Mine Head Lighthouse was electrified in 1964 and was made unwatched in 1973. Most of the equipment at the station dates back to those times. A navigational review confirmed that the range of the light could be reduced from 28 to 20 nautical miles and the station is currently being re-engineered with energy efficient equipment.
The standby generating set is being removed and an etched 150 Watt discharge lamp has been installed in the first-order rotating lens, powered using two parallel connected 24 volt 500 Ampere-hour (Ah) lead acid batteries. The PRB 22 rotating mechanism and control system is being refurbished.
A Datac 932 monitoring system, which communicates over the telephone network with the monitoring centre in Dun Laoghaire, has been installed. The new light came into operation on 10 September 2003.
