LED Traffic Lights Can’t Melt Snow

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Although LED traffic lights save tax payers a bunch of money, they are also causing traffic accidents because they can’t melt snow. I can’t help but wonder why no one has thought of covering the lights with Plexiglas?

"The police officer told me the new lights weren't melting the snow. How is that safe?" Many communities have switched to LED bulbs in their traffic lights because they use 90 percent less energy than the old incandescent variety, last far longer and save money. Their great advantage is also their drawback: They do not waste energy by producing heat.
 
This is actually one of those things I never would have thought of, tbh. And plexi wouldn't solve the problem, driving, wet snow can still cover them up.

In reality, me thinks people should just be better drivers. Then again when I woke up this morning to go get coffee, I did do a few donuts in my truck because they didn't plow last night.
 
Curious problem for sure... I am in mn, though I have not noticed the issue yet at all...

Though yes a problem, the bigger problem rears its ugly head, a majority of people don't have common sense.

If you can't see a light, be careful. Seems like common sense to me but I am constantly amazed.
 
You wouldn't want to add plastic to the front of the light housing because then you run the risk of getting reflection/glare when the sun is at the right angle. Here in Denver I haven't noticed the problem , we might not get enough snow that lasts days and days though.
 
those lights should have visors over them anyways to protect it from snow. I'm noticing a lot of new lights without visors on them.

If LED cannot produce enough heat, why not try another approach. I'm thinking nichrome wires. Nichrome wires can withstand up to 2552 degrees Fahrenheit and can be used as heating wires.
 
solar powered heater... next

You realize that most snow and ice accumulation happens at night. It's colder then, you know. So, you are going to have to add batteries and use super energy efficient heaters, not many of those, and a controller system to store the solar energy and decide when to turn on the heat.

Simplest solution is to retrofit the lights with simple thin-film heat strips that can draw off the same energy source as the lights. Add a controller that senses low temps and snow/ice build up. The manufacturer could fix this for a very reasonable cost based on economies of scale, millions of traffic lights out there, right.
 
I'm in Colorado and I haven't yet seen this to be a problem. I've only seen regular signs such as the speed limits being covered. In Boulder the problem is by design. They use mini lights for the green which are too small to be seen if there is sun glare.

Although the standard practice is that when a traffic light is down or can't be seen, the intersection should be treated as a four way stop. Having some common sense can avoid these fatal accidents. I think they mentioned that in the article.
 
those lights should have visors over them anyways to protect it from snow. I'm noticing a lot of new lights without visors on them.

If LED cannot produce enough heat, why not try another approach. I'm thinking nichrome wires. Nichrome wires can withstand up to 2552 degrees Fahrenheit and can be used as heating wires.

Exactly simple visors protect from snow acculation, and rain that freezes unless it blows in at an agle. Have they not tried this with the LED lights? :rolleyes:
 
I'm kind of surprised this didn't occur to anyone in advance... if it was your job to implement these sorts of things, "IT SAVES MONEY" should not be the only argument you examine.
 
Curious problem for sure... I am in mn, though I have not noticed the issue yet at all...

Though yes a problem, the bigger problem rears its ugly head, a majority of people don't have common sense.

If you can't see a light, be careful. Seems like common sense to me but I am constantly amazed.

Yea man. Minnesotains (and other northern states) know how to handle the snow. I go to school in Ohio (go up to my Dad's in Minnesota for breaks), and I'm amazed at how people don't know how to handle snow. Schools in Ohio would be cancelled or places shut down because, "Omg 2-3inches of snow." Schools would still be open with 10-12inches in Minnesota lol.

Why not have the covering of the light at a 15-30 degree angle, so snow/freezing rain will just bounce or drip off? Or maybe lights with wipers? :D
 
those solar panels will work great when theyre covered in snow :rolleyes:

You realize that most snow and ice accumulation happens at night. It's colder then, you know. So, you are going to have to add batteries and use super energy efficient heaters, not many of those, and a controller system to store the solar energy and decide when to turn on the heat.

Simplest solution is to retrofit the lights with simple thin-film heat strips that can draw off the same energy source as the lights. Add a controller that senses low temps and snow/ice build up. The manufacturer could fix this for a very reasonable cost based on economies of scale, millions of traffic lights out there, right.

If you had the solar panel heated too then snow wouldn't build up on it; and I thought the use of a batteries was a given...

The promlem with the retrofit solution is that you are going to have to determine if the addition of a heater that draws power off of the same energy source as the lights will use more power than the regular old light. If that is the case, then just put the old ones back up.

Then you have to consider the engineering cost of the whole operation etc... Oh well.. Iduuno.
 
they could fit an vibrator in it there, fit an motor inside with an weight in the box of the traffic light and make it come on every 10 mins for 10 secs when temps are below 5 to 10c to shake off the snow and fit an cover over them as well (needs an cover as the LEDs have gaps in them that the snow can grip onto)
 
"those lights should have visors over them anyways to protect it from snow."

Did you guys actually LOOK at the picture in the article??????
The visors ARE the problem. The opening at the bottom of the visor is too small. The driving snow gets wedged between the inside edges of the visor and the snow create a classic self sustaining Roman arch which continues to accumulate and eventually cover the lens surface.

The simplest solution may be visorless traffic lights.
 
Oh the irony

Must save the planet, must reduce carbon footprint, must use LED lights

Oh wait...
 
If you had the solar panel heated too then snow wouldn't build up on it; and I thought the use of a batteries was a given...

The promlem with the retrofit solution is that you are going to have to determine if the addition of a heater that draws power off of the same energy source as the lights will use more power than the regular old light. If that is the case, then just put the old ones back up.

Then you have to consider the engineering cost of the whole operation etc... Oh well.. Iduuno.

tbf a heater is only needed for a few months of the year
You could easily add a heater and just turn it on for those periods and on average over the year net saving. It doesn't need to be much
 
tbf a heater is only needed for a few months of the year
You could easily add a heater and just turn it on for those periods and on average over the year net saving. It doesn't need to be much

You'd think we could tack on some simple heating coils and hook them up to a mercury thermostat or something. They only need to heat until the light temp is > 0C.
 
Put a GPU in there so the lights can make patterns. The GPU will heat up and it can fold while it's idle. :)
 
Oh the irony

Must save the planet, must reduce carbon footprint, must use LED lights

Oh wait...

I don't think 'irony' is the word. Keeping people from driving in winter will further reduce carbon output. Mission accomplished! :D
 
"those lights should have visors over them anyways to protect it from snow."

Did you guys actually LOOK at the picture in the article??????
The visors ARE the problem. The opening at the bottom of the visor is too small. The driving snow gets wedged between the inside edges of the visor and the snow create a classic self sustaining Roman arch which continues to accumulate and eventually cover the lens surface.

The simplest solution may be visorless traffic lights.


yeah no matter what you do, snow blows sideways a lot... funny enough, if you really think about it the best thing to do might be to use incandescents in the winter, and the rest of the year switch them back to LED.
 
We have them in norway.
They cause no such problems, dunno how they solve it, all i know is that they brush signs and stuff :p
Maybe same fix for the lights :p
 
All that they need is a temperature controlled defroster. Just like on your car's rear view window.

Even with that running whenever it's below 35 degrees, it'd still draw less than a standard 69W traffic light bulb over the course of a year.

It's amazing how bad some got a couple weeks ago.

BP
 
Why not at least start with a different design. Such as, one without a bottom lip. Then again, that could mess with the glare and all that during a bright day.
 
Haven't noticed it here in Florida.

Yeah, but when Charlie rolled through a few years back, we made up for years of no snow in the span of a week when every retard in the Central Florida area decided that intersections without working signals were meant to be treated as, "Go As Fast As Possible" signs.
 
This is where they should have looked elsewhere before considering this option. A couple years ago people began making LED conversion taillights for snowmobiles. I think some of the Yamaha sleds even came from the factory. The just wouldn't ever get hot enough to melt the snow spray off of them, leading to some pretty dangerous conditions when following a sled equipped with these lights. Idiot Of The Day award goes to...
 
This is actually one of those things I never would have thought of, tbh. And plexi wouldn't solve the problem, driving, wet snow can still cover them up.

In reality, me thinks people should just be better drivers. Then again when I woke up this morning to go get coffee, I did do a few donuts in my truck because they didn't plow last night.

I guess donuts and coffee go hand in hand
 
So, once again.. what about a solar powered heater/defroster, with batteries, with a thermostat to control when they turn on and off. I'm not an engineer, but this seems like a viable option. and it should be really easy to implement....

or. how about crews with semi-high power lasers that can go around and melt the ice and snow right off. lol... I want one of those... :)
 
So, once again.. what about a solar powered heater/defroster$$$, with batteries$$$$$$$$, with a thermostat$$$$$$$$$$$$ to control when they turn on and off. I'm not an engineer, but this seems like a viable option. and it should be really easy to implement$$$$$$$$....

or. how about crews with semi-high power lasers$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ that can go around$$$$$$$$ and melt the ice and snow right off. lol... I want one of those... :)


;-)
 
This is where they should have looked elsewhere before considering this option. A couple years ago people began making LED conversion taillights for snowmobiles. I think some of the Yamaha sleds even came from the factory. The just wouldn't ever get hot enough to melt the snow spray off of them, leading to some pretty dangerous conditions when following a sled equipped with these lights. Idiot Of The Day award goes to...

engineers have a hard time thinking about real world variables. they dont spend too much time outside... and outside people dont know too much about physics.....
 
I'm not sure if a enclosure will work. Ice/Snow will stick to the glass no matter what. A heater has to be used, or go back to incandescent lamps.
 
Why are people talking abvout batteries on this one. The LED traffic lights are still powered by mains, aren't they? Add a temp sensor along with a simple defroster like on your cars rear window and forget about it.
 
Why are people talking abvout batteries on this one. The LED traffic lights are still powered by mains, aren't they? Add a temp sensor along with a simple defroster like on your cars rear window and forget about it.

You forget, this is [H]ard Forum! We must argue! :p
 
Why are people talking abvout batteries on this one. The LED traffic lights are still powered by mains, aren't they? Add a temp sensor along with a simple defroster like on your cars rear window and forget about it.

the whole point of using solar panels and batteries is to maintain the benefit of "going green" and using less electricity with LEDs as opposed to traditional incandessant bulbs and heaters. I'm sure you could just tie in a heater but it kind of defeats the purpose.
 
Why are people talking abvout batteries on this one. The LED traffic lights are still powered by mains, aren't they? Add a temp sensor along with a simple defroster like on your cars rear window and forget about it.

They're talking about batteries that store energy produce by solar panels so the lights work at nights as well.

The whole point of going LED is to save energy. As you said, it's powered by mains, and it's silly because LED is not hot enough to keep away snow and ice. If we powered them with solar panels and batteries for nights, we wouldn't have to worry about leaching too much energy.
 
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