SZ Beacons with TraffiCalm DFB signs

TEMPE, AZ - 05/06/2013 - Surprise, AZ has long been a user of STC flashing beacon products for school zone and pedestrian safety projects, as well as emergency vehicle exit signals. In an effort to enhance school zone safety in a particularly busy school zone, the city called on STC to upgrade an existing solar flashing beacon system with Driver Feedback (DFB) signs.

Since the design of any successful solar-powered system is dependent on three things - location, load and duty cycle - Surprise personnel knew it was not possible to add additional load without adjustment to either the solar-powered system or the system duty cycle.

Surprise selected the 9-inch DFB from TraffiCalm for the feedback device. This defined the revised load for the system. STC had furnished the solar flashing beacon system several years ago and they had been designed for a higher duty cycle than the school was currently using or intended to use in the future. As a result of the small increase in the load and the available duty cycle, no changes to the power system were necessary.

STC Applications Engineer Jimmie Dixon assisted Surprise personnel with the installation of the sign and the supporting equipment. As the sign is equipped with an internal scheduling function, the city opted to continue using the original STC-01 time clocks to run the systems and keep their control configuration consistent with the rest of the equipment throughout the city.

Studies by local engineering companies performed on completed STC projects have shown that by combining school flashers with radar signs tends to have a greater impact on driver compliance with posted speed limits in school zones. STC can work with agencies to look at options for upgrading existing beacon systems to incorporate DFB packages or to furnish new systems with either 9-, 14- or 15-inch DFB signs from Trafficalm.

Celebrating our 12th year designing and manufacturing solar-powered traffic control systems. 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.