came up somewhere that one of the companies tried to get out of replacing the incandescent with LEDs after public outcry led to the camera being taken out of service.
Perhaps your intersections have the camera system?
I'm not sure that anyone in public works actually has the time/intelligence to do a cost analysis on "replace everything with LEDs now" versus "replace with LEDs as the light burns out"
I'd have to believe some company comes to a board meeting with donuts and promises of cash or vacations, and says buy all our LEDs now - that's how en-masse/proactive replacement happens, no? |
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 49528867Premium
join:2010-04-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL
kudos:3 | reply to ipv6huh
Re: LED traffic lights? said by ipv6huh:Something about offsetting the cost of electricity to run the camera system, or with all the $$ it shuffles in, they want LEDs as part of the deal. Here in the FP&L service area traffic lights do not have meters the county is billed a flat rate per connection as such reducing consumption only helps FP&L not the taxpayers.
Wayne
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Madness takes its toll, please have exact change ready… |
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| You don't think the contracted "per connection" cost to the county wouldn't lower if all the traffic lights are LED? |
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 Sc0ttKneedraggerPremium
join:2000-11-13
Stockholm, NJ | said by 05641623:You don't think the contracted "per connection" cost to the county wouldn't lower if all the traffic lights are LED?
probably, but do you think your taxes would go down because of it?  |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to 49528867
said by 49528867:said by ipv6huh:Something about offsetting the cost of electricity to run the camera system, or with all the $$ it shuffles in, they want LEDs as part of the deal. Here in the FP&L service area traffic lights do not have meters the county is billed a flat rate per connection as such reducing consumption only helps FP&L not the taxpayers. Wayne Multiple cities and towns work this way, the poco bills them per intersection or similar method. And if they go LEDs they get a lower rate. I think street lighting is the same way, rather than a meter on the lamp circuit somewhere a city is just billed by the number of lights they have.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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