Huff and his team had to contend with gusty winds, temperatures that fell to more than 10 degrees below zero, and swirling snow when they positioned the outdoor LED fixtures at sites around campus, including the roof of the gleaming new 6-story engineering school building. Soon after they completed the installation, a second more severe storm hit, dumping 16 inches of snow on Fairbanks.
Returning to the rooftop of the engineering building, Huff discovered that the Ovation E-260WW IP was unperturbed by the storm, happily projecting the message "Welcome to Nanook Nation", Nanook being the school's polar bear mascot. A couple of weeks later, when temperatures outside fell to -19?F, he checked on the ellipsoidal again. It was still running smoothly.
"The Ovation E-260WW IP has certainly proven itself here," said Huff. "Between the temperatures and the snowfalls, conditions have been extremely demanding, but after weeks outside, the Ovations have given us absolutely no problems."
As ironic as it may seem, given the frigid temperatures in Fairbanks, Huff also values the low heat generation of the Ovation E-260WW IP. "When you work in these conditions, you'd rather have a fixture that doesn't get hot," he said. "It's easier to work with the LED fixture when you take it off the stand and you don't have to worry about a hot lens breaking when it comes into contact with cold snow. When you work in this area, you learn to be aware of things like that -- and of being gentle with plastics and power cables, which tend to get brittle in frigid temperatures."
(Jim Evans)
