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annoying street light


ThatBigManWithLights

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my house in on a corner with a street light on the straight in front of the house across the street. are my hopes of having a nice show just dead?  what to do?

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Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.

My previous house had a streetlight one house over and across the street. Didn't affect things at all. There's so much going that you don't notice it.

Unless the light is so bright that you have daylight conditions on your front yard, (or a highway type street light right over your yard) I wouldn't worry about it. Others may have differing opinions.

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6 hours ago, ThatBigManWithLights said:

my house in on a corner with a street light on the straight in front of the house across the street. are my hopes of having a nice show just dead?  what to do?

Agree with Don and proceed as planned. Shouldn't bother your show to much.

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Try contacting your city . / county lighting authority.  I contact the electric company in our town.  they turn off the light from Late November until early January.  Of course some towns may not be so accommodating.

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I'm in the same boat. On on the outside corner of a 90 degree bend, and there is a streetlight across the street. Really not a problem. In fact my standard recommendation for the best parking spot for watching the show is almost right under the light.

Sent from my Droid Turbo via Tapatalk, so blame any typos or spelling errors on Android

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Got a street light directly next to my house, sits right smack next to my driveway, yes, it is bright.   But it has never stopped me from doing my displays.  Darn thing illuminated the entire front of my house.   Do I find it distracting, yes, but I just let it be and make the best of it.

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If you feel it is shining on your display to much...

Contact the city and tell them the light is shining in your windows and that you would like a partial shield installed to block only the light shining in your direction. This way the light still shines in the area therefore providing security/comfort to the other neighbors. I've seen this done so hopefully they have the capability to do it in your area.

If you claim it as a nuisance to your personal life (shining in the windows at night), chances are they will make it right.

Tom

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BigMan

I too have a light right in front, I keel haul a led light up on a couple pieces on pvc with rope and position it right over the sensor, then when the show starts the light comes on and shuts off the lamp thinking it's daylight, then when the shows over the light goes off and the street light returns to normal.

The neighbors enjoy watching my friend/neighbor and I get it up and adjusted, the first year we struggled with it but now we have it down to a few throws and its up, our christmas light viewers comment all the time of the light being out makes viewing better and the whole street looking so good.

I recommend tuning it off if not too hard, we are happy we did, the wooden light pole and top mounted sensor makes it easier.

Keith

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I have a street light off the side of my driveway and it really doesn't affect the enjoyment of my display one bit.

 

Call the city/utility company if it really does have an impact on the display. 

 

Really can't advocate homeowners trying to de-activate public lighting themselves. If the utility company will not do it temporarily, then live with it.

 

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Mine is a concrete light pole and where I live is considered private property and private roads.  I talked to the management about turning it off or doing the same thing with a light to turn it off when the display is running, no dice.   Said it's too much of a safety concern to turn off any of the street lights.   So much for that idea.    So like said, I just have to live with it and make the best of the situation.

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9 minutes ago, mpageler said:

Really can't advocate homeowners trying to de-activate public lighting themselves. If the utility company will not do it temporarily, then live with it.

 

7 minutes ago, Orville said:

I talked to the management about turning it off or doing the same thing with a light to turn it off when the display is running, no dice.   Said it's too much of a safety concern to turn off any of the street lights.   So much for that idea.    So like said, I just have to live with it and make the best of the situation.

This is why I mentioned a partial shield or reflector. The light still shines for security and safety but not directly on the house.

There is a big difference in total darkness or having it partially shielded.

My parents was able to have this done.

It's worth a try.

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17 minutes ago, Santas Helper said:

 

This is why I mentioned a partial shield or reflector. The light still shines for security and safety but not directly on the house.

There is a big difference in total darkness or having it partially shielded.

My parents was able to have this done.

It's worth a try.

Already discussed that too.  They don't want any part of the light blocked, so it's been a no go all the way around.   So like stated, I just live with it and make the best of it.

When asked about a shield they said if it bothers you inside, buy blackout curtains and put in your windows and doors.  Those sure won't help with the display. since we can't put up anything like a shield or curtain outside to block the light from the street lamp.

Pretty much a no win situation in my case.   So I just make the best of it with what I have to work with.

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Agree with don 100%. I was worried about the street light across the street from my display but it really doesn't bother it. Yes I wish is wasn't there but really, it's not too noticeable and when the display is off it kind of adds a bit of security. 

The house across the street that has the street light had a nice static display and looked great. 

if you look at some of my videos you can get an idea, I basically filmed them with the camera under the street light  

contacting city and they said it would be a public safety hazard to turn off  

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about too much, imho. 

 

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I like having a street light in front of my house.  Gives me something else to decorate.  Never asked for permission, luckily the city never complained.   In no way does a street light take away from the show. 

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In my area, all the street lights are computer controlled. They have a little transceivers which sits on top of the lantern in the NEMA socket, which is the standard for street lamp photo sensors.

 

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This means that they can modernise and control any streetlamp, even ones 50 + years old, and the devices also have sensors to detect a load, and so if the bulb goes then the council are notified.

As soon as I leave the area I notice day burning lampposts everywhere. Today I saw a day burning lamp for the first time in over a year.Efi9v2_7S6cywMf2c-EaLv6gBNjOTg1EfYCwy7fs

 

I have this across the street to me. It has a low pressure sodium bulb, so the light is very orange. I actually really like it. It makes the perfect amount of light. People can see to be safe when the display is dark, but it doesn't interfere with the show.

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I had a problem like that before.. A small LASER light hidden under my eve and aimed it at the light sensor... when ligh show is running turn on the laser... poof street light goes off..

 

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If that truly works, brilliant. Our street lights are individually photocell controlled as well. Hook a relay up to the laser pointer from a ServoDog and sequence the control of it in the show.

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I got incredibly lucky. The streetlight in front of my house has a dim bulb in it. It's about half the brightness of the other high pressure sodium lights in the neighborhood, but it's not so dim that anyone will notice it needs replacing. It's just enough light to hit the driveway and give some security, but if for example I turn the porch light on it drowns it out completely.

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After reading some of these posts I feel really lucky.  I have no street light to deal with AND there isn't a house directly across the street from mine either.  The backyard of the house on the left is directly across and surrounded by tall Oleanders which gives ideal parking across the street to watch the show.

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kinda hard to use the street light as part of the show... It comes on to slow and has to actually warm up to get very bright.

I have moved to a different house... and am in the process of moving again as I sold the house I have been in for the last 10 years..

Moved most last week and still not finished.. Now  I Have 2 street lights to possibly deal with.. one on the left side of my drive way to the left front side of my house in my yard.. and the other across the street almost even to the right side of my house on a corner as there is the start of a future street directly in front of my house which is good by the way for parking in because it is only a dead end and about 150 ft long.. can probably park 6 or 8 cars there at one time with no problem.

 

I will find out more when I start up for Halloween set up..

 

oh I have checked with my 6 closest neighbors and they all like the sound of my Halloween show and Christmas show when I tell them it is lights set with music... or music set to lights... lol and there are a loy of kinds in my new neighbor hood...

Before I moved it was was just next door neighbors (2) or invited guests who could see it as I was way on the end of a private road and only had 2 neighbors..

 

 

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