If you are installing multiple loops, there are a couple of extra things to watch out for. If the loops are all being controlled by the same piece of equipment, then spacing between loops should not be a problem. Modern equipment scans all of its loops one at a time, to prevent interference between loops. However, if some of the loops are to be controlled by separate pieces of equipment, you will need to space the loops further apart, a good rule of thumb would be five times the diameter of the largest loop.

We can count from loops in two environments: Signal cabinets using loops and having their own detectors or, permanently installed loops with no electronics and portable loops.

In permanent installations, such as signal cabinets, our counters can be connected to the existing loop detector outputs with a special field cable. This gives you a very cost effective way to add counting to existing signal cabinets, particularly older units with no counting abilities. Our unit draws very little power and can be supplied directly from the cabinet 12-24 Vdc supplies.

In some cases, where vehicles sit for long times on the loops, to prevent false counting, we specify using our pulser interface. The pulser interface will give reliable vehicle counts in these conditions. Our pulser can condition up to eight channels at the same time, and is the normal interface supplied with our Octopus (eight channel) counter.

For portable and semi-permanent installations where there is no loop detector, we supply a Detector Systems low power detector interface with our products.

This interface has very low power consumption to give improved battery life and can detect a wide variety of vehicles. The loop detector can simultaneously detect up to four independent loops. Unconnected and faulty loops are automatically disabled by the interface. This detector has switch settings for speed range and detector sensitivity, which should work with any properly installed loop.

The interface derives it's power from our counter, and we pre-wire all the cabling so that your interface is simply a two wire connection for each of your loops. If you have specific needs, please give us a call.