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Punta Cumplida Lighthouse, the most powerful in Europe

To achieve 24 NM, 544,000 effective cd were required with T= 0.74 and Almarin did not have a product with these characteristics. However, it had previously carried out the same procedure to replace the PAR 36 with the LED system at the Arenas Blancas Lighthouse, also on La Palma, although the range was only 14 NM. Based on this need, the Tenerife Port Authority suggested the idea of ??maintaining the highly reliable rotating system that the lighthouse had, replacing the lighting system with the use of LED projectors. It was decided to use optics, with a 3º divergence, mounted in six panels on a hexagonal structure, until then pentagonal. In this way, the project began to materialize, registering a calculated effective intensity of 500,000 cd at 360º and a stationary intensity for each hexagonal panel of 1.3 million candela. During the development process, the technicians realized that the powers achieved with these optics were well above estimates (due to the continuous development of LEDs) and that each panel actually reached 1.6 million candela; that is, an effective intensity of 615,000 cd for the rhythm of the Punta Cumplida lighthouse. This beacon is powered at 24 Vdc, nominal (18Vdc - 36 Vdc), it consumes about 30A when it is operating and about 50mA when it is not on. With this new LED system, energy savings of about 3 kilowatts per hour are achieved compared to the previous equipment. The system was installed without difficulties by technicians from the Port Authority and Almarin, as well as the AGA lamp kit and also one of the turning discs was removed to lighten the structure and facilitate the rotation of the new engine. To create an optimal ventilation system, six stainless steel rods were used to raise the base of the lantern and hold the optics at the proper height. Using threads and Teflon washers, the base of the beacon was leveled. The subsequent assembly of the panels with the optics was carried out in a single day, preventing the lighthouse from turning off a single night. The head of Marine Aids to Navigation of the Tenerife Port Authority, Baudilio Brito, was able to observe the Punta Cumplida Lighthouse from Mount Teide, in Tenerife, at a distance of about 130 km, which shows the power of the new lighthouse and also the good visibility of the area. For this reason, the set today operates at 50% of its power to save energy.

*Punta Cumplida was erected in 2011 as the first rotating beacon in Europe with a powerful LED light source.