[TowerTalk] TOWER LIGHTS

[Lux, Jim]

On 6/3/21 5:59 PM, Lux, Jim wrote:
> On 6/3/21 5:32 PM, Bill via TowerTalk wrote:
>> After lots of BS and wrangling, it appears I will probably get a 
>> permit for my tower in Belize.  That's the good news.  The bad news 
>> is that although  I am far from any airport the authorities want this 
>> tower lighted up.  Although the tower is 135 feet they want a "high 
>> intensity" light at the top and another in the middle.  I know it's 
>> BS but I am up the stump on this.  I really am not too keen on 
>> hooking up my electric mains to a 130 ft tower in an area prone to 
>> lightning and I am certainly not too keen on having to lay out a fist 
>> full of bucks for the lights.  My contractor thinks we could put 
>> something up on top so they will be satisfied and thinks we would 
>> never see the guys again.
>> Since all the authorities are far away (at least 80 miles) they 
>> certainly aren't going to be able to tell a high intensity from a 
>> regular red light.  To top it off, none of the towers in the area are 
>> lit.
>> Any ideas?  Litigation is not a viable option as I am a gringo in 
>> Belize.
>> Bill K4XS/V31XX
>>
>> ?
>
>
>
> Running power isn't that much of a pain - you have a small isolation 
> transformer at the base and spark gap type protection to ground.
>
> However, as to the actual lights...what about those LED "road flare" 
> replacements - They're really bright and cheap. and run off 12V
>
> try https://www.superbrightleds.com/


It occurs to me that in (mostly) sunny Belize, you could probably run 
one of these beacons off a solar panel and a 12V battery. They're 
something like a watt or 3 (1/4 amp or so). So figure 12 hours a night 
on time, that will take 3 amp hours - a standard lead acid brick is 
7Ah.  10 W solar panels aren't very big or expensive.