A mobile light tower is a trailer-mounted diesel generator with a telescopic mast, used to light a work area where there is no grid power. We supply units with 7 m to 9 m masts, from a 5.5 kVA canopy set to a Kubota-powered nine-metre electric mast.
Mines, roadworks, night shifts and event sites all have the same problem: the work moves, the power does not. A light tower solves it by putting the generator, the fuel, the mast and the heads on one chassis that a bakkie can reposition in five minutes.
The 5.5 kVA unit is the simpler of the two. A diesel generator sits in a steel canopy on a 75 x 38 mm U-channel chassis, single non-braked axle, 13 inch wheels, 48 mm jockey and a 750 kg cast coupler. The mast extends from 7 m to 8 m. Rear lighting is a four-in-one cluster with a seven-pin plug and an 1,150 mm chevron board, so it is legal to tow between sites without adding anything.
The nine-metre unit is a serious piece of plant. A six-section electric telescopic mast carries four 400 W LED heads producing 36,000 lumens, driven by a water-cooled Kubota diesel running at 1,800 rpm into a Class H, IP65 alternator. The 100 litre tank gives up to 60 hours of runtime, so a night shift does not stop to refuel. It is rated to 20 m/s wind, runs at 72 dB, and tows on a single 1,500 kg braked axle with leaf springs, 14 inch wheels and a two-tonne braked coupler at up to 80 km/h.
Choosing between the two comes down to how long the shift is and how big the area is. The 5.5 kVA unit lights a compact work face and tows behind almost anything. The nine-metre unit lights a full intersection or a shaft head and keeps doing it for consecutive nights without a refuelling stop. Mines, roads contractors, plant hire fleets and event companies buy both, usually starting with one and adding the other once the first is permanently allocated.