Light Pollution
 

Just heard something today on Radio about this ? Seems becoming some sort of law and can be find up to £5,000. The discussion was aimed mainly at security lights.

Some people aim them up to the sky using 850 w and, as was commented, is only effective if you are expecting an alien invasion from Mars. Some aim them not only at their own garden, but their neighbours and causes rude awakenings in the night.

Not guilty myself as bulb gone and need ladder to get up there, and after small extension, boiler ventilater now under it and heat causes it to go on and off all the time ... it also beeps inside so drove me insane.

Just one I know of near me at the t-junction, house facing down my avenue and nearly blinds me if it is on.

Have you lot thought if you may be annoying some of your neighbours with this facility ?

Re: Light Pollution
 

i have 2 examples of this pesky lights for you katex

1: if you go to bolton through darwen and over the tops just before you get to the tops there is a house on the corner with one of those security lights that have montion detectors

the stupid ba**tards have put it up so that when cars are coming toward the bend it almost blinds teh drivers


2: across from my house there is or should i say was a similar light that shone into my bedroom if somthing like a cat went into their back yard but when they moved out i smashed it off their wall before the new people moved in :D

Re: Light Pollution
 

security lights
 

annoying? i hope so.

Re: Light Pollution
 

You can complain to enviromental health about that, they should tell em to move them.
All the new street lights are anti light pollution and have been for a while, I actually thought this law was already in infact. All the lights with a glass globe on top, the sort supermarkets use, now have the top half of the globe blacked out so the light doesn't shine up.

Re: Light Pollution
 

We have a motion sensative light outside our shed as part of our 'keep the burglars out' campaign since Busman had his bike nicked, but it isn't one of those nasty glaring things. It's only a 60w bulb but it annoys me sometimes when the flippin washing line sets it off. :rolleyes:

Re: Light Pollution
 

The large 500w floodlights are over powered for a lot of security applications, especially if we are only talking about a smallish back yard. You should find that the smaller 150w halogens flood lights are ample for that. My back yard is an 'L' shape so I have 2 150w halogens with PIR's at about 7 feet high with the lamps pointing low. This gives ample light without annoying the nieghbours. Set the on time to only a couple of minutes and you will save a lot of electricity compared to the 500w halogens with long on times, like most are set.

Re: Light Pollution
 

yea i have one accross the bk from me tis well annoying especially when your trying to sleep and it comes on all of a sudden at 23.00. it sometimes detects us moving down stairs when the curtains are shut to...................

Re: Light Pollution
 

mine annoys the neighbours acrtoss the back & theres annoys me so its quits .......when i told them i'd had my car broken into 5 times on the back parking area ....they did agree ....... my cam is set up as well .

Re: Light Pollution
 

No it doesn't, thats just coincidence. PIR's can't see through curtains or windows for that matter. If they did my house alarm would go off every time the window cleaner cleaned the windows.

Mez if your car keeps being broken into you need to get yourself a security Tinkerbelle. Have a look here

Re: Light Pollution
 

I know they can be annoying, but that's usually because they are set wrongly and/or overpowered. My next-door neighbour has one that covers the access to our back door as well, so I don't need one. They are a very good deterrent to intruders, though, and I would certainly have one if I found it necessary. It's an even better deterrent if, every time it comes on, the neighbours come to their windows and look out!

Re: Light Pollution
 

Just wondering what is now going to happen at Christmas ... are the jealous neighbours now going to complain. Would be sad, love these house lights.


Mine (when working) lights up me bathroom .. problem is getting out of shower, you can't resist the urge to go downstairs and take a peek dripping wet !! Only ever seemed to be the ducks on my lawn, :confused: Thought these were cold blooded animals ??

Chav: Found yer own way of dealing with this nuisance I see; don't go givin folks ideas now. :rolleyes:

Re: Light Pollution
 

very interesting this thread! and i thought light pollution was a babys botty burp :p

Re: Light Pollution
 

Speaking of light pollution, and the use of electricity and the gas required to generate it and the governments committment to reducing carbon emissions, isn't it time that we looked at the profligate waste of electricity committed by LCC who operate lighting on Motorways?

Why is it that some sections of motoway are not lit at all - the M55 - and that is not deemed to be unsafe, while other sections - M6 - have so many lights that it is positively painfully bright.
According to one county council in the southeast, it costs £38 per year to run one street lamp. I cannot begin to imagine what the electricity bill must be like for LCC but I can imagine that if every other Motorway light was turned off the savings would be enormous and their part of the council tax would be significantly lower.

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under the railway bridge in accy the lighst come on as a car approaches , wouldnt it be a good idea for motorway lights to do the same to save electricity

Re: Light Pollution
 

No. If you wanted to turn them on and off like that you could not use SON type discharge lights, these require up to 5 minutes or more to reach full light output and wont re strike after switching off for several minutes while they cool down. So instead of using 70w or 150w lamps you would need to use 500w lamps to get the same light output. You can see if would be difficult to save any money unless the road is a very quite one.

Re: Light Pollution
 

Apart from the council tax cost think how much you could save on road tax. It is odd that more accidents seem to happen on well lit roads than those without light. Maybe we are more alert when driving on a darkened road.

As for switching them on and of as cars pass give the job to an illegal immigrant they would soon want out. Can you get energy saving bulbs for road lighting?

Re: Light Pollution
 

They always have been. A 150w SON gives more light output than a 500W halogen flood light

Re: Light Pollution
 

Learn something new every day.

Re: Light Pollution
 

Im with Mez i have one because we have cctv on the front drive we have 3 cars in an area where they like to brake them!! so our light needs to be there so you can get a picture in the night.

The folks accross the road fitted one to their front and it doesnt bother me at all in fact we dont need street lamps when they are both on together!!

Re: Light Pollution
 

Sorta' worked alongside this guy for 16 years who was Chairman of the Public Accounts Committe >> obviously this question was being discussed. Asked me if I thought would be better ? Could only reply, not necessary, but a damned site easier, however, did read later that lighting for miles and miles lulled drivers to sleep, more dangerous and you are more alert in unlit roads as Spuggie has pointed out.

Just think, if I had given a more positive answer, could have had the whole motorway system lit up by now. :D

Re: Light Pollution
 

There is a danger where you pass from lit to dark or dark to lit, can't remeber which way round it is.
Neil is right as usual, sodium vapour lights are the most efficient light you can get, down side being that they're orange, but that doesn't matter for roads, highlighting some buildings, and for some security purposes. Even if you used flourescents, which do get used in some signlights, they take time to warm up, so would be no good for roads.
Not that good for cameras though, but if you use a hallogen spot on a pir and shine it where its needed, down, not across, then it's not expensive to run, and not light polluting. I do agree with niel, who's right again, that a lot of the time a 150 would be plenty, especially just to light a path or small yard.
If you want constant cheap illumination for a camera, i'd use flourescents floods, although they can cause flicker on the camera, or mercury vapour , which is white like halogen.

Re: Light Pollution
 

On the passive sensor sensing the curtains, only thing i could think, is that you must have something hot in your room, and when you draw the curtains it blocks it. I've heard of passives picking up changes in heat through windows, but it's just hearsay, I've never encountered it .

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bout the only thing that does work at accy rail!!

Re: Light Pollution
 

I'd comment jooby but i'm not a local so can't lmao.

Re: Light Pollution
 

Not meaning to insult you Kate but that sounds typical of the people who make important decisions. Why on earth would he ask your opinion on something I suspect you are not qualified to comment on. Should he not have based his decision on facts relating to technical, cost and safety aspects?

Re: Light Pollution
 

Metal Halide provide a nice white light and are efficent. They are a discharge type light so take a few minutes to warm up. They can usually be used on SON gear so can be used as a direct replacement. Many of the new street light fitted around us are now white and I suspect they are using metal halide lamps. Only problem for home use is they are quite expensive compared to a £5 150w B&Q halogen light fitting with PIR.

Re: Light Pollution
 

dont they have lights where you are ..?

if you want we can start a thread about annoying candles :D

Re: Light Pollution
 

Sure it was decided on all aspects here Neil and definitely not on my humble opinion, and was just 'off the record' as someone who did an enormous amount of driving, how I found the difference between lit and unlit motorways. Nowt wrong with that, is there ? As you know, the Public Accounts Commitee are the watchdog on all Public spending and cost/ safety and all technical aspects would have been the main criteria as well as users experiences.

Re: Light Pollution
 

We have gas lights. We have a railway station, thats not got a ticket office chav, i only commented that i agree yours shouldnt be closed, and that appearance is everything and got bad karma and told to find a local forum.
This is a local forum for local people chav.

Re: Light Pollution
 

You are of course correct, and I was thinking that going up the motorway to the meet. they don't put sodium lights on the motorway do they, they're mercury vapour, the golden ones, and the crisp white which are appearing more often now, as i assume costs are falling, are metal halide.

Re: Light Pollution
 

Mercury vapour are also white. I think they are very similar to the newer metal halide ones. I think the old orange street lights were a very efficent type of low pressure sodium but not nice to look at. The modern high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps are more yellow and are often used as motorway lights. You can also use high pressure sodium lamps for growing plants as in this example I found on the net ;)
http://www.sweetleaf.co.uk/images/yo...1025267442.jpg

Re: Light Pollution
 

lol you naughty naughty boy stealing pictures of marajuwana

Re: Light Pollution
 

OMG is that what it is?