Road works warning lamp

[David HK]

Its certainly a sign of the times. Yesterday (Thursday) whilst out for a bicycle ride I spotted this new type of road works warning lamp with photo-voltaic panels on it. When I find a smashed one I will investigate further to find out what sort of battery is used.

David in HK

[Rover]

Just my opinion,

But based on the size of the panels either side of the light. I'm gonna guess not much light put out and the battery is probably quite small. I have garden lighst with larger panels.

Rover

[rossw]

Just my opinion,

But based on the size of the panels either side of the light. I'm gonna guess not much light put out and the battery is probably quite small. I have garden lighst with larger panels.

Your garden lights probably have a 100% duty cycle when "on".
These hazard lights probably have a duty cycle approaching 2%.
So they can be quite bright AND low power.

[Rover]

Still be a small battery IMHO.. agree on the duty cycle.... with minute power to a timing circuit

Rover

[David HK]

I agree with your comments.

However, the Chinese tend not to make things unless they have done their homework first, so someone has sat down to give this design some thought.

It won't belong before I obtain a smashed unit. Local Chinese drivers don't care much about what they hit and that includes humans.

Dave

[dang]

Those are not fire-and-forget lamps like the average garden path lights; they are most probably leased and on a maintenance schedule that includes refreshing the battery pack charge to keep liability risks low.

The PV input may be just enough to cover the battery self-discharge ie: Nicad 20% per month or NiMH 30% per month, if the hazard light has lithium batteries or the new NiMH's at 3% losses those little panels may keep the batteries actually nearly topped off.

[Wolvenar]

LOL ,
Just one of those Chinese things.
 

[David HK]

At long last I have seen inside one of these lamps and can now confirm that they are equipped with 2 nos 1.2 volts rechargeable batteries wired in series.

Must be great savings on the large size of DC battery previously used.

No idea of cost yet.

David HK

[ghurd]

I have seen some similar in the US.
Single 5mm LED.  Or an LED on each side.  But not chocked full of LEDs.
Worked quite well, as far as I could tell driving past it.

Remember, it just needs to light up to be seen.  It's not trying to light a room.  The large area of the lense makes it very visable from as far as possible in town.
G-