http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/ Engadget Comments for LED traffic lights don't melt snow, do cause accidents http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 9:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Not if they can manage to do it smart, only have the heater on when needed, not constantly.]]>Dec 17th 2009 9:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
It still seems like a stupid mistake. You'd think that in a project like this there would be many people involved, amongst them some who work with traffic lights in colder regions...]]>Dec 17th 2009 10:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 10:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Just retrofit a non-reflective, transparent flush cover. Bad design, bad testing, just too bad.]]>Dec 17th 2009 10:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 10:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/You're assuming that gravity would take care of the snow build-up, but that's simply not true. Wet snow can stick to just about anything. I assume you don't live in a cold region or you would know this.]]>Dec 17th 2009 10:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Or just coat and/or design the housing so that snow doesn't build up. No need to actively MELT the snow. Water has high heat capacity. Melting it to remove it is inefficient.]]>Dec 17th 2009 10:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Last I checked, the US is not the only place LED traffic lights are used...]]>Dec 17th 2009 10:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/What spend millions of dollars to research some new expensive heating element to add in the lights?
I figure it's cheaper to go back to the old lights where the light IS the heater.

I saw a story similar to that a few months ago (not sure if it was Engadget or elsewhere)
About how the energy savings of switching to LED bulbs was wiped out by higher heating costs due to the loss of the extra heat from the old bulbs.


]]>Dec 17th 2009 11:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Honda tests its new cars in cold climates before rolling out to the nation and so do most companies deploying products in cold and warm climates.

Are we are so busy insanely following the current AGM hysteria and putting toxic CFL lightbulbs in our homes that will ultimately end up in landfills leaching into local groundwater - that hopefully - LEDs won't take a perception hit because of this. I want LED bulbs in my house but not so I can "Save the Earth.", so I can save money.

Better yet, how about those new CRT based light bulbs? I wonder how much heat they generate. I know the light from them is much more natural than CFL or LED.]]>Dec 17th 2009 11:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 11:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/I guess they thought that the salt was going to jump up from the ground and spray tself on the lights!!!!
HAHAHA!
EPIC FAIL on engineers who designed this!!!!]]>Dec 17th 2009 11:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/"Or just coat and/or design the housing so that snow doesn't build up. No need to actively MELT the snow. Water has high heat capacity. Melting it to remove it is inefficient."

You don't need to melt all the snow, just a very thin layer to reduce the friction between the snow/ice and glass. Then, gravity takes over.]]>Dec 17th 2009 12:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 12:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/We engineer for what we need, which, in this case, is efficient lighting. No matter how useful heat would be in such a situation, it is a waste product of energy conversion. If the heat is indeed necessary, add it externally, so it can be switched off when not required.]]>Dec 17th 2009 12:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 12:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 12:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Actually, no it wouldn't be cheaper to switch back, the old style bulbs use significantly more electricity than the LED bulbs not to mention the labor costs of getting someone out there with a bucket truck to replace the bulbs when they burn out, old bulb use a ton of electricity 100% of the time, but you only need the heat to melt the snow maybe a couple hundred hours worth of time a year and even still a heating element would likely use less power than the old bulbs as halogen/incandecent bulbs get extrememly hot, much hotter than is needed to melt snow.

And on top of it all i'd wager there are far more accidents caused by burnt out bulbs than a snow obstructed bulbs.]]>Dec 17th 2009 1:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 2:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 3:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
No No No everyone has it all wrong. The bigger problem is the cold weather. My solution is to pump gasses in to the atmosphere changing the climate of the earth. That way you can have all the energy efficient bulbs your little green hearts desire. ]]>Dec 17th 2009 3:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Look at the completely flat sign next to the light. It's covered with snow. Being flush won't prevent show buildup.]]>Dec 17th 2009 3:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 3:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 4:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 5:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/I dont think that would work, unless they really got the surface right, snow will still build up. maybe if it were angled down some. or maybe they can have some one come by once every couple weeks and spray it with Pam or somthing]]>Dec 17th 2009 5:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
The vented sides allow the wind to blow directly into the lights and collect now there. Non-vented sides have a tendency to force air to go around the lights, so less snow sticks.

Also, change the foods so that there's less space for snow to stick. Gravity will do the rest.

It works great in Canada! There's four feet deep snow drift outside my house, but I can still see the traffic lights! (that is if I can get my car out of the drive first)]]>Dec 17th 2009 7:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/ditto, heater activated via thermometer or auto defroster...]]>Dec 17th 2009 8:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/]]>Dec 17th 2009 9:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 18th 2009 1:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Adding a 500+ watt heater to an LED array is much more inefficient that using 100-150 watt incandescent bulbs. ]]>Dec 18th 2009 2:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 18th 2009 12:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/CFLs are hardly "toxic" The amount of mercury left over from the life of a CFL is less than the amount of mercury made as a byproduct of the additional electricity a normal bulb would use. In addition you can recycle the unused mercury in CFLs (all Home Depots accept them, as well as many other places). The trace amount of mercury is so minor that you don't even need any special clean up procedures if one breaks in your house. More facts and less hype, please.]]>Dec 18th 2009 8:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 9:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 9:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/They knew the rules when they got their license. But they forgot about them the next day.]]>Dec 17th 2009 9:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/I live in Columbus, Ohio, the home of bad drivers in bad weather. When Hurricane Ike came through and knocked out power for a week, the police promised to direct traffic at all major intersections. I wish they had kept that promise. I saw two cops all week and both were speeding through an intersection. All week, I saw one intersection where people were treating it like a four way stop. Surprisingly, I saw no accidents that were caused by this. We could have used those officers directing traffic.]]>Dec 17th 2009 9:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
The over all issue of the LED traffic lights not working to melt the snow is a big issue here in WI. There is talk about stopping the use of LEDs for that very reason. ]]>Dec 17th 2009 9:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Honestly, ask yourself, would you loot during a riot or black out when everyone is doing it? The dude or gal next to me is doing it, IT SHOULD BE FINE.]]>Dec 17th 2009 9:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 10:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
I challenge you to randomly ask people what they should do if a traffic light is not working. I bet you'd get a lot of people either not knowing or giving you the wrong answer. ]]>Dec 17th 2009 10:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Hmm... In my area people seem pretty good about handling outages. On slower traffic lights they'll treat them like 4-way stops and in heavier traffic areas they'll act almost like the light is still there... one side will drive for a minute and then they'll come to a stop and let the other side go for a minute. Obviously there are still assholes that will drive on through even though everyone else is stopping so you have to be careful as the transition is happening, but overall I've had generally good experiences.]]>Dec 17th 2009 10:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Doesn't matter. If the peope that are going the direction of the blocked light use it as a stop sign, they won't get hit by cars coming the other way. ]]>Dec 17th 2009 11:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Maybe they COULDN'T SEE THE TRAFFIC LIGHT when the power was out. Everywhere I've lived, drivers are pretty good about treating dead or flashing red signals as all-way stops. But if the power goes out at night, there will be a fair number of people who don't see the intersection.]]>Dec 17th 2009 11:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
Anyway, I'm sure that we can all agree that some people are just plain stupid on the roads unless they have really obvious cues such as visible traffic lights.]]>Dec 17th 2009 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/Dec 17th 2009 6:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
You sir, are awful at this. What you have explained there is something an ethical person would do, not moral. Dee dee duh]]>Dec 18th 2009 8:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/led-traffic-lights-dont-melt-snow-do-cause-accidents/
How else do you think virtually all their cars employ copious LEDs for daytime running lamps and even normal headlights?

The solution is obvious, some very low current heaters for wintertime.]]>Dec 17th 2009 9:29AM