Tideland Signal, the international specialist in aids to marine navigation, has won the contract to supply solar-powered marine lanterns to mark the coral reef surrounding Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean.
With a total area of 42 square miles and a population of 40,000, Rodrigues is one of the Mascarene Islands and a dependency of Mauritius. In order to encourage fishing on the outer reef, the Regional Assembly has funded a project to mark five of the most important points on the reef.
Tideland's SolaMAX was chosen against strong international competition - around which the original specification had been written - because of its clearly superior design and performance capabilities. This is demonstrated by a well-proven track record and low maintenance in the most demanding marine environments across many latitudes.
In this application, the five SolaMAX-155 lanterns will be mounted on solid structures in the reef and will each show a yellow light visible for up to 5NM. The compact lightweight design features integral solar panels charging a sealed lead acid battery via a solar regulator. All the internals, including the long-life LEDs and high-integrity electronics, are contained within a tough UV-resistant polycarbonate enclosure and will even withstand being temporarily submerged in salt water. The only time the lantern needs to be opened would be to change out the battery, recommended after 5 years operation.
For the user's peace of mind, SolaMAX features Tideland's “QuikChek” facility, which provides access to the lantern's controls via a sealed port on the outside of the housing. This makes it easy to wake the unit out of ‘sleep mode’ after long-term storage, check battery status, and confirm the flash character all without having to dismantle it.
SolaMAX lanterns can be factory-programmed to the required settings; alternatively, the end-user can easily re-programme them for flash character (via rotary switches) and LED intensity (via dip switches) if required.
In addition to the flash character and intensity setting, the optional SignalView programmer kit will allow end-users to set their preferred levels for photo cell switching and low voltage disconnect/activation.
A high-efficiency DC to DC converter is incorporated, providing virtually constant luminous output under a wide range of input power conditions. LED service life is calculated to be in excess of 75,000 hours.
Tideland Signal also offers a range of options with its LED lanterns, including GPS synchronisation, GSM modem reporting and VHF remote programming. The SolaMAX housing is self-coloured and the MaxiHALO LED Flasher is available in all the standard IALA colours.
For more information, visit www.tidelandsignal.com
