New video! The LED Traffic Light and the Danger of "But Sometimes!"

Oh my goodness! I don't know if I should feel honored or terrified, but I'll take it. Thanks for the heads-up!

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You got a mention from popular mechanics... <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a20703748/led-traffic-lights-freezing/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a20703748/led-traffic-lights-freezing/</a>

Jay

Ooh, really? I'm a little surprised that the countdowns are self-learning, though I suppose they will only get a walk signal when requested by a pedestrian, and then the time will be pre-programmed. I recall seeing a spec sheet defining a communication protocol so I assumed they must all work like that, but now I see a newer one from GE that suggests an operational mode like yours. For the TVs, I ended up sticking with the Chromecasts. I just created two sequences in Premiere, then looped them a whole bunch of times. With a 45 minute runtime, there was plenty to go on!

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Couple of things, as an owner of a countdown pedestrian signal, it does not require a smart controller to time, rather they can be installed like normal and a microprocessor within the (ped) signal processes how many hand blinks there are after a couple of cycles. In other words, the (ped) signal itself is smart enough to figure out how many seconds are left based on previous cycle. 2. I have seen brand new incandescent installations around GA. I believe it is new-old stock in less critical intersections. 3. There is a right turn signal close by that does the same thing as yours. 4. I have dissected a pedestrian signal, it looks very similar to a traffic light except with more lower power LEDs 5. What setup did you decide to go with to control the two TVs?

Christopher Bassett

PS: Alec, remember that your approach and philosophy are 100% pure private sector. That is not necessarily the attitude down at city hall. Remember how Ray Stantz lamented to Egon and Peter when the three of 'em got tossed out of the university: "I've worked in the private sector. They expect results!"

Roger Beal

There are at least two likely reasons why incandescent traffic light bulbs have not been upgraded. One is the capital expenditure, often harder for a municipal government to justify -- whereas the maintenance budget may be very well-funded. The other is that city and county workers have (in many towns) very good contracts as to how much work they are "guaranteed" in a given pay cycle. Ending the replacement of traffic light bulbs may have been shot down by an aggressive labor negotiator. On the other hand, what with the endless and deafening clamor to "save the environment" and "end climate change" by using less electrical power, a changeover to LEDs should be a no-brainer. Think of the positive spin the mayor or city council could put on the news that evil incandescent bulbs were no longer blazing away at every controlled intersection in town. And then, there's the attorney who sues for $10MM because an LED snowed up and someone got hurt. Beeg expense, bad PR for the city.

Roger Beal

I'm not sure where they're from. The eBay seller was from Texas I think, so maybe somewhere down there? I suppose that's a good reason to keep the green lens transparent, though it would drive me a tad nuts if they didn't match!

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Agree completely with your argument that we shouldn't let "but sometimes" cloud our judgement and we can't blame new technology for human failures. However, this saga is a brilliant example of how ignorant we can be about real-world systems. For decades, millions of incandescent traffic lights had been quietly melting snow as a side-effect of their thermal inefficiency and nobody consciously thought much about it. It was only after we started switching to LED sets that something which had been happening unnoticed became apparent. Regarding the set you pulled apart, do you know where they came from? I ask because the green light not being green may be a safety measure. In some places, the forward lens of the green light is intentionally left untinted with the green hue coming from the blubs/LEDs (like in the example you tore down). This is done to reduce the chances that drivers might mistake sunlight/glare on an unilluminated green light for a signal to go.

LOVE the set Alec. And the TVs work well in the background. We have only the smaller type of lights here in the UK - never seen one as big as your example!

Stephen Bell

Yeah right turn arrows aren't in the majority of intersections here, either. But you'll usually find them on intersections with 4 lane roads in each direction. Where I live there's a lot of those!

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We have a far less sophisticated system in Lexington, KY for emergency vehicles where they can see if the oncoming traffic side has a red or green light. There's a blue light for straight traffic and turning traffic on the back of the signals. (Apparently patreon takes the Android enter as a post instead of a newline). Anyways, right turn signals are also very uncommon here, I can only think of two intersections in my entire city that have them and even when they are used it's only for probably 10 seconds, rather useless in my opinion.