I have a customer who wants to create 4 portable arrow sticks for traffic control. They do not want to pay for a new setup, they just want to explore the prices of fabricating something ourselves. As far as the lights and the board goes, I have that taken care of. I was just wondering if there is a way to create a "arrow stick" controller, something similiar to what Whelen or FS uses. If it would be hard to re-create something of the sort, then wonder if you could find some controllers cheap? Checked e-Bay and someone has one now for $25, which seems like a good deal to me, but it has 4 days, so I will watch to see what it rises to.
Now to the next stop. I need a plastic enclosure for the controller/electronics of the unit.
And for power, the user mentioned a car battery in a box. I plan on using LED's, so does anyone think a motorocyle battery with a small solar panel would do the job. If so, what size panel and battery would be sufficient?
They want the unit on some kind of stand. I have looked around on the web for some kind of stand, and really nothing has looked usable. It needs to have some weight in the bottom, so this thing does not flip over.
I know this idea sounds pretty stupid, but hey, this is what the customer wants, I am just supposed to give a price, maybe throw one together for a demo.
So if you dont mind, could you please throw some ideas my way...I just dont want to totally shoot this idea down, but maybe someone can find a different approach then me.
Thanks,
Nick
Kinda OT, Portable Arrow Sticks
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KuhnElectronics
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Well, first off, you're going the right way by using low power LED's.
To size your power solution correctly, you need to look at how much power these units are likely to draw, and for how long. Are they expected to run for days on end? Or just for several hours at a time during an event/job?
You'd want to calculate how much power the unit would draw when fully lit. Say I had 8 Whelen TIR3 modules wired up. Each unit draws about half an amp, so fully lit I'd be drawing 4 amps. If you wanted to average it out and say that it drew 2 amps on average, that'd probably work. So, if you were going to take a fairly standard 50Ah deep cycle battery and discharge it 50%, you could run the unit for about 12 hours, give or take. If you want to go longer than you'd need either a larger battery capacity or some solar charging capacity.
As for mounting, you'd want a fairly heavy duty frame, something perhaps extentable so you could raise it up above traffic, and a backboard behind the lighting like most commercial grade arrow boards have. Throw on a waterproof lockable telco box for the flasher/controller, and you should be set.
You may still want to look into commercially available arrow boards. Even though they're more expensive, you might want to think about the liability aspect if something you custom manufacture fails.
Good luck with your project!
To size your power solution correctly, you need to look at how much power these units are likely to draw, and for how long. Are they expected to run for days on end? Or just for several hours at a time during an event/job?
You'd want to calculate how much power the unit would draw when fully lit. Say I had 8 Whelen TIR3 modules wired up. Each unit draws about half an amp, so fully lit I'd be drawing 4 amps. If you wanted to average it out and say that it drew 2 amps on average, that'd probably work. So, if you were going to take a fairly standard 50Ah deep cycle battery and discharge it 50%, you could run the unit for about 12 hours, give or take. If you want to go longer than you'd need either a larger battery capacity or some solar charging capacity.
As for mounting, you'd want a fairly heavy duty frame, something perhaps extentable so you could raise it up above traffic, and a backboard behind the lighting like most commercial grade arrow boards have. Throw on a waterproof lockable telco box for the flasher/controller, and you should be set.
You may still want to look into commercially available arrow boards. Even though they're more expensive, you might want to think about the liability aspect if something you custom manufacture fails.
Good luck with your project!
if its something to be just set on top of a barrell or something like that here's what I'd do
wire up a 555 to a 4017 ..the 555 will give u a timed output to drive the 4017 which is a decade counter/divider..in other words..it COUNTS....hook up each output on the 555 to a transistor..and the transistor to LED module.. if all u need is an arrow pattern going one way.. then there u have it.. just flip the light upside down and it will be flashing the other way!! cheap and effective.. can be done for around 75$ each or a LOT less depending on what LED''s you use...
wire up a 555 to a 4017 ..the 555 will give u a timed output to drive the 4017 which is a decade counter/divider..in other words..it COUNTS....hook up each output on the 555 to a transistor..and the transistor to LED module.. if all u need is an arrow pattern going one way.. then there u have it.. just flip the light upside down and it will be flashing the other way!! cheap and effective.. can be done for around 75$ each or a LOT less depending on what LED''s you use...