When the hammer falls

By Colin Windell 

Hidden and needless costs are the bane of any transporter’s life – one of these being regular replacement of tail lamps on trailers and recently launched polycarbonate designs could put an end to that.

Polycarbonate tail lamps could end rough road breakage

Trailer tail lamps have to endure the rutted state of many of South Africa’s roads in addition to mishandling in delivery areas and are susceptible to regular and costly breakages.

The recently launched range of Ermax trailer tail lamps have something in common with DVDs, spectacles, medical devices and high-tech sports equipment in that their polycarbonate structure is the stuff that transforms the new LED tail lamps into ‘Eternal Lights’.

The colourful transparent shards of tail lamps are to be found everywhere, swept to the margins, across our highway network. They bear witness to the extreme mechanical stresses to which the lamps are exposed, including potholes, vibration, extreme temperatures and shunts when parking and take their toll on lamp housings.

Regularly broken as a result, they re-appear as microplastics at the edges of roads and in sewers. It is no wonder, therefore, that lamp housings – usually made of inexpensive ABS or PMMA acrylic – have to be renewed practically every year during the trailer’s lifetime.

Cut-price lamps in particular, however, can quickly erode budgets. Over a period of five years, the cost of repairs and downtimes can easily amount to well in excess of R3 000. On top of that, transport companies can also incur substantial fines for operating vehicles with defective lamps or light sources.

The new Ermax LED tail lamps lies in a design that is so rugged it withstands targeted hammer blows. The LED light sources are protected inside a housing made of polycarbonate, which is by far the best-performing thermoplastic on the market.

Measured against the acrylics that are conventionally used in the automotive industry, and ABS, polycarbonate offers 17 times greater impact resistance alongside an optical quality that exceeds the brilliance of glass.

Its key benefit, however, is its ability more readily to withstand both the permanent mechanical stresses that arise on structurally damaged roads and the impacts associated with shunts when parking.

“If they compare costs, transport operators should get the message,” says Torben Pagh, managing director of Transport-Teknik A/S, which manufactures the Ermax lamps. “The new tail lamps reflect BPW Group’s strategy of generating tangible cost benefits over the trailer’s lifetime. The gains achievable across all components – from the running gear and body engineering to the lighting and telematics – can give vehicle operators a massive competitive advantage.”

The new ‘hammer-proof’ Ermax lamps are available in a wide variety of formats for both the original equipment sector and the aftermarket, and manufacturers have various options for design coordination with an existing brand identity.