Tower Lighting

A

Thread Starter

Ajanthika

I have access to a 325' tower for my remote station, and like to assist the tower owner where possible. The tower lighting is controlled by a light sensitive switch working a relay which actually controls the lights. The relay controller appears to be home made and did have a large open frame relay in it - until the contacts completely disappeared! The actual load from the lights is about 1200w on each of two phases. I replaced the relay with a 30A contactor which I thought was overkill and it was fine for several years, but that is now getting unreliable. Clearly there is a pretty heavy switch on surge with incandescent lamps, but this must be true at all tower sites. What do the professionals do? Could I use a flasher like the one below instead?

http://www.clrwtr.com/PDF/SymCom/SSAC-FS-FA-Series.pdf
 
I think the very first feature - Up to 10x longer lamp life would make it a no brainer.

The failsafe design to meet FAA regulations would be a selling feature depending on where you are located.

I assume you are flashing the lamps

I don't profess to know anything about tower beacons but I would think they might keep the power on at a reduced level to keep the filament warm and avoid thermal shock.

Hopefully an expert will enlighten us PTP
 
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