The display is usually the most power hungry component in the sign. However, most displays shut off to a very low nominal power usage when they are not displaying any speed. The radar is the only part of the trailer/sign that is “ON” continuously- even when no traffic is present.
In many suburban roads, it is not unusual for the sign to experience an average of 10-20% “dutycycle” on the display. This means that the display is ON only 10 to 20% of the total ON time of the sign. However, the radar is ON 100% of the time. So in effect, the power savings from the radar are magnified 5X to 10X when this is taken into account. In one test done by one customer in one location, swapping to our DR500 radar doubled the run time of their sign! This is just one example, and actual results will depend on the power usage of your display panels, and display panel total ON time.
In any case, the power usage of the radar antenna plays a huge part in the run time achieved by your sign. The other benefit of lower total power usage is you can achieve the same run time in your sign with smaller solar panels and batteries. This can have a huge cost and size impact on your display or end product.
Contact us to get an evaluation unit to see how our radar can help your product achieve longer run times.
Alternatively, use the simple online calculator to estimate the savings from our radar.