Since our youngest age, we’ve been taught about traffic lights and the different meaning of their colours. But did you know that traffic lights’ purpose is far beyond providing pedestrians’ safety and preventing the annoying city traffic jams?
In fact, traffic light control systems are being widely used by many businesses that involve vehicles coming in and out- from the parking lots and car wash spots signalising to the drivers that there’s available space for them to the large construction sites to successfully manage the traffic movement and prevent roadblocks.
But if you were going to use the convenient traffic control system to manage the traffic in your work environment, know that LED lights are one of the options that many businesses go for, and there’re a couple of reasons behind it.
Low Power Consumption
One of the main reasons to choose from the huge range of LED traffic control systems is that they’ll significantly decrease your business’s energy bills. This is due to LEDs’ high lumen output per watt which makes them capable to turn about 70% of their energy into light, unlike the other types of bulbs wasting great amounts of energy and turning it into heat.
For instance, a 6-watt LED bulb will produce the same amount of light as a 40-watt incandescent one. And this doesn’t mean that LED traffic lights will reduce your business’s energy bills only, but they’re also generally safer for the environment- they reduce the CO2 emission and they won’t cause fires once they come in touch with flammable materials, unlike the halogen bulbs do.
Low Thermal Energy
If the incandescent lights are operating by heating their filaments to a temperature that is high enough to produce light, LED lights are known for emitting electromagnetic energy as light once they’re electrified. This means that LEDs are turning the energy into light instead of heat, which makes them able to operate in significantly lower temperatures than the other types of lights.
In fact, the heat that LED lights are generating is dissipated by a special heat sink which absorbs the heat and disperses it safely away from the light’s diodes. And even though the actual fixture can feel warm to touch, LED lights won’t emit any infrared radiation in their beam and they won’t absorb warmth to it. This makes them ideal for use in heat-sensitive areas as well as for the sweaty summer season.
Excellent Visibility
One of the greatest advantages of LED traffic control systems is that they excellently perform and maintain great visibility in the harshest conditions such as continuous light, heavy rains and dust. This is due to LED lights emitting monochromatic light which doesn’t require the use of colour film to produce the famous red, yellow and green colour signals.
But the best thing about them is that they neither do use different gels and filters to produce the light, but they rely on their diodes. Diodes are actually a phosphorous coating that changes to alter the colour of the emitted light, which makes the colours stay in the same shade until the end of the light’s lifespan, unlike the other types of lights which can fade or burn out over time.
Fast Response
A LED traffic light is one of the most reliable options for industrial application since they’re shown to respond much faster than any other type of bulb. As much as this doesn’t sound relevant at the moment, know that traffic light controllers are complex systems that use light timing, activated traffic signals, synchronization and many other techniques to improve their timely work.
Incandescent and fluorescent bulbs emit light as a secondary effect due to them producing heat, while LED bulbs emit light as a primary effect. This is due to LED lights emitting directly from the semiconductor in direct relation to the applied current which bounces off the light off the sides of the bulb, travelling on through the rounded end. This means that they release the photons of light directly without any delay, which can be useful to prevent any traffic inconveniences and accidents timely.
Long Life Span
Finally, LED lights are shown to have the longest life span compared to the other light bulbs used for traffic light controllers. This is thanks to their ability to operate and offer stability even in the harshest conditions- from the hot summer temperatures to the heavy rains, and unlike the traditional halogen and incandescent bulbs that have a life expectancy of 1000 to 2000 hours, LED light bulbs will last up to 80000 hours or more than 10 years.
But aside from their long life span, unlike incandescent and halogen bulbs that tend to burn out all at once, LED light ones’ impact will gradually decrease over time. This is due to LED lights operating by using diodes and clusters, and if a single one of them burns out or stops working for any reason, the other ones will continue to function normally. Not only does this feature make them last way longer than the other types of lights, but it’s also very useful to eliminate the safety risks and traffic congestion problems connected to traffic signals that aren’t working as they should.
But this doesn’t mean that the LED bulbs in traffic lights can’t fail if they’re mistreated. In fact, some factors such as heat and electrical overstress can make the LED bulb fail faster than you expect. But don’t worry, since there are a couple of things you can do to get the most out of the LED traffic lights for your business.
First of all, it’s important to choose appropriate sized luminaries and ensure that the LED bulbs are ventilated to allow the heat to escape. Also, a well-designed LED bulb for traffic lights will have an effective heatsink with gaps between the fins to allow the heat to dissipate into the air, so make sure you go for high-quality and reliable brands only.
So, don’t hesitate to pick LEDs for the popular stop and go light system for your business. Not only will it significantly spare your wallet, but all the people in your work environment will also be very thankful for it.
