ASD Micro Highway Diamond

Lantern acquired in March 2020.

This lantern was ordered specially, through a local electrical wholesaler - thus, it is brand new and completely unused. The Micro Highway Diamond is the smallest version of its lantern family, and also, is likely to be one of the smallest street lighting lanterns ever made. Although this version is not at all common in Derbyshire (examples can be found on a small number of new housing developments (as with here), however), the larger 'Standard' Highway Diamond lantern is more prominent, with the majority of examples being installed around the Ilkeston and Kirk Hallam areas of the County.

The Micro Highway Diamond is a popular lantern around Wrexham, and this acquired example has been made to an approximate specification of the versions used on residential roads in the town. The pictures below show two such examples.

Even at 5 m, the lanterns appear slightly out of scale, with the photocell creating an ugly addition to the lantern's canopy.

With the box only measuring 430 mm (16·9 inches) × 305 mm (12·0 inches) × 170 mm (6·69 inches), you know that the contents will be rather minimalist in size too.

A label providing the part number, description and energy efficiency status of the lantern is present on a corner of the box - I like that efficiency categories B - E are crossed out, and that LED lanterns are a minimum of category 'A' on the scale!

The lantern is positioned diagonally within the box, owing to its adjustable spigot being attached in a side-entry configuration. This is the reason that Maths teachers tell you that Pythagoras' theorem is useful outside of a school environment - without it, cardboard would be wasted! Installation instructions are included; a PDF copy of these can be downloaded here.

The lantern measures 235 mm (9·25 inches) in length, 165 mm (6·5 inches) in width and 110 mm (4·33 inches) in height.

The lantern was ordered without any sort of photocell control, although the location of where the NEMA socket would be situated is obvious.

At the back of the lantern, 'Highway' and 'ASD Lighting' are cast into the aluminium bodywork.

A removable film protects the glass cover below the lantern's LED array during transit - another label is affixed to the film; I assume that this is to indicate to installers the need to remove the film once the lantern is installed. Beneath the film, two rows of four LEDs produce this lantern's light output.

Two grub screws attach the spigot to the rest of the lantern; these can be loosened, in order to change the desired lantern tilt, or removed completely, and the spigot flipped over, in order that the lantern is mounted post-top.

Access to the lantern's internal wiring is gained by opening the catch at the very back of the lantern (quite a fiddly task when the lantern is configured for side-entry operation), and lifting the canopy upwards.

The supply cable terminates into the fixed lower section of the lantern, whilst the OSRAM LED driver is situated in the hinged upper section. The small bag located in the approximate centre of the lantern contains two Torx bolts that can be used to provide additional security to the hinged section, where needed.

The driver is capable of dimming the LEDs automatically during quieter periods of the night, and indeed, the Wrexham examples have dimming regimes programmed into their drivers. This example, however, is programmed to operate the LEDs at full output permanently.

With the spigot rotated, the lantern was fitted to a post-top stand on Wednesday, 30th December 2020.

The protective cover had been removed from the optic area at this time, revealing the LEDs. The positions for a further four LEDs are visible at the front, but are not used on this example.

The final task was to power the lantern up...

The lenses created quite a strong beam when viewed from this angle.

Lantern operation video:

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