At the forefront of LED lighting requirements for trucks and trailers, HELLA Australia provides low maintenance quality parts and innovative lighting system solutions.
It also offers broad solutions for its growing clientele to help navigate the ever-evolving transport and logistics landscape and its various challenges.
For truck and trailer operators, one such challenge that can often present itself is lamp outage which ultimately leads to unexpected downtime and maintenance costs. Recognising this, HELLA Australia has developed a low maintenance high-performing LED Lamp Distribution Box.
For Shephard Transport Equipment (STE) Purchasing Officer, Ben Weatherhog, reliability is a priority which is why the Australian trailer manufacturer approached HELLA Australia for a straightforward and dependable solution.
The problem, Ben notes, is that when a vehicle experiences a lamp outage it requires an electrician to fix it which in turn can lead to long and unexpected periods of downtime.
HELLA Australia’s solution is its state-of-the-art LED Lamp Distribution Box, a high quality, quick connect and simple fix for fitting LED lamps to heavy trailers. For STE, the quality of the product immediately stood out.
“We use HELLA Australia for the quality in lights that they provide,” he says. “The quality is there, and we have no issues with it. Many of our customers are long-term, and they are because of the standard the HELLA product provides.”
Standard junction boxes can be complicated, prone to faults when opened and serviced.
When a fault does occur, multiple lamps and circuits are often affected resulting in a vehicle not being safe to operate and therefore experiencing unforeseen downtime. A fault like this can also cause labour costs which quickly accumulate, the largest cost of all being a non-functioning vehicle.
The knock-on effect of this can be significant, delaying drivers and delivery deadlines. Understanding the inconveniences this can lead to, HELLA Australia has equipped its LED Lamp Distribution Box with integrated Deutsch DT connector sockets that provide easy and reliable lamp connection.
It isolates individual circuits to reduce lamp outage which, overall, ensures a more reliable lamp operation.
This means that if a fault occurs it can be identified almost immediately, and the repair is quick. For the operator this means no electrician is required and the vehicle is back up and running in a much faster time frame.
Seeing this in action, Ben explains how effective this feature is especially when it comes to increased productivity and reducing service cost.
“Truck and trailer lighting is a really big thing because it needs to be working day and night,” he says. “Previously, if something broke it would warrant getting an electrician in to fix it. Now, if an operator has a broken light or plug, they can just disconnect them and then we can send the parts out. Or, they can just plug it in at home themselves that night and they don’t need an electrician. Therefore, the plug and play feature helps to minimise downtime effectively.
“It has definitely made life easier and has helped the customers who come to us. There is less maintenance involved and they don’t have to pay someone to do it because they can just do it all themselves. Eliminating this is important because staffing is really a key industry issue.”
Image: HELLA Australia.To help combat the wear and tear caused by the harsh Australian climate, the HELLA LED Lamp Distribution Box also features sealed housing and durable materials.
The IP6K9K rated housing therefore prevents any moisture, dust or other contaminants from affecting internal electronics.
In addition, since there are no serviceable parts, there is no need to open the junction box – making it easier to avoid potential damage to other circuits when replacing lamps. For STE, this is a game changer when it comes to preventative maintenance.
“The new HELLA box is fully sealed so the dust and the moisture can’t get into it, so you will never have any issues with it,” Ben says. “Previously we had an open-type junction box, so you would get a lot of dust and dirt in it, and over the years this would grow into electrical problems. This solution is a fully sealed unit so there is no access to it.
“With this we don’t have to worry about anyone playing around with anything or doing stuff they shouldn’t, and the Australian climate loves it, so it’s perfect.”
According to Ben it is features like these that not only play a major role in safety but in reducing costs for the business and their customers, which therefore adds value to both the manufacturer and the operator.
“Cost is the big factor here because there is essentially no maintenance,” he says. “It’s the big key for us and that’s what we love about it, there is zero upkeep after it is installed, and the cost is cheaper.”
Based on his own experience, Ben also praises HELLA Australia’s other lighting innovations and how the reliability of its products has made them a standard on all of STE’s trailers and prime movers.
“HELLA lighting has become our standard, we use their products on every trailer now,” he says. “We can explain to anyone over the phone how to use and replace the product. It’s just simple, easy and maintenance-friendly, and that’s what we love about it. All our customers love their lighting too because they don’t have to maintain them.
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