A work zone is easy to see by day, but after dark drivers only see what their headlights reach. Reflective cones and beacons only show once the light gets to them, while a flashing lamp can be seen from where headlights do not reach. And when the works close a lane and the two directions have to take turns, lamps are no longer enough: you need a mobile traffic light. Everything below works without mains power. Below you will find how to choose between battery and solar, which battery you need and how to use the V11 mobile traffic light.
Battery flashing lamps
Yellow or red: V8-Y and V8-R
The V8-Y is the classic yellow road works lamp. It goes on site fences, mobile barriers or posts and tells drivers at night that there is work going on ahead. The V8-R is the same lamp with a red light, for places where the warning has to be stronger: the end of a closed zone, a barrier that blocks the road completely or an open hole in the carriageway. Both have:
- room for one 4R25 6V battery, not included;
- a two-sided lens that turns through 90°;
- an anti-theft bracket for fixing to a post or a fence;
- a Ø5 mm LED in a 23 x 12 x 27 cm ABS and PC housing, 1.5 kg without the battery.
Almost double the running time: V8-Y2
The V8-Y2 is also yellow, but it takes two 4R25 6V batteries, so it runs almost twice as long without being touched. It is the lamp for works that last weeks or months. It has the same lens, the same anti-theft bracket and the same housing, and it weighs 2 kg without batteries.
Which battery: 7Ah or 50Ah
The V8 battery lamps use a 4R25 6V zinc-carbon battery with terminals on top. It is not rechargeable: once it is flat, you replace it. It contains no lead, mercury or cadmium. There are two capacities:
- V8-B67, 6V/7Ah, 0.7 kg: about 358 hours in a V8-Y or V8-R and about 713 hours in the V8-Y2, with two batteries;
- V8-B650, 6V/50Ah: about 2800 hours in a single-battery lamp and about 4500 hours in the V8-Y2.
For a two-week job, with the lamp lit only at night, the 7Ah battery is more than enough. The 50Ah battery lasts almost eight times longer: with the lamp lit about 12 hours a day, 2800 hours means more than seven months.
Solar lamps, with no batteries to change
On a solar lamp, the panel charges the battery during the day, and at night the lamp flashes on the stored energy. There are no batteries to buy or change. There is only one condition: the panel needs light, so do not leave the lamp all day in the shadow of a machine or a building.
The V8-YS solar road works lamp
The V8-YS looks like the classic road works lamp, but it has a 13.8 x 2.5 cm solar panel above the lens and the rechargeable battery built in. The light is yellow, from 2 Ø5 mm LEDs, the lens is two-sided and turns through 90°, and the anti-theft bracket is the same as on the battery lamps. The housing is 23 x 12 x 27 cm and the lamp weighs 1 kg. It pays off on long jobs with many lamps.
The small solar lamps for cones: ATZ 404-Y and ATZ 404-R
The ATZ 404-Y (yellow) and ATZ 404-R (red) weigh only 0.85 kg and have a triangular 23.5 x 8 x 28 cm ABS and PC housing with Ø5 mm LEDs. On top they have a 1 W, 6 V monocrystalline solar panel, 12 x 4.5 cm, which charges a 3.7 V, 1500 mAh battery during the day, and at night the lamp flashes until morning.
Underneath they have a threaded fitting. All our threaded products share the same thread, so the lamp screws onto the threaded top of the cones sold in sets, of flexible beacons and of mobile posts, with no extra part. With one lamp on every cone in a row, the diversion can be seen from far away in the dark. You can read more about cones with a threaded top in our guide to traffic cones.
How to choose a lamp: two questions
Yellow or red?
Yellow warns: it is the light for diversions, rows of cones and the fences around a work zone. Red shows where traffic has to stop: the end of the closed zone, a barrier across the road, an open hole. On the same work site you use both.
Battery or solar?
For a few nights, the battery lamp is the simplest. For weeks of work, choose either the V8-Y2 with two 50Ah batteries or a solar lamp, which needs no batteries at all, as long as it stands in the light during the day.
The V11 mobile traffic light
Under SR 1848-1:2024, a mobile traffic light is placed on a narrowed section of road to control the two directions of traffic alternately. The V11 set has two traffic lights, one at each end of the section, which give green to each direction in turn.
What the set contains
Two complete traffic lights. Each stands on a wheeled trolley that holds the battery, with a lid that folds back through 180°, a support leg and a handle. On the pole is the signal head with 3 D-200 mm LED lights: red at the top, yellow in the middle, green at the bottom. Each light has its own control unit. The light intensity adjusts itself to the ambient light, so the signal is clearly visible at night too, and the operating range is -20 to +70 °C.
V11-20 or V11-21
The V11-20 is the set without countdown. The V11-21 is the same product with one addition: the red and green lights show numbers that count down the seconds to the change. A waiting driver can see how long is left and is less tempted to move off early. The countdown is switched on from the control unit menu, with the same setting on both lights.
How to synchronise them
There is no cable between the two lights. Each control unit keeps time with an internal quartz clock, and synchronisation is manual:
- Bring the two traffic lights side by side.
- Set the same times and the same menu settings on both units; only the phase differs: one light is phase 1, the other phase 2.
- Press START on both units at the same moment.
- Only then take the lights to the ends of the section.
Because they are not linked, the distance between the lights depends only on the time vehicles need to drive through the section. Synchronisation is repeated at least every 6 days, and while the lights are running, staff must be present in the work zone.
Which times to set
You set three times: red in both directions, so the section can clear, green for phase 1 and green for phase 2. Each runs from 1 to 99 seconds, or from 5 to 495 seconds in x5 mode; from the factory and after a reset they are all 10 seconds. The all-red time has to be long enough for the last vehicle that entered at one end to leave the section before the other direction gets green. A button switches the light to flashing yellow and back to the normal cycle.
Power, running time and transport
Each light runs on a 12 V battery or a 12 V power pack. The batteries are not included, so plan for them from the start: one for each light. With a new 100 Ah battery, the tested running time is about 150 hours at 20 °C, and the signal head draws at most 32 W at 12 V. The battery can be changed at any time without losing synchronisation.
One light weighs 46 kg and the set of two 92 kg. The pole folds down over the trolley and the light is moved on its wheels, held by the handle. Folded, the trolley box is 70 x 80 x 50 cm (height x length x width); set up, the light has an adjustable height between 180 and 235 cm.
Spare parts for the V11 traffic light
When a single light fails, you do not buy a new set. The control unit checks the lamps and the battery all the time and shows a code on its two-digit display for a failed red, yellow or green light, a low battery or a blown fuse. The code tells you which part you need:
- V11-D200-R: the red LED light, at the top, 20 x 20 x 10 cm, 1 kg; if the red fails, the light switches itself to flashing yellow and does not return to the normal cycle until the light is replaced;
- V11-D200-Y: the yellow light, in the middle, 20 x 20 x 10 cm, 1 kg;
- V11-D200-G: the green light, at the bottom, slimmer, 20 x 20 x 5 cm, 1 kg;
- V11-SUPORT: the complete signal head, the 75 cm black housing with all three lights, 5 kg, with a 5-pole male connector; only for the V11-20, without countdown;
- V11-CONTROL: the control unit, 25 x 20 x 15 cm, 1 kg, for both sets.
The three lights fit both sets. They have a black body and a clear lens, and the colour only shows when they are on, so you tell them apart by code and by position. A new control unit is set up on fitting with the same menu settings as the other one, but with the opposite phase.
How to set out lamps and traffic lights at a work site
- Before the zone, put the temporary signs required by the traffic plan. Which signs, and in what order, is covered in our guide to signing road works with U signs.
- Along the diversion, put the cones or beacons with yellow lamps: the ATZ 404-Y screwed onto a cone or a beacon, or the V8-Y on a fence or a barrier.
- At the end of the closed zone, on the barrier across the road or around the hole, put the red lamps: the V8-R or the ATZ 404-R.
- If a single lane is left for both directions, put a V11 traffic light at each end of the section, synchronised before it is taken to its place.
Frequently asked questions
What does a flashing yellow light mean at road works?
On road works lamps, flashing yellow announces a zone where work is going on or a diversion, while red marks the end of the closed zone. On the V11 traffic light, flashing yellow is a separate mode, switched on with a button; the light also switches to it by itself if the red light fails.
Which battery does a 6V warning lamp use?
The V8 lamps use a 4R25 6V battery: the V8-B67, 7Ah, or the V8-B650, 50Ah. The V8-Y and V8-R take one, the V8-Y2 takes two. The batteries are not included and are not rechargeable.
Can I put a lamp on a cone?
Yes. The ATZ 404-Y and ATZ 404-R have a threaded fitting underneath, the same as on all our threaded products, and screw onto the top of the cones sold in sets.
Why do the traffic lights need resynchronising?
Each light keeps time with its own internal clock and nothing links them. That is why synchronisation is repeated at least every 6 days, with the lights brought side by side and START pressed on both at the same moment.
What do I order if one light of the traffic light fails?
Only its module: the V11-D200-R, V11-D200-Y or V11-D200-G, according to the code on the display. If the fault is in the control, the part is the V11-CONTROL.
How we can help
All lamps, batteries, traffic lights and spare parts are under warning lights. Tell us how long the zone is, what you will fix the lamps to and how long the works will stay, and we will put the list together for you: how many yellow and red lamps, which batteries and, if needed, the right set of traffic lights. For a faulty V11 light, send us the code on the display and we will tell you which part you need.
