Nick refers to McCain as "Mexican Made Garbage" could offend some people.
but they are definetly not the best,my area was using them for quite some time and alot are still up don't know how old they are but the paint is rather dull on most of them,flaking on a few and we seem to be using Eagles now,there are some older eagles in the city but that's what shows up in new installations is eagle...Durasigs and Mark 8's,some new pedestrian signals however are still McCain.
Well I noticed McCain seems to be the least liked signal brand among collectors, even on other forums.
McCains are rarely seen in my area, we mostly use Durasigs, LFE polys, Econolite polys, and Fortran polys. Back in the incandescent days Mark IVs, Alum. LFEs, and CGE signals were a common sight.
We even have an old Crouse Hinds Type M 12-12-12-12 and some old Eagle Flatback 12-8-8s here.
The LFE poly 1993 to the present, and the DuraSig are both made by Eagle. Eagle stuff is nicer because Siemens really pulled the company into the 21st century.
The McCains use a low grade aluminum that is cast at their foundry in Mexico and imported. The aluminum corrodes to the point the signals are known to fall right off the cable. (Lawsuit anyone??) The powdercoating is low grade and poor chemical bath to save money. The paint doesnt bond to the metal and flakes off. The cutaway visors are a poor design. The PV signal they stole from 3M's design is awful...and its expensive. Even if it looks OK from the outside...open one up. Good chance its corroded all inside.
The plastic version of the McCain is slightly better but tends to bend back and the fiberglass texture shows through the plastic meaning its not properly finished with a nice gloss shine.
I've handled McCain plastic and aluminum before. Both signals even feel cheaply made
The LED lamps were not made by McCain or 3M. Leotek and GE make them. They are not a consistent product and tend to fail often. The older 3Ms and McCains are not designed for the sharp direct output of LEDs and it affects their programmability. Thats why alot of the old PVs are getting pulled for Intelight or just regular LED signals
That looks like a very typical installation in Louisiana. Spanwire is still most common, though I've noticed some towns had started replacing them with rigid arms, and the green without backplates is also quite common.
NYS signals also look almost exactly to the ones in the pic, down to the disconnect spanwire hanger. Well their doghouses use different hardware though.
@icefoglights - yeah i saw this type of setup all throughout louisiana...though fixed mast's wern't excactly uncommon...i saw along US 90 going towards New Iberia south of Lafyette they had some fixed masts that wern't in service the signals were Black with Yellow Blackplates..ehhh i prefer the green...instead of Bumble Bee Colored
Massachusetts uses this type of spanwire hanger, but RI uses this kind I love hoe spanwires just look simple. With masts, you generally need more than one mast and pole, although RIDOT has easily done a four-way intersection with just one mast and pole before...
I'd seen several kinds of spanwire setups. Most common would have to be like above, where the lights hang from a single wire.
Though spanwire traffic lights are extremely uncommon where I live, there is a very small handful of them still in use, and many of the wires from former installations are still in place. Those, used two wires, one on top and one below, with lights and signs running between them. They were often arranged around an intersection forming a "box" (using 4 spans) instead of a single diagonal span.
The most unique ones I'd seen had to be in Florida. There, they would use two spanwires, with the light or sign bracket running between them. The light was suspended below the lower wire.
I do too. The Florida way would seem to do the same thing, though it seems like a long way to go about it. I'll look to see if I have any pictures of them.
We have secondary wires that run underneath on most of our suspended signal setups. Recently, at one intersection, the wire underneath snapped due to an unknown reason. Now the two halves of the cable are tied to the poles.
I was in Florida and I will post some when. I get home and settle down first...and yes I have some pics....there's a lot of rectangular shaped concrete poles in use in the area I was in
I was in Jacksonville Florida. But I have been to Orlando before which has different electric company from Jacksonville.
I also saw traffic light setups on the way to Florida, I saw NC setup, SC setup (which is pretty cool it seems SC must have reflector around traffic light frames) and GA system and finally FL! It was pretty cool to see differences!
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but they are definetly not the best,my area was using them for quite some time and alot are still up don't know how old they are but the paint is rather dull on most of them,flaking on a few and we seem to be using Eagles now,there are some older eagles in the city but that's what shows up in new installations is eagle...Durasigs and Mark 8's,some new pedestrian signals however are still McCain.
McCains are rarely seen in my area, we mostly use Durasigs, LFE polys, Econolite polys, and Fortran polys. Back in the incandescent days Mark IVs, Alum. LFEs, and CGE signals were a common sight.
We even have an old Crouse Hinds Type M 12-12-12-12 and some old Eagle Flatback 12-8-8s here.
The McCains use a low grade aluminum that is cast at their foundry in Mexico and imported. The aluminum corrodes to the point the signals are known to fall right off the cable. (Lawsuit anyone??) The powdercoating is low grade and poor chemical bath to save money. The paint doesnt bond to the metal and flakes off. The cutaway visors are a poor design. The PV signal they stole from 3M's design is awful...and its expensive. Even if it looks OK from the outside...open one up. Good chance its corroded all inside.
The plastic version of the McCain is slightly better but tends to bend back and the fiberglass texture shows through the plastic meaning its not properly finished with a nice gloss shine.
I've handled McCain plastic and aluminum before. Both signals even feel cheaply made
@Joe i noticed that.
Though spanwire traffic lights are extremely uncommon where I live, there is a very small handful of them still in use, and many of the wires from former installations are still in place. Those, used two wires, one on top and one below, with lights and signs running between them. They were often arranged around an intersection forming a "box" (using 4 spans) instead of a single diagonal span.
The most unique ones I'd seen had to be in Florida. There, they would use two spanwires, with the light or sign bracket running between them. The light was suspended below the lower wire.
I also saw traffic light setups on the way to Florida, I saw NC setup, SC setup (which is pretty cool it seems SC must have reflector around traffic light frames) and GA system and finally FL! It was pretty cool to see differences!