All the new controllers that I have seen have a dry contract for failures. Of course the controller has to be working. I am afraid there are about a dozen manufacturers each with several models. That's a pretty big matrix.
We just installed one last week with steady side lights because the customer didn't want to apply for the new E class system without sidelights so they have an all LED system with solid side lights and 3 flashing beacons. It has a dry contract off the controller. On Mon, Nov 27, 2017, 7:23 PM Chuck McCown <ch...@wbmfg.com> wrote: > I have thought about doing something similar many times over the years. I > always figured I would have it learn the healthy current of the fully > functional system with all lamps on and send an alarm if the current > changed. > > *From:* Forrest Christian (List Account) > *Sent:* Monday, November 27, 2017 6:19 PM > *To:* af > *Subject:* [AFMUG] Teach me about tower lights > > One of the most popular questions/product requests I get is about tower > light monitoring. > > It used to be that I sent people toward one of the off-the shelf tower > light monitors with a contact output and then monitored that with a base > unit. Unfortunately it seems that most of these only work with > incandescent, and most people are moving toward LED lights. So I'm > getting a lot of 'I haven't found one which will work with led lights'. > > I know that many lighting controllers do some monitoring and have relay > outputs for failures. Recent feedback from customers seem to indicate > that this is a lot like the fox watching the henhouse, in that often the > lighting controller is the problem, especially with newer led lights which > don't fail as much. > > As a result of the above, I'm looking at doing a tower light monitor. > But I need some help understanding the reality of lighting towers, > especially since things have changed over the years, and some older towers > I'm sure are grandfathered under an older lighting/painting scheme. > > The first question is related to flashing lights on a tower: The FAA > circular seems to state that all lights on a tower should flash together. > Are all tower lights all designed so that all of the flashing lights on a > tower blink at the same time? If so, it makes monitoring them a lot > easier, since there's only two lighting levels to monitoring. > > I'm also wondering about control systems, and how they are wired. My > google searches seem to indicate that most towers with blinking lights have > a control box at the bottom which controls the lights on the tower (and > sometimes provide a indicator of a certain type of failure). Is this > common? What other systems are out there? > > I am also intrigued by the daytime lighting systems, and probably need to > think about monitoring these as well. I'm assuming these are strobes. > Anyone install one of these? > > I'm also curious about what type of power consumption the newer LED lights > have, and if measuring AC current is really even practical on these. > > Any other information anyone can point me toward would be appreciated. > > -- > *Forrest Christian* *CEO**, PacketFlux Technologies, Inc.* > Tel: 406-449-3345 | Address: 3577 Countryside Road, Helena, MT 59602 > <https://maps.google.com/?q=3577+Countryside+Road,+Helena,+MT+%0D+59602&entry=gmail&source=g> > forre...@imach.com | http://www.packetflux.com > <http://www.linkedin.com/in/fwchristian> <http://facebook.com/packetflux> > <http://twitter.com/@packetflux> > >
