CU Phosco P862 Lantern Installations

CU Phosco's P86X range comes with four lanterns. The P862 is most often used on "A" roads. They are incredibly sturdy lanterns, even winning a 2016 LUX award for exterior luminaire of the year! Unlike a lot of LED lanterns, these can be upgraded on-site fairly easily if required, so these are designed to be maintained into the future. They are also available with a plethora of optics.

A5, Tamworth

The A5 LED replacement scheme has been replacing the Philips Trafficvisions and Urbis ZX3s with these... CU Phosco P862s. They line the carriageway (currently) up until Ventura Retail Park. You may be wondering what the wire on top of the lantern is... it's actually there to stop the lantern falling off if the column is hit, as the spigot is a known weak spot for LED lanterns.

This CU Phosco P862 was pictured on 30/01/2024 and it was day-burning. All of the lanterns on this stretch of the A5 were, so they were likely working on them the previous night as this took place during the A5 LED replacement scheme.

They all appear to have node photocells, which use radio frequencies to turn the lanterns on. The node cells are Charles Endirect LCU 5-pin nodes. Thanks to AgentHalogen_87 for helping me identify the cells.

I re-visited these installations in November 2024, to find the replacement scheme nearing completion.

In the distance, the last SON lanterns are visible:

The opposite side has already been competed.

One of the P862s was opportunely close to the bridge I was on, allowing some close-ups.

A5, Dordon

Still on the A5, these P862s all use the same node cells as the previous examples. Due to ongoing works, they were all day-burning.

The first column to be photographed was column A5, 63B 33.

A closer view of the P862; the brackets previously would have extended further out, but have been sawn short to accommodate the P862.

After this column, the day-burners started appearing...