Old Business. TEO Signal Committee Meeting Minutes Waters Edge Conf. Room C September 16, 2004

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1 Attendees: Jerry Kotzenmacher Ray Star Mike Wolf Marlin Reinardy Kevin Schwartz Greg Gruber Roger Sowder Mike Gerbenski Jim Deans Tom Dumont Kile Holm Ben Osemenam Old Business TEO Signal Committee Meeting Minutes Waters Edge Conf. Room C September 16, 2004 Battery Backup cabinet It was determined that using the lighting cabinet as the battery backup cabinet was not going to work and has been abandoned. Marlin has begun new work with Povolny Specialties on a new service/battery backup cabinet prototype. Cabinet will be wider but will still have the same bolt pattern as our current service cabinet. The meter will be on the outside of the cabinet. When complete, the cabinet will be UL listed and may have a light on top to indicate battery backup is operating. This cabinet will likely become the standard service cabinet. With a four battery system, a typical LED intersection will run four hours of full operation and an additional eight hours of flash operation. A preliminary plan is attached. Get all comments to Ray or Marlin as soon as possible. See attachment. This note for John Tackman after minutes had been sent out: Just a note of clarification about the UPS operation of a signal cabinet using 4 batteries. The maximum full operation time that I have seen here in the shop with the 3 units we have tested using an 8 amp load is just over two and a half hours. It would require 8 batteries to make it through the full 4 hour full operation run time as noted in the minutes. I'm not sure that all of the vendors that have supplied a UPS for evaluation even have an option for a 4 hour run time. It has been observed that they will all flash an intersection after the initial 2 hour run for over 4 hours but that is a load of less than 3 amps. John T. John Tackman, Senior Electronic Technician MnDOT Electrical Services Section 6000 Minnehaha Ave. St. Paul, Mn

2 New Spec Book Mike gave an update on his work on the new spec book (lighting) and 2565 (signals) in the book has been completed. The governing date of the book has yet to be established. The book will overlap our current spec book. Will be available in New Business MMUTCD Rail Road Preemption Ray was on MMUTCD committee and completed the signal chapter. Ray pointed out that the Highway Rail Intersections and Highway Light Rail Intersections portions of the MN MUTCD have a "should" statement saying that when the traffic signal is interconnected with the railroad crossing signal, that there should be blankout signs or red arrows prohibiting all turns toward the tracks, including the right turns. We have not done this to date. Since it is a "should' statement, it may be wise to include a note in the file explaining why you are not doing it if you choose not to do it. Audible peds Audible peds are in use at Cambridge and Paynsville. Beeps, chirps or voice are options on messages. Voice is required in Minnesota. Upcoming Signals Classes Jerry gave an update on the upcoming Rail Road preemption training seminar. The class will be held at Hennepin County Public works building on November 3rd and 4 th, All MN/DOT signal operators should attend this training. Flyer for this seminar is attached. Other upcoming traffic signal classes are: Advanced controller (beta)- October 20th & 21 st Advanced Synchro (tentative)- December 14 th and 15th Signal and Lighting Construction Certification/Recertification - Various dates Signals 101 January 20 th Signal Design February 8 th 10 th OTSO will update web site with new class postings. LED expanded view TH 36 at CSAH 17 has expanded view LEDs on a span wire system. They are on the overhead indications only. The wide view indications dampen the effects of wind blown overhead span wires indications giving the appearance of flashing. The new span wire system in Dundas will also test this type of indication. They may also be useful in AWFs and steep grade intersections. They are not yet on the approved products list. Signal Base Opening Since the current transformer base is larger than it previously was, but the existing door was not increased in size, it was suggested to make the door larger for better access to the terminal block. All agreed that this was a good suggestion and shouldn t difficult to have designed. OTSO will look into making the door on the base as large as possible. Red/Yellow Flash Greg had an example of a driver who had an incident with red/yellow flash at a traffic signal. The committee agreed that we should phase out all red/yellow flash at traffic signals. It was suggested that OTSO send out a tech memo, like

3 the overhead red/yellow flasher beacon tech memo, to remove the red/yellow flash at traffic signals by a specified date. OTSO will look into the tech memo. Dialite update Jim D. has three intersections on Highway 110 with the new and improved heads. He reported one indication has failed to date. Jim will give updates on the condition of the heads throughout the year. Color Code diagram In an effort to reduce mice form chewing on the wires from the terminal block in the transformer up to the indications, we are using reduced diameter cable inside the signal pole rather than individual wires. It was decided that the color coding in this cable should meet the NEC and that the Contractors need to be informed as to how we want the individual conductors wired to the heads. As a result, OTSO made a color coding box diagram to reflect these colors for indications. The box should be placed on all field wiring diagrams. It was suggested to rename the box to clarify the meaning. See attachment Traconex Software Traconex has come out with new software that will allow use on Windows. ACT Electronics was to have a price quote for the software by the meeting, but did not have quote complete. They will get a quote to Jerry soon. Since the software requires Windows XP, we will also have a separate price quote including laptops. NOTE: Since the meeting, Jerry received a quote of $11, for 5 copies. Will send out a letter in the near future to districts that have Traconex and explain options. LED EVP Marlin and Roger gave a field demo of a LED EVP unit. It was a side by side comparison of our existing EVP bulb and a LED white light. The general consensus of the group was that the LED light did not have adequate target value or brilliance output. In the flashing mode, it could be defined as a verify light. When the light was on steady, it was difficult to define the light as anything more than a reflection. Marlin will work with the manufacturer on getting a larger lens attached. Cost per LED light are expected to be around $200 Low voltage cabinet It was suggested that the committee look into a low voltage controller cabinet. The committee discussed the pros and cons of a low voltage system. A general lack of interest and no clear advantage of using a low voltage system was the outcome. Ray said that NEMA once looked into this issue but did not pursue for reasons unknown. AWFs on curves Tom D. suggested that AWFs be place at better vantage points on the roadway to better accommodate curves and obstructions. It was not clear if we could deviate from the standard 750 from the stop line. Examples of other AWFs that are not at 750 were given, such as TH 36 at English. Here, a rail road bridge interfered with the 750 distance. General consensus was that moving the AWF to better accommodate roadway curves and obstructions was appropriate. Advanced flash timing would need to be adjusted appropriately. Two point detection was also suggested. OTSO may have a Uof M study looking into issues with AWFs. Round Robin

4 Tom D. Has been getting countdown pedestrian indication requests. Cities should pay 100% costs on retro fits and 50% on new installations. One disadvantage of countdown peds is you can t shorten ped clear times. Greg G. with the reduced diameter cable now in use, it appears mice problems have now moved to the indications. Mice have been chewing the knobs and wires at the LED unit. The use of steal wool at wire entry point was suggested as a test. Roger and Jim will try test sites to see if this approach will be beneficial. Marlin TH 52 at 117 th Street Excel will not hook up ahead of step down transformer. Will need memo on this policy. Also, lighting cabinet needs disconnect ahead of meter.

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