Why the hell am I sitting in Australia at 11pm, watching some guy in the states working on a traffic light using gear that I'll never see, at an intersection I'll never visit? Oh yeah, youtube.... (Yes I subscribed lol)
Hello from NYC! It's interesting to see how much of your day-to-day is troubleshooting detection equipment. Here in NYC, our traffic signals are incredibly primitive. Most of them simply run on timers and have no detection capabilities whatsoever. No loops, no radar, no cameras. It's maddening to see how efficient your intersections are while ours waste countless hours of time activating phases for nobody. They're all networked, but they don't ever seen to modify timings based on actual traffic. Keep up the great videos!
Hey Traffic Light Doctor, At our intersections whenever when have a detection issue and the phase keeps on maxing out or not getting calls we turn on On Minimum Recall in the controller assioated with that phase while we troubleshoot the problem. This allows that phase to cycle for the minimum green time so that all the green time is'nt taken up by demand that does'nt exist / serves that direction if no calls are being placed. Love the videos!
Went through a new intersection yesterday where they were cutting the pavement with the saws to install wires. My kid wondered what they were doing so I explained to him that all the new fancy dancy systems have issues and the trusty old loops are still the best way to go. They might take a little longer during startup and it makes lines in the ground everywhere but man do they pay off in the long run for lower maintenance and component replacement.... NOW, I'm not saying the newer ways don't have their place! But sometimes the good ol' loops are the easiest on maintenance is all.
Except when utility companies have to dig the street up, the city mills the road for a new surface, or potholes expose loop wires. Nah, I'll stick with newer technology. Also with loops you have to mark the location for one call digs.
@@MikeM-cz5ln My city had an intersection with a couple failed loops. Was like that for about a year. They finally cut in new loops, and a month later the electric utility trenched a new duct bank right through the intersection. Took another half year to get new loops cut in...
I had a call like that where everything seemed fine. Come to find out I realized during certain times of the day the time and day plan was programmed wrong.
I got hit in a bucket while changing a green LED. A semi came thru at speed and hit me. Messed me up a little. Always close the lanes or make police stop traffic. I got lucky and went to the hospital, but it could have been worse
You might be glossing over it, but a lot more to testing cabling than what appeared to be a simple tester. Was ethernet cable too long (over 300ft?), connectors matching for cable type, no improper bends in cable. Has cable been certified for speed and POE... . Issues can add up. Sometime equipment is good enough to work, but if equipment failing, then not as much tolerance for faults. Otherwise, interesting learning about traffic ligths.
Is there a reason you don't disconnect the cat 5 cable from the cabinet, attach the tester end, then go up in the bucket? Seems like it would be better to be able to just unplug the cable from the camera and test there before cutting? Sure cutting may still be worth doing but then you could test it while still up there.
If the port in the ccu had trouble even with a different cable plugged in then it must be the port itself or the ccu. You said it acted better but still no activity light so it has to be the port. Check the tiny gold pins very carefully. Even a tiny bit of debris can short or prevent a reliable connection. Blast the port with a can of electronics duster then a quick shot of non clorinated brake parts cleaner then again with the duster. Oil or grime can prevent a reliable connection. Theres also much better lan testers that display a graph of the signal quality through different frequencies. A bad connection or a bad cable can test good on a basic continuity tester but fail at sending data. No real way to test the ccu port.
Why the hell am I sitting in Australia at 11pm, watching some guy in the states working on a traffic light using gear that I'll never see, at an intersection I'll never visit? Oh yeah, youtube.... (Yes I subscribed lol)
RIGHR?! Same! But still good I soo, yep.
people like us are also watching a guy in Australia unblock sewer pipes. Can't help myself.
Same here i m watching from the Netherlands.
But i`m a traffic signal technician too and i like to see how other technicians do there work abroad.
@@RemcovanZuijlenoh yes those are the good ones lol
@@RemcovanZuijlen would that particular guy be in Western Australia
Hello from NYC! It's interesting to see how much of your day-to-day is troubleshooting detection equipment. Here in NYC, our traffic signals are incredibly primitive. Most of them simply run on timers and have no detection capabilities whatsoever. No loops, no radar, no cameras. It's maddening to see how efficient your intersections are while ours waste countless hours of time activating phases for nobody. They're all networked, but they don't ever seen to modify timings based on actual traffic. Keep up the great videos!
Watching this from Texas
Hey Traffic Light Doctor,
At our intersections whenever when have a detection issue and the phase keeps on maxing out or not getting calls we turn on On Minimum Recall in the controller assioated with that phase while we troubleshoot the problem. This allows that phase to cycle for the minimum green time so that all the green time is'nt taken up by demand that does'nt exist / serves that direction if no calls are being placed. Love the videos!
This feels like bobsdecline but for traffic control
What a fantastic observation! Yes you are correct!
Yep, exactly!
So... bobsimprovement?
@@jovetj lol
Yea I agree loo
Went through a new intersection yesterday where they were cutting the pavement with the saws to install wires. My kid wondered what they were doing so I explained to him that all the new fancy dancy systems have issues and the trusty old loops are still the best way to go. They might take a little longer during startup and it makes lines in the ground everywhere but man do they pay off in the long run for lower maintenance and component replacement.... NOW, I'm not saying the newer ways don't have their place! But sometimes the good ol' loops are the easiest on maintenance is all.
Except when utility companies have to dig the street up, the city mills the road for a new surface, or potholes expose loop wires. Nah, I'll stick with newer technology. Also with loops you have to mark the location for one call digs.
@@MikeM-cz5ln point is, there is no perfect solution for every intersection sir.
@@MikeM-cz5ln not to mention the cameras usually catch me on my scooter when the loops don’t.
@@MikeM-cz5ln My city had an intersection with a couple failed loops. Was like that for about a year. They finally cut in new loops, and a month later the electric utility trenched a new duct bank right through the intersection. Took another half year to get new loops cut in...
The radar systems my city uses seem to work really well, and no cutting into the pavement is required.
I had a call like that where everything seemed fine. Come to find out I realized during certain times of the day the time and day plan was programmed wrong.
FIRST at 1 minute lol I'm watching the video now and subbed to you! great content!
same
Love watching you work. But you certainly need the better shoes to run with. You do good putting the hustle into it have a great evening
@@berylwhite2983 oh I agree completely! Slip on boots are awful for running but I work in dirt almost as much as signals!
Hey you could put the tester on the wire in your cabinet before you go up there, then you can test the cable without having to go down.
We need a full uncut pov of a maintenance shift or full uncut pov of a full mast and head install 🔥👍🙏
Isn't there some risk to working over traffic in a bucket? There is a video out there of a bucket being hit by a semi!
I got hit in a bucket while changing a green LED. A semi came thru at speed and hit me. Messed me up a little. Always close the lanes or make police stop traffic. I got lucky and went to the hospital, but it could have been worse
You might be glossing over it, but a lot more to testing cabling than what appeared to be a simple tester. Was ethernet cable too long (over 300ft?), connectors matching for cable type, no improper bends in cable. Has cable been certified for speed and POE... . Issues can add up. Sometime equipment is good enough to work, but if equipment failing, then not as much tolerance for faults. Otherwise, interesting learning about traffic ligths.
Got to love those intermittent problems. 😂
Is there a reason you don't disconnect the cat 5 cable from the cabinet, attach the tester end, then go up in the bucket? Seems like it would be better to be able to just unplug the cable from the camera and test there before cutting? Sure cutting may still be worth doing but then you could test it while still up there.
He would still have to go up in the bucket the same number of times, so there really isn't any time savings
@@jsncrso How so? He went up twice. My method he would go up once.
I wondered the same. But may not be good to hook up a tester to the cable while the other end is still connected to the camera.
If the port in the ccu had trouble even with a different cable plugged in then it must be the port itself or the ccu. You said it acted better but still no activity light so it has to be the port. Check the tiny gold pins very carefully. Even a tiny bit of debris can short or prevent a reliable connection. Blast the port with a can of electronics duster then a quick shot of non clorinated brake parts cleaner then again with the duster. Oil or grime can prevent a reliable connection. Theres also much better lan testers that display a graph of the signal quality through different frequencies. A bad connection or a bad cable can test good on a basic continuity tester but fail at sending data. No real way to test the ccu port.
Where do these reports come in from?
Why not just bypass using a connector at the camera and just wire the cat5 directly to the camera? You eliminate a splice aka fail point.
Pretty cool