[SBE] LED tower lighting

[chscherer at everestkc.net]

I'm curious to hear from someone with LED beacons. How have they survived the top spot on the tower?

Also, has someone figured out a way to monitor the current draw situation that Cris describes?

Chriss

----- Original Message -----
From: Cris Alexander <crisa at crawfordbroadcasting.com>
Date: Monday, May 5, 2008 11:20 am
Subject: Re: [SBE] going green


> We converted to Dialight LED marker lights company-wide over the 

> past couple

> of years with excellent results. The marker lamps, which are a direct

> replacement for most incandescent fixtures (they simply screw onto 

> the end

> of the existing 3/4 or 1-inch conduit), have been very reliable. 

> 

> We have not yet made the jump to LED beacons for a number of 

> reasons, the

> biggest of which is cost. I also spent some time looking at one of the

> beacons and was uncomfortable with the amount of electronics in 

> the fixture,

> thinking that one of these at the top beacon position would not 

> survive a

> lightning strike on the tower. We plan to try the beacons on one 

> of our FM

> towers later this year to see how it does before we consider 

> making the move

> company wide.

> 

> Our challenge with the LED markers (that will be a bigger 

> challenge with the

> beacons) is current monitoring for remote control/compliance -- 

> especiallyon insulated AM towers.

> ______________________________

> Cris Alexander, CPBE, AMD, DRB