Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Road Stud Manufacturer

In road construction or maintenance projects, the quality of road studs is directly related to the safety of nighttime driving and road service life. When choosing a road stud manufacturer, many buyers are easily confused by the price or surface parameters, ignoring the core details, which ultimately leads to poor durability and insufficient warning effect of the purchased studs, which not only increases the maintenance cost, but also may lay a hidden safety hazard. In fact, as long as the 10 key questions prepared in advance, you can quickly screen out the reliable manufacturer, to avoid disputes in the later cooperation, the following is a one-by-one dismantling of the meaning of the 10 questions asked and the judgment criteria to help buyers accurately control the quality of road nails.

What materials are used to make your road stud?

The durability of the road stud has been finalized from the stage of material selection, so it is necessary to clearly ask the manufacturer about the main material of the road stud, to avoid being put off by vague expressions such as “universal material”. Currently the industry's quality materials are mainly aluminum alloy, PC plastic and tempered glass, of which the aluminum alloy road stud pressure resistance, can withstand frequent vehicle crushing and not easy to deform, PC plastic high and low temperature resistance performance, in - 30 ℃ low temperature or 60 ℃ high temperature environment is not easy to crack. Toughened glass has good light transmission, and when used with reflective or LED components, the warning effect at night is more stable and long-lasting.

On the contrary, poor-quality materials made of road stud problems, such as ordinary plastic road stud will fade after long-term exposure to the sun, become brittle, winter low temperature may be directly broken, low-priced metal road stud is prone to rust, which affects the appearance and shorten the service life, the purchase of the manufacturer needs to be clear material specifications, if necessary, require the provision of material testing reports, from the source of quality control.

How many tons is the load-bearing capacity of the road stud?

Road stud installed in the road surface, need to withstand all kinds of vehicles for a long time, especially heavy trucks, construction vehicles or snow removal vehicle pressure, insufficient load-bearing capacity will directly lead to deformation of the road stud, fall off, lose the warning effect. Different road scenarios on the road stud load-bearing requirements of the obvious differences, ordinary urban roads daily traffic vehicles to cars, SUV mainly, road stud load-bearing need to reach more than 20 tons. And highways, logistics parks or airport runways due to frequent heavy vehicles, road stud load-bearing standard needs to be raised to more than 30 tons, in order to cope with high-intensity crushing.

Inquiries can not only listen to the manufacturer's verbal commitment, we must ask it to provide specific load-bearing test report, clearly marked test data to ensure that the road stud load-bearing capacity and the actual traffic pressure to match the project, to avoid the lack of load-bearing led to the late frequent replacement.

What is the waterproof rating of the road stud?

Rain, snow or road surface water is the “invisible killer” of the road stud, especially the road stud with LED or solar components, the internal circuit and battery will be directly short-circuited and fail once water enters the road stud, and it can not function at night. At present, the industry's recognized waterproof standard for high-quality road stud is IP68 level, to achieve this level of road stud can completely prevent dust intrusion, even if long-term immersion in the water will not appear in the water problem, can comfortably cope with heavy rain, water or even short-term flooding and other inclement weather.

How far is a road stud visible at night?

The core function of the road stud is to guide the vehicle driving at night, the visible distance directly determines the warning effect, if the visible distance is too short, the driver found the road stud when it is too late to adjust the driving route, which will significantly increase the risk of traffic accidents. Currently the mainstream of solar road studs, high-quality products at night visible distance can reach 500-1000 meters, this distance allows high-speed drivers to find the road stud marking in advance, reserving enough time to react.

The nighttime visibility distance of poor-quality studs is often less than 200 meters, and in rainy days, foggy days and other bad weather, reflective or LED brightness will be greatly attenuated, almost no warning effect. Procurement can require the manufacturer to provide night-time actual test video, visual verification of the visible distance of the road stud whether to meet the standard, to ensure that it can meet the different weather conditions of the night safety warning needs.

What type of LED and batteries are used in the road stud?

LED and battery is the “heart” of the road stud with light source, its quality directly affects the road stud's brightness, range and service life, but also a key indicator to distinguish the quality of the road stud. LED, give priority to the use of Taiwan Epistar and other high-end brands of chips in the road stud, this kind of LED brightness is stable, slow attenuation, continuous use of 3-5 years Can still maintain a high brightness, while low-cost low-quality LED not only low initial brightness, but also easy to burn in the high and low temperature environment, resulting in stud “blindness”.

Battery selection, lithium batteries and nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries are preferred, their high and low temperature adaptability, in - 30 ℃ low temperature or 60 ℃ high-temperature environment can be normal charging and discharging, and the cycle life is long, generally able to support more than 2,000 times charging and discharging, to avoid frequent replacement of batteries brought about by the trouble and increase in costs, the need to allow the manufacturer to clearly informed of the brand of the LEDs and batteries, models and performance parameters. Performance parameters.

How long can the road stud work when fully charged?

Solar road studs rely on solar charging range, full charge working hours directly related to the use of cloudy days or continuous rainy weather, if the range is not enough, studs may stop working due to lack of power, affecting road safety at night. High-quality studs have a clear standard of endurance, commonly used at night under the blinking mode, fully charged can work continuously for more than 200 hours. In constant light mode, they can operate for more than 100 hours, so that they can function normally even when there are 3-5 days of cloudy weather.

Can you provide customized service in terms of color, size or function?

Different road projects have different requirements for road studs, and standardized products may not be able to meet the actual needs, for example, some scenic roads need colorful road studs to differentiate between walking paths and lanes, to avoid mixing tourists and vehicles; road studs in tunnels need to use smaller sizes, to prevent affecting the smoothness of the road surface and the comfort of vehicle driving. Highways may require road studs that support synchronized flashing to enhance nighttime warning through a uniform flashing frequency.

At this point, you need to ask the manufacturer whether to provide OEM or ODM services, reliable manufacturers can be based on the project needs, customized road stud color (such as red, yellow, blue), size (such as 10cm or 12cm in diameter), and even the development of synchronized blinking, wireless control and other special features, to help the buyer to meet the local road standards and project-specific requirements.

What certifications and test reports are available for road studs?

Certification and test reports are the “guarantee” of the quality of the road stud, which can visually reflect whether the product complies with safety, environmental protection and industry standards, and is also an important basis for screening quality manufacturers. First look at the basic certification, CE certification, ROHS certification (environmental standards), ISO9001 certification is a must, these certifications indicate that the road stud in the safety performance, the content of hazardous substances and the control of the production process to meet the international or industry standards, which can reduce the risk of quality.

How long is the normal service life of the road stud?

Many buyers in the choice of nails, easy to focus only on the unit price and ignore the service life, and ultimately fall into the “low price to buy, high-frequency replacement” of the misunderstanding, increasing long-term costs. The normal service life of high-quality road stud is 3-5 years, thanks to high-quality materials (such as aluminum alloy, core components (such as high-end LED, lithium batteries) and strict production process, which can reduce the daily wear and tear and reduce the frequency of replacement. While the service life of low-cost road stud is often only 1-2 years, or even shorter, such as ordinary plastic road stud is easy to aging and cracking, poor-quality batteries 1 year will be obvious attenuation, the need for frequent downtime to replace, not only to increase the cost of materials, but also to affect the normal passage of the road, resulting in traffic congestion or safety hazards.

What after-sales service can be provided?

Road stud installation problems are inevitable, such as part of the road stud does not light, fall off or damage, this time the perfect after-sales service is particularly important to help buyers quickly solve the problem and reduce losses. Reliable manufacturers should provide three types of core after-sales service: First, the warranty service, usually committed to 1-2 years of warranty period, the quality of the road stud during the warranty period can be replaced free of charge, without additional costs.

Second, technical guidance services, installation stage can provide on-site guidance to ensure that the road stud installation specifications, the use of the process of failure, can provide remote troubleshooting to help quickly locate the problem.

Third, emergency replenishment services, if the project needs to temporarily replenish the road stud, can quickly arrange production and delivery, to avoid delays in the work schedule. If the manufacturer only sells products, does not provide after-sales service, or after-sales response is slow (such as a few days do not respond to failure problems), the later problems will fall into the “complaint” predicament, affecting the project progress and road safety, the procurement of after-sales service needs to be clear and response time, written in the cooperation contract.

Choosing a road stud manufacturer is not a one-time procurement behavior, but a key investment in long-term road safety and operation and maintenance costs. The above 10 questions, from material, performance, customization to after-sales service, cover the core needs of the whole cycle of road stud procurement, which can help buyers penetrate the surface information and pinpoint the partners with real technical strength and sense of responsibility.