The lantern is the only piece of equipment on the channel that has to work every single night. What separates a good one is not peak intensity — it is whether it still lights after a week of overcast weather, whether the character has drifted, and how long it takes you to find out when something goes wrong.
The most common error in lantern selection is spending all the attention on range class. Range obviously has to satisfy the position plan — but what actually fails in service is autonomy after a run of overcast days, battery capacity collapsing at low temperature, and several lanterns in the same reach flashing out of step so the pattern is hard to read.
Our lanterns size the solar panel and battery against the worst credible weather rather than ideal insolation. Light characters are set in software, not by hardware links, and lanterns from the same batch can flash synchronously.
Where lantern status matters, adding a telemetry module reports character, voltage and fault alarms directly — so a dark aid is known the same day, not at the next patrol.
Panel output and battery capacity sized against consecutive overcast days, not ideal sunshine, with low-temperature capacity loss calculated separately.
The beam pattern, not the raw wattage, determines effective range for a given power. Even horizontal spread with enough vertical divergence for hull motion stops the light pulsing in a seaway.
Lens, housing and connector sealing set the risk of water ingress and condensation. Condensation rarely kills a lantern outright — it corrodes the electronics and quietly costs output year on year.
Characters are set in software and can be changed on station. Lanterns in a batch support synchronised flashing, so several marks in one reach read as a pattern rather than noise.
The simplest and fastest to install, suited to most buoys and beacons. Maintenance is a whole-unit swap, with no field wiring.
Lamp head mounted high with battery and panel located separately — for higher focal heights, larger battery banks, or where the lamp position is constrained.
Communications built into the lantern, reporting character, voltage and fault status without a separate telemetry terminal — the direct route for new-build projects.
Fields marked ⌛ must be completed from the company's range data and test reports. Intensity and range are figures that require measured evidence.
| Light source | LED — red / green / white / yellow |
|---|---|
| Nominal range | To be completed: nominal range (NM) per model, with photometric data |
| Effective intensity | To be completed: effective intensity (cd), stating the IALA calculation basis |
| Light character | Programmable, covering standard flash rhythms; synchronised flashing within a batch |
| Power | Solar with battery storage, automatic photocell switching |
| Autonomy | To be completed: days of operation from full charge without charging |
| Battery | To be completed: chemistry, nominal capacity and cycle life |
| Operating temperature | To be completed: range, with low-temperature capacity derating stated |
| Ingress protection | To be completed: IP rating and salt-spray test result |
| Mounting | Standard AtoN lantern base, fitting our UHMWPE and metal structures |
| Telemetry | Integrated module, or external telemetry terminal |
| Standards | To be completed: the standards the company manufactures and tests to |
⚠ Range and intensity are checked line by line during tender evaluation. Do not publish figures without a third-party test report behind them.
Give us mark spacing, required range class, mounting structure and quantity, and you will get a model recommendation with pricing.