Making it safer for pedestrians to cross busy streets

Fisher & Company Engineering in Somerset recently announced the availability of the only fully highways compliant solar powered belisha beacon on the market today – “This new solar powered belisha beacon operates 24/7/365 in the harshest of climates and under extreme weather conditions” says Managing Director Neil Fisher who designed and developed this self contained product that meets all EU guidelines, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), CE marking directives and British Standards testing compliance to ensure that the product would be 100% carbon neutral and be able to withstand the toughest of environments and provide trouble free service for years to come.

One of the biggest challenges facing the new design was the need for an extremely efficient and continuous self contained power source. The design called for the use of photovoltaic solar panels. Initial testing showed that these panels could not deliver enough power on the darkest of days to provide a reliable supply of power. New solar panels were sourced and tested over a 12-month period of time. These, combined with a specifically designed power control and conversion technology developed by Fisher & Company, provided the required energy at sustainable levels.

The housing for the battery and power control equipment required a break from the traditional column base found on conventional belisha beacon installations. Fisher & Company needed to design a purpose made large column base fabricated for ease of access to house the electronic control components.

Neil Fisher says “the new solar powered belisha beacon utilises the Fisher & Company designed Through Belisha Beacon assembly and comes complete with our extremely robust Anti-Vandal Gallery and Polyethylene Amber Globe allowing the globe to be mounted at any desired height”.