In 2017, some residents requested the Committee research the possibility of an uphill facing VAS. As the manufacturer of the downhill VAS had gone into receivership, we were forced to find an alternative. We decided upon a company called Roadside Technologies (RT) and for a solar-powered unit which could be placed almost anywhere without having to rely upon mains electricity from a lamppost.
The owners of Lamorna kindly volunteered to have the sign placed upon a lamppost outside their house, where it was duly fitted. RT failed to point out two potential problems with the Lamorna site: the solar panel was under a tree in partial shade and the radar beam, if horizontal, would be directed above the tops of vehicles owing to the steepness of the hill. Thus the VAS never worked very well and eventually failed.
RT eventually agreed to remove the Lamorna VAS and replace it with a new unit which, with the permission of the Harts at Meadow, would be mounted on a new pole in full sunlight. We insisted that the sign be tilted a little downhill, and all was well – for a few months!
When this VAS failed, it was delivered to RT’s works in Chesterfield for repair. Communication is not the forte of RT but it was eventually established that the VAS had been repaired and sent back to us by courier. Needless to say it never arrived and all parties knew nothing of its whereabouts. After months of unanswered messages and emails, the VAS was found in RT’s warehouse, but badly damaged. After more haggling, RT agreed to replace the unit again and in April of this year we had a very bright new sign no. 3 which appeared to work well. The only slight problem was that the ‘Thank You’ caption in green was still showing when vehicles exceeded 20mph. We later found out that it would have shown ‘Thank You’ at 70mph!
After some tweaking of the settings, the sign worked very well – for a week, and then failed. RT sent 2 technicians down to fix the sign, which was achieved last week. The cable from the PV panel had been wired positive to negative in the factory, which rendered charging impossible. Hence when the battery ran down, the VAS failed.
Since this repair in 2023, this VAS has been working well apart from in the winter when there is a run of cloudy days and there is insufficient sunlight to charge the battery. This would appear to be a feature of PV panels in the northern European winter.