I would think consumed current would work as long as the time resolution is fine enough, which I am sure yours is. Those LED flashes don't last long. I have asked one of our suppliers we buy the most from to have an engineer give me the specs so you can see what you are dealing with. In addition, many use some very large caps on the older strobe models so you don't see any difference on the incoming side. I haven't seen any of the LED models with big caps. I wouldn't think you would need to monitor before the controller as your draw should definitely be different than normal, at least at night, when the controller isn't working correctly.
The biggest issue I would think would be how to get that current initially. With all the different configs out there and different manufacturers the number of combinations become enormous. Some designs actually have the controller inside the top beacon (for some ungodly reason). There are a lot of different LED designs with different numbers, quality, and lumen of LED's. Maybe some kind of learning routine where you set it to learn for 1 minute, it watches the pattern of draw, then sets that as normal for that time period, then it does the same thing at midnight. I guess midnight would work except nearer the poles. After that I would give your day/night timings a good bit of slack as some are not the best at mounting their photocells in good locations. Maybe 30 minutes to an hour each way of sun set/rise. On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 10:21 PM Forrest Christian (List Account) < li...@packetflux.com> wrote: > Can you think of any reason why simply measuring consumed current and > making sure it matches an expected pattern (I.E. toggling between all-on > and "blink") with the correct frequency and during the right time of day > wouldn't work with any of the systems you've put in? > > Of course with a contact or two input as an additional input to catch the > failures the controller knows about? > > > > On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 7:22 PM, Lewis Bergman <lewis.berg...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> 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> >>> >>> > > > -- > *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+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> > >
