STC furnishes solar lighting for municipal landscape enhancement

TEMPE, AZ - 03/04/2010 - The City of Tempe, AZ has installed solar-powered landscape lighting to enhance the appearance of a traffic circle in the evening hours. Six landscape architectural fixtures were positioned to heighten the appearance of certain plants at night.

STC furnished a dusk-to-dawn power system which included a 130W solar array and two sealed batteries. The lamp fixtures were outfitted with high efficiency MR16 inserts rated at a nominal 5W electrical draw. The lamps included three high efficiency Nichia sources and appropriate thermal management to ensure long and reliable operation. All lamps produced a color output in the range of 5000K which is considered a "daylight" color spectrum. (For comparison, lamps in the 3500-4000K range produce warm white which has a yellow appearance.)

The project represents a slight modification in the application of the monument sign lighting packages STC is releasing in the spring. These lighting packages are targeted towards municipalities and commercial users which need monument signs lit for all or portions of the night and cannot find an affordable AC power source or would simply like to go green. Using LED lamps for the projects assures operation at sub-zero temperatures where other options such as Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL's) cannot operate reliably due to the cold temperatures.

STC was not the low bidder on this project. STC was the most responsive and technically competent bidder as it was the only respondent to consider shading effects of a nearby building in calculating its solar array size.

The building presented a shading hazard to the system in the month of December due to the height and distance relative to the solar system location. STC furnished a system that compensated for the shading thus assuring its success. Failing to address this type of issue prior to fielding the equipment generally voids the system warranty and leaves customers with bad feelings regarding the viability of solar for future projects.

For more information on STC's products and services, please stay here on our website or send an email to info@solar-traffic-controls.com or call 480.449.0222.