Lanterns replace rotating beacon in Irish lighthouse

Straw Island is in the Aran Islands, off Galway Bay. The lighthouse is located on a small island at the entrance to Killeany Harbour near the south-eastern end of Inishmore. Accessible by boat or helicopter, the white painted, 11m tower was inaugurated in 1878 to guide local fishermen into the harbour. At Straw Island the Tideland lanterns will operate in a bi-form arrangement showing a white light of 15,300+ candela, visible over 360° and a range of 15+NM. This solution offers integral standby capability, as one MaxLED-600 operating alone would still achieve a range of 13.5+NM in the unlikely event of one lantern failing. The lanterns are supplied with a stainless steel control cabinet and, since the system is inherently waterproof, the power requirement could, if required, be further reduced by removing the lighthouse glazing.

The MaxLED-600 is one of a range of compact, long range LED lanterns including the MaxLED-200, MaxLED-400 and MaxLED-800 for offshore structures as well as land based installations. The MaxLED-200, the smallest of the four, offers a range in excess of 10 nautical miles (>16 NM @ T=0.85) and yet is less than 12 inches high (11.45 in or 290.77mm) and weighs only 10.5 lbs (4.8 kg). The lanterns are constructed in rugged, corrosion resistant marine aluminium designed to withstand the most severe environments, from ice bound latitudes to the tropics.

The exceptional range performance is achieved by a powerful, one piece lens with proprietary Tideland optics, which projects light in an even and consistent 360° horizontal beam pattern. Proven high intensity LED technology, together with power conditioning circuitry provides extremely high reliability and long service life, making the MaxLED range ideally suited for buoy mounting, beacons, offshore and other solar powered applications.

The MaxLED range features redundant, high efficiency power supplies, each powering a series string of interleaved LEDs to ensure the light continues to operate even if one power supply or one or more LEDs should fail. In such an event, the range is reduced by less than 15%. The constant current power source ensures maximum life expectancy for the LEDs while the temperature compensated drive circuits maintain uniform brightness despite varying ambient temperatures.

Features include full monitor and control access, user selectable flash characters and power setting for multiple visible range performance. The MaxLED range is available in all standard IALA colours, accepts input voltages from 9 to 36 VDC and has an operating range of -40°C to +60°C. Vertical divergence is variable from 3° to 10°.