LED Traffic Lights

[derstier777]

how much do I need to pay for 24 LEDs lights?

[LEDtronics]

@derstier777 You can find more information on LED Street Lights as well as general information at our website, LEDtronics . com

[sszhao11]

It's great except it doesn't melt the snow in winter so they get all covered up.

[yakir11114]

from what i see it not suitable for solar power or wind power any more then a regular lamp is... 

[LEDtronics]

@yakir11114 Not true. LED traffic light use much less power then standard incandescent traffic light bulbs so your Solar systems can be smaller with LED traffic lights.

[Billete37]

@LEDtronics but they dont perduce enough heat to take out the risk of icing over look it up its a problem

[theMezz]

Certain brands of these lights get packed with snow and the LEDs do not get hot enough to melt the snow - then we cannot see what light is on. That happens in central new York. (yes it snows sideways here in bad storms)

[Deangist]

1:00 looks like a turntable

[lawchristopher]

Too bad these don't work in cities that have snow. These things are hot enough to melt snow, so the lights get covered and that leads to accident fail lol

[ZupZupPflup]

And what is with snow?

[ahood99]

OMG people, the 3 light system are for people that can not see color. Top stop, middle slow down, bottom go. I def remember this from drivers ED does no one else.

[snowboardingmoose]

The problem is they can not be used in places where it snows because they do not give off much heat. Ice and snow builds up on lights.

[johndeere46204wd]

They may save energy but in the winter the snow does not melt off the glass and have to send road crews around to wipe off the snow.

[agiwch]

I have another saving idea......if the leds switch separatly .....and we can manage the three colors .....why using the three leds ....!!!!!!!!!!? My great Idea is using one led.....and changing colors only.....intresting

[LEDtronics]

@agiwch A few problems with this. We would have to teach drivers this new one light system. Three LED dies (one of each color) in one chip would not be as bright as one LED one color in one chip. This would not meet the DOT light out put requirements.

[superpooper5334]

@LEDtronics Er, try how would a color blind person... know what "color" the light is? You will *always* have 3 lights due to this... the colors are nice, but a color blind person must go by location.

[sacredcreationz]

@LEDtronics No the reason you don't use a single light is for the color blind who rely on the location of the light and not the color.

[Myrtone]

@sacredcreationz How about actually doing research on colour deficiency before asking this question? You are actually wrong in a sort of controversial way. Green-weak (and blue-weak) people can still distinguish the colours red, yellow and green from each other so have no trouble with traffic lights at all.

[sparky3489]

@LEDtronics Ever heard of RGB LEDs? That's what agiwch was getting at and quite the good idea too.

[montyite]

@LEDtronics Don't forget people who are color blind. That type of light would not work for them.

[fightfairfightfair]

@agiwch This would be terrible for people who are red/green colour blind, which is 10% of the male population. They can tell what colour the traffic lights are from whether the top, middle or bottom lamp is lit. A one-lamp system would not work for them.

[1739a1739]

@agiwch And collor-blind people?

[jesserose85]

@agiwch I have another problem with this:

Color blind people like myself cannot differentiate between red and green traffic lights and thus rely on the location of the light to make our decision. eg. Top light is stop, bottom light is green in most states.

1/5 of the male population has some kind of red/green color deficiency.

Nice idea though

[mecasull]

@agiwch great idea until you get broad sided by someone who is red/green color blind.

[WesleyOnlineNet]

@agiwch not to mention color blind drivers

[scrapwire1]

@agiwch The light system of using three lights can't be changed because of color blind people. They look at the lights left to right or up and down to determine if it's red, yellow or green.

If it was a one bulb light system, they could not tell what to do at a traffic light, but don't stop being creative.

[PhrostyPhoenix]

@agiwch My wife and father in law are color blind. He sits at green lights and gets mad at reds when the guy in front wont go. I like where your heads at, its a good idea! On Paper.

[hofer1]

@agiwch Another problem with that approach is that colorblind drivers would have a lot more difficulty distinguishing what traffic signal is on. Today, they can memorize the position of the different colors.

[UnpluggedPowerSys]

@agiwch

For people who are color blind, the position of the light is more important than the color. That is why the system will likely remain the same for a long time.

[mlidikay]

@agiwch

That would be a problem for people that are color blind. They rely on the position of the light.

[LTF85199]

Why not color changing single light units made out of AMOLEDs or OLEDs?

[SirAvalord]

@LTF85199 3 different lights makes the system more reliable so if one light goes out, you are not completely left in the dark (no pun intended). Also having the lights in three different locations on the traffic light makes it easier to recognize what color it is.

[fronkenpoop]

Good for you

[steffankaizer]

is the green light actually so blue or is it just the camera

[OfficerNelson]

@steffankaizer DOT requirements state the amount of blue hue in green lights. It's to help out red/green colorblind people. Most modern signals use a blush green signal.

[xato909]

LED revolution XXI

[StijnSpijker]

In Holland we actually have these lights a lot already, but we have 1 problem: Because LEDs are so energy efficient, they don't product heat. So in the winter, when snow has fallen, it stays on the traffic light! With the old incandescent bulbs, a nice side effect was the snow melted from the heat :p

So, now we're going to have to HEAT the traffic lights? haha

[StijnSpijker]

In Holland we actually have these lights a lot already, but we have 1 problem: Because LEDs are so energy efficient, they don't product heat. So in the winter, when snow has fallen, it stays on the traffic light! With the old incandescent bulbs, a nice side effect was the snow melted from the heat :p

So, now we're going to have to HEAT the traffic lights? haha

[Sniper12890]

@StijnSpijker That is why there is a snow scoop visor.

[bestamerica]

,

some LEDs are burn out on the traffic lights,,,

LED is not real long long hours,,,

because of too much uses and switch too much on / off / on / off / on / off

[hydrogenix]

@bestamerica excuse me, what are you talking about? LED doesn't suffer the on/off cycle because it doesn't depend on it's temperature to generate light. Led's are used in "switching" applications to transmit data, where they blink million times per day. Do you remember infrared comunication ports? they are LEDS blinking million and million times! Optic isolation in electronics is based on led tecnology and blinks BILLION times. Don't assure something you have no idea. Cheerz

[bestamerica]

hydrogenix,

'

dont use a word - YOU - on me,,,

let point about this LED traffic lights,,,

yes LED lights are sometime burn out and not that too long,,,

because i see many times LED lights on the traffic sign many times,,,

some LEDs are burning out and NO replace at all

[stdavross666]

@bestamerica more like overdriven...too much current

[tablo213]

We have LED in Edmonton too, but it's not pixellated.

[Audinos]

So far, I'm not impressed with LED signals. I don't know which signal manufacturers my city buys from, but most of the green LED signals around town have from 10% to 60% missing segments. Also, the amber signals are about half as bright as the others. Even the walk signals have burned-out sections, and all are under five years old.

[Frink14]

Only thing bad about LED is that they don't melt ice/snow in the winter time.

[wilkes85]

Well, I saw on the news a few days ago that cities that are replacing traffic lights with LEDs are now having trouble with the lights getting covered up in snowstorms, since they don't give off heat.

All this "green" crap is pissing me off. If I get into an accident due to a snow-covered LED traffic light, I'm sueing the shit out of the city.

[systemaddictshock]

I am having LiteBrite flashbacks

[tehowning23]

Pretty sure the color doesn't matter in the power drain since all LEDs use 20mA of power each correct?

[LEDtronics]

Not true. The forward voltage is different for different color LEDs. Red, Yellow and orange LEDs voltage is between 2.2 VDCto 2.6 volts DC. Blue, White Green and Aqua Green color LEDs voltage is between 3 volts DC to 4 volts DC.

[MidnightSnacker]

Ledtronics is right.

[RacerXGTO]

I see these LED traffic lights starting to die. Patches of dead led sections. I think my favorite failing led light is the "strobe" GO light. (green light flickering like a strobe light)

[LEDtronics]

@RacerXGTO Must be a poor quality LED manufacture. Our LED traffic lights are designed and tested to last 100,000 hours.

[Kinann]

@RacerXGTO

I've noticed they typically start to go out in the upper center of the LED array, where it is probably the hottest, (heat rises) I think the manufacturers haven't taken into account the toll thermal cycling takes on the LED solder connections and they fail. They need to design the arrays with heatsinks to keep them cooler.

[jwatsonjordan]

hi i work for vic roads lights. so are u telling me thet thows lights save power and the invermant ?

[LEDtronics]

@jwatsonjordan Yes, LED lights save energy = saving money.

[FireFoxConn]

stereo sound fail?

those things are a great improvement on regular incandescent.

[coondogtheman1234]

my bro had a regular incandescent traffic light in his room and it was bright as hell. how heavy are the LED traffic lights?

[mogul1265]

The greens are brighter the hell. At least the ones we have are.

[WARD5KUSTOMZ]

i got a green arrow in my house and it lites the whole thing up

[crlaw75]

The LED green light is a true green, as compared to incandesecnt light and the LED version really jumps out at you, as well as the LED walk signal.

[achemachew]

I love a woman who knows what she's talking about! Very smart!

[sckmyballsofsteel]

im into leds for other reasons, but suffice it to say that incans will always have a place, just like the gasoline engine, but ..... well you get my drift. LED.

[TransDerwinOverdrive]

Last year, Pittsburgh started making the switch to save power. Now all of the traffic lights in the city are LED.

[DaRuler92]

Patent protected?

[LEDtronics]

The Lens is.

[bleiweissali]

but can you also put a hood on it like most traffic lights have?

[LEDtronics]

Yes you can

[form109]

i think LED's are the best possible light source for a Traffic Signal...the long life and low power consumption could really be great advantages to have...so you dont have to change the bulbs so often.....i read somewhere that a Bulb used in a traffic signal must have a minimum lifespan of 6,000 Hours....LED's can surely beat this by thousands of hours,when properly constructed LED's can last 80,000-100,000 hours...with some Lumen Depreciation occuring during that time frame.

[wahkao1990]

Singapore has LED for traffic lights.

They work wonderful in our crazy tropical heat and the monsoon downpours.

[Vietwhiteboy]

Houston has them too. Sadly Hurricane Ike took a couple out, so the city low on funds maybe put the regular one back. Maybe later they'll put LED ones back. But there way nicer and brighter.

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[sonytheone]

most people think that led are those small long lightbulb types that are used for electronics but these days they use chips that have current flowing past them that light up, thats how they have those 1 inch led tvs

[LEDtronics]

There are all kinds of LEDs. There are 5mm LEDs, 1 Watt LEDs which is the same power as 16 5mm LEDs. There are 3 wqtt LEDs and 5 Watt LEDs.

JPP...

[stevematt89]

OLED Tv's are better :D, but lifespan fails!

[RRYankfan]

do you sell the housing too

because i want one of those for my room along with railroad crossing flashers

[LEDtronics]

Sorry, no we only sell the LED light fixture.

JPP...

[RRYankfan]

do you know who makes them

[LEDtronics]

Sorry I do not. Try a Google search.

[LolAtYou2ube]

depending on their COLOR.

[BluePounder]

The folks at the New York State DOT need to see this video. Most of their traffic signals must have a cheaper type of LED light. I've seen many of them fail (mostly green ones) while driving around. Those are lights that have led arranged in rows rather than in a circular pattern like the ones in this video. Some of the lights have the round pattern and I haven't seen one of those fail yet.

[LEDtronics]

Thanks, Our LED traffic lights are made with very high quality LEDs, as they say failure is not an option.

JPP...

[DuhDaDuh2]

Why do the colors only come in Red Yellow and Green? D:

[LEDtronics]

That is the standard colors for Traffic lights. We can make special LED light colors but will require a large order up front of 200 plus units. JPP...

[DuhDaDuh2]

Lol  I was being sarcastic :]

[TheFallenWind]

I want a purple one for my room!

[tremer88]

i cant belive they are 13 watts. regular ones are about 500 watts or so. across the nation this is an astronomical number of energy savings, and we should have had them all over the country 15 years ago

[ChrisPCrunchy]

Do these come in any other colours. I hate the red ones. Perhaps two greens would be better everyone likes green.

[L8nitedave]

How is the light system affected in the case the city replaces only the incandesent red a green lamps which burn out more quickly with LED units and not the yellow lamp?

[LEDtronics]

The Traffic light system is not affected. You can replace one, two or all three lights with LED lights. JPP...

[L8nitedave]

Well my understanding of LED and incandecent lamps is that LED lights and turns off more quickly than incandecent units.

[Pixway]

I ♥ LED.

[fuckinqueenslander]

They use LED traffic lights just about everywhere in Australia, the first of which I saw were in about 2002, which were two separate entrances to a then-new homemaker centre. Since then, I've seen the government slowly replace old sets of lights with LED ones.

[PattyMMelt]

Was it just me that noticed at 1:02

"depending on their COLOR" haha listen

[LEDtronics]

depending on their COLOR means the Wattage they use. Green LEDs use more energy the Yellow or Red LEDs.

[HostileHST]

I imagine that is party because green is the easiest on the eyes and they need you to know its lit so they need to make it more powerful

[safedriverpro]

How can something so large and bright be ignored by so many drivers?

[Amishman35]

I remember in 1998 or so when they came out with LED traffic lights, I was amazed at how bright they were (except for a few of the LEDs  in some lights being damaged in power spikes.)

[weylin6]

I noticed that these new units are beginning to fail in my town... they get these flickering sector failures. rather than the whole thing dieing, whole sections go dead.

whys it doing this? I thought LEDs lasted for 10 years or more

[LEDtronics]

It the LED traffic light were made correctly then yes they do last for 100K hours. Maybe you have power spikes in your area. That could cause a problem with the LED traffic lights if they do not offer any protection in the circuit. They should use LEDtronics LED traffic lights.

JPP...

[RyuDarragh]

Actually, it isn't power spikes.. these units can take more than an incandescent can, voltage wise. It's the battering they take from the weather on both the solder joints and LEDs themselves. Temperature changes and shaking in bad weather can make marginal solder joints fail. These modules are made up of 80 LEDs in parralel/series in sectors for green and as many as 210 LEDs for red and, sometimes, yellow. I've taken a failed green unit and restored it completely by re-soldering all the LEDs.

[countwolf]

the way to go

[fedders4]

Toronto has a lot of thos cool things and they are saving a lot energy in my city!

[lifeson99]

The Red is Orange. Not very good quality control. This is a common problems with the cheaper Red LED's - they emit an Orange color.

[LEDtronics]

The Red LED traffic light that we use is

626nm Which is very Red. They have a color called Portland orange which is used in the walk don't walk signs, this is orange in color.

JPP...

[christianpolice]

where did you get the traffic light

[danbel899]

i think the reason why they do this is that they help with people who are either partially color blind or even totally color blind.

[EbonyScholar]

What are the savings to a city like Detroit or Cleveland? What about Express lighting...and street lighting...and the LeDs be programmed to emit yellow light ... I hear yellow light cuts through fog...and would the drive seem like clear blue sky day-in the middle of monsterous fog? Is this true...I saw something like it in a competition I was in sponsored by Just Start-Quick Books(R)

[discoandrew]

Starting to see these in the UK now, especially the 'Temporary' variety. All traffic lights should be LED, it makes sense.

[Lexy015]

i see these all the time in lakewood and they sometime twitch around and go crazy

[winxtremetube]

yes. they are far brighter, and never seem to break down(well, the LEDs never seem to finish, unlike bulbs)

Congrats for being in uk! I am too!

[010295]

they are on about 95% of Arizona street lights.

[FPVsean]

we use these as road construction, stop/go syestems over-here in ireland

[jokergallagher62083]

same in use we bin using this for a long time

[aussieace450]

been using these in australia for ages

[salemcripple]

These have been in use a long time in Oregon! At least since 2000

[Audinos]

ODOT purchased thousands of red LED inserts (I don't know which company made them) in the late 90's and distributed them around the state. Within a couple of years, they got so dim that they had to be replaced. Many of the brighter second generation reds had reflective red lenses that appeared lit in direct sunlight. Later green ones lasted less than a year before portions of the circuit boards began to burn out or flicker. The most successful seem to be the LED inserts for incandescent heads.

[mdmkoopman]

these are also used in The Netherlands :D

[Blaze6432]

what about arrows, wouldnt it be hard for it to have an arrow

[werdnanotroh]

these are already used in australia.

[cdltpx]

These lights can offer even greater savings if you add circuitry that cycles the light on and off faster than the human eye can detect the time the light is off will save electricity. Highly recommended in solar designs to reduce the need to produce as much electricity and use smaller wattage arrays. You can save on batteries too ,less storage will be needed. I'm a trucker the new LED lights are much better sometimes the green will blind you but I have learned not to look at the light at night.

[LiquidZ2k]

I want my traffic lights with Blue instead of green do you guys make those?

[LEDtronics]

We can mks special LED color traffic light but we will require an order of 100 or so units to cover costs.

JPP...

[CJ5797]

i seen alot of these in arlington Va maryland and all in DC

[emtgregg]

Had a lot of problems about a week ago after a snowstorm here in the Milwaukee area. Most of the municipalities have switched over to LED traffic lights and even two days after the snowstorm, some of the north facing lights still had snow on them. Otherwise, these lights are great. Can see them long distances even in snowfall.

[Kraakmo]

Where in milwaukee? I go around down town and there are none

[PsYcHoFaB]

I live in St. Louis, MO and have seen snow build up on the LEDs before. That's the one good thing I liked about the old style lamps, the heat would melt the snow off. Also, one time, for instance, I was at an intersection where they were going from yellow to red, the yellow went off and the red signals took like, 5 seconds to come on; when the other direction already had their green light. This never happened before they replaced the lenses. With the old style, you never had to worry about that.

[bigboy0519]

I know what you mean. You could always tell what the light was even in the snow with the older lights. I don't like the LED lights at night because they are way too bright. I have problems with night-blindness and the bright traffic lights make it nearly impossible to see. I wish they could do something about that just like the snow buildup on the light.

[my83merc]

I've noticed some of these with the green light aimed down so you can't see it from very far away, but the red and yellow are still focused high. I know I'm approaching those lights more cautiously... Always thinking, "Is it broken, or is it green? or could it be red and I'm just not seeing it?" XD

[LEDtronics]

This would depend on the Lens over the LED. Some could have a lens that point down because the Green is so bright at night that some people complain about it. We use a special lens that spreads the light left to right so it is easier to see in all directions.

JPP...

[DjGizzo]

are they not dimmerble? and what happens if one led fails do the rest continue to function?

[LEDtronics]

Not really dimmable since they draw so little current. The ITE spec calls out that if one sections goes out no less then 25% of the light can be lost.

JPP...

[DjGizzo]

thanks :)

[flangboy]

working in the traffic signal field, LEDS are not cost effective and dont save money!

we end up replacing them every couple of years!

[LEDtronics]

You must be buying lost cost or cheap product.

Try LEDtronics LED Traffic lights, come with a 5 year warranty last much longer.

[g1g4h3rtz]

I live in Romania, Constanta and we have those LED traffic lights and they kick ass when compared to the classic ones. They are hghly visible from any angle and do more than swaping colors, they have animations of people walking when on green and they count the seconds left for either red or green. I thought that in other countryies these lights are standard. Someone mentioned snow geting stucked on the lights, but i've never seen this happen. i can certify these lights can be seen for over 1Km.

[coronapounder]

guess what?.. i have LED tail-lights on my car.. WOW!!

[joshig1983]

The decision has been made. Next time I'm buying or stealing traffic lights, I'll go LED. lol

[apelfed]

Amen to that

[MAL6000]

The LED signals are better, but like many things they're not perfect. They can fail partially instead of completely like a single bulb, such as one red light which was partly lit but had a dark zig-zag down the middle. Some of them flicker, but it looks like a controller problem when the Don't Walk lights all flicker together. Since they don't develop any heat, blowing snow can stick and block the light.

[soylentgreenb]

"Since they don't develop any heat, blowing snow can stick and block the light."

They're far below 100% efficient, so they do generate heat. Just a lot less than a 5% efficient light bulb(even less when you consider the colour filter that removes most of that 5%)

[back2nrml]

o thats nice! so why doesnt the person take this eydea to the goverment or somthing. Or i gues its caltran. they got my proval if thats what their ooking for

[spectrelives]

They've replaced almost all urban traffic lights in Australia with these. They look sweet.

[paF4uko]

They've changed all the traffic lights in Varna, Bulgaria with those LED "bulbs" and it's much better now as you can see the signal even if the sun is shining right behind you.

[HMJMAKER01]

LED traffic lights are mostly used here in providence ri but some are still incadescent.

[ECDT1089]

HMJMAKER01, your city is not the only city that has LED Traffic Lights. Here in D.C. ALL the TL's have been successfully changed to LED's. Including the DONT WALK/WALK sings with countdown timer.

[01ltlb7]

Those upgrades are the best!!!

[ASHKETCHUM999]

The old style lamps look wash out especially is sun is shinning on them. The LED colors look much better in the bright sun light or at night.

[eddieg749]

i agree

[Aron85]

Here in Berlin Germany LED Traffic Lights are used very often. They are really brighter than bulbs.

[Dylanwatko1]

They are now becoming popular in newcastle australia...all the new upgrades at interchanges use LED lights.

[MrNobodyWTB]

I wish more places in the US would start to use these.

[angus504]

They have tested LED traffic lights in my area in London. Particularly on a pelican crossing outside Sainsbury's supermarket in Camden Town. But the problem was, when you pulled up at the stop line, you couldn't see what colour light was showing because of the angle you were at in the car! So they took them down and put back the latest pre-LED style.

[LEDtronics]

LED traffic lights are used all over London. I guess it depends on the manufacture of the LED lights. You should have them look at LEDtronics LED traffic light. this will save your city 70% on its energy bill for traffic lights.

[danie123182]

We use LED lights all over California, US and you can see them from every angle. They are also far brighter than the incadescent lights they replaced. Perfect for driving in the fog.

[wcarter2]

we had a simple led traffic light project in our electronics shop when i was 3rd yr highschool

[dav080380]

amazing, traffi lights are great

[volvo1971]

I love LED lamps. They are much more efficient than filament bulbs and can last for a very long time. Hopefully soon we will be able to replace household bulbs with LED replacements. Compact fluorescence are good but they contain trace amounts of mercury and must be disposed of as hazardous waste.

[piksi2]

pufstyler: same here in finland, i think it's rather common already around europe

[andythesoupdragon]

one way or the other,traffic moves better when they aint working,sure this is the case in cities other than Edinburgh

[pufstyler]

i live in holland, we have a lot of those led-traffic light, and they are changing all the normal ones into led traffic lights as soon as they are broken

[avj00sder]

we use LEDs in our traffic lights in sydney

[samoht1977]

some town near the place where I live already uses them. There is a traffic light wich the colour green can be seen at about 1 Km distance, from my house.

[KB1KOI]

At a college nearby by, on the sixth floor, you can see the LED traffic light from between 2 and three miles away

[azbri73]

All I have to say is AWESOME.

[LEDtronics]

Thanks.