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NOOOOOOOO, not street lights!!!!!


Mr. P

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There is a petition going around among the homeowners to add street lights to our community. I totally understand they want the street lights for security but the current darkness makes my show look that much better. I guess I could be a team player and think of the community as a whole and sign the petition but now I will have to find a way to incorporate a street light into the show, not this year but maybe next.

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Agree!    There is a bright light in the center of my cul-du-sac viewing area which shines on my house casting shadows of trees and washing out the colors.  Another right in front of my next door neighbors house.  My HOA has been whining about the cost of electricity for these and is raising the fees saying electricity is their biggest expense.  I have been thinking about asking the HOA if a switch could be installed in addition to the dusk to dawn sensor.    This will save electricity costs if I or someone could shut it off when the area is illuminated by my show.       Maybe you could ask for yours to be staggered but none directly in front of your house.

This was your 2500th post Mr P

Edited by ItsMeBobO
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10 minutes ago, Mr. P said:

There is a petition going around among the homeowners to add street lights to our community. I totally understand they want the street lights for security but the current darkness makes my show look that much better. I guess I could be a team player and think of the community as a whole and sign the petition but now I will have to find a way to incorporate a street light into the show, not this year but maybe next.

Our end of my SD we have no light. Also keeps the bad guys out because they need light if they attempt to come down our driveways. Makes for easy spotting and a possible dose of led poisoning.

That's the other side to present to your council meeting during open forum. It makes it easier for those car break in and run guys/ gals since they can basically see.

They started breaking in around here in the day. They use the excuse that sometimes makes authorities think they are innocent, high school sports programs, wrong house etc.

Best of luck

JR 

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My HOA has nothing to do with street lights as that is a homeowner thing. As long as the homeowners can get 50% or more of the homeowners to sign the petition then the County will install the lights and bill the homeowners on their property taxes every year. Maybe i could get them to install a switch (doubt it) but it would be even better if they would install a RGB light and let me control it.  ?

5 minutes ago, ItsMeBobO said:

This was your 2500th post Mr P

Didn't even notice, boy how time flies.

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My sub-division had the lights and was paying for them before we were annexed by vote into the city.    The city did not however want to pay for the lights since we were already paying for them.   I dont understand government because we dont get a lights break on our taxes.   We got to be on the city trash service however.      

Please someone send me some nerve to ask my HOA about a switch to shut this power hog light off in front of my house. 

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Good luck with the switch idea Bob, I have a street light right in front of my house that degrades our show, the first year my neighbor and I put a led light on a piece of pvc and I would plug it in during the show, worked great. Then the next year I put it on its own channel so I didn't have to remember.

 

The third year we didn't put it up because of the possible litigation, our traffic started getting heavy because of the show and the drivers were not so smart about driving and we began to think about the possibility of accidents and the inevitable blame that would follow, so we decided that we would just leave it alone.

 

I think we discussed this in a previous thread and the lawyers won out, at least in our case they did, but I sure liked the show better without the street light, I was never able to get anyone in the county to answer the question about a switch and we always figured it got stuck in the legal department so we just put the show on with the street light.

 

Keith

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Have one right along the left side of my driveway, which pretty much illuminated the entire front, most of my roof on the left side, and almost the full length of the left side of my house.  It was there when I moved in, so I just deal with it as it is.  

No switch would be installed, no aftermarket or DIY street lamp turner offer either would be allowed.  I asked, private streets owned by the mobile home park.   So it burns bright and I just have to deal with the excess light wash it gives.

Wish I could turn it off, when it burned out first year I was here at Christmas, I never reported it, so it was out for a few weeks before they realized it needed a replacement bulb.   But at least I got through my first year Christmas display without it, sure looked 100,000% better with it off, but as they say, can't fight city hall or the property owner if they want it left alone and on. 

But I do wish it'd burn out now every year for the duration of my Light Display.  Unfortunately that's just not very likely.

 

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Although I am far from the nearest street light, it was an old sodium type for the last 9 years I have lived here.  This spring the HOA updated them due to failing of the old ballasts went to a new LED design - and they are BRIGHT.  So my solution is to make my display BRIGHTER!

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Well Mr. P,  I guess that after they install the light, I'll have to ship my pellet gun to you ?  ?

Over the years on here, I've heard of some strange ways of getting the street light to go off during the show, but none I was willing to try in my previous neighborhood.  At my present house, there is a street light right at the end of our driveway, but it doesn't seem to affect the appearance of our lights in any way.

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I have a streetlight across the street from my house.  Most of my stuff is quite a ways back from the street, so I have never considered it to be a problem.  I have thought about mounting a laser that would hit the photocell on top of the light to turn it off.  The photo below was taken from almost directly under the streetlight (yes, on Valentines Day).

Valentines-1.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, k6ccc said:

I have thought about mounting a laser that would hit the photocell on top of the light to turn it off.

I recall a discussion about this a few years ago.  A few people jumped in to criticize about possible deflection that potentially affect pilots.   I don't know about that hypothesis.  Without experimenting, I just concluded that it probably won't work because the street light photosensors don't respond the the wavelength of lasers which are typically 810 nm and higher wave length, and you would probably have to be pointing down on the sensor from up above it anyway.  Who knows..... might work.

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11 minutes ago, Richard Hamilton said:

I recall a discussion about this a few years ago.  A few people jumped in to criticize about possible deflection that potentially affect pilots.   I don't know about that hypothesis

I am a pilot who has been laser tracked (although I was a passenger - in a police helicopter at the time).  Being tracked is radically different than randomly flying through a beam.  That's why no one gets overly excited about star gazing groups using lasers to point out celestial objects during viewing events.  It would take a really unlikely combination of events for a reflected laser to cause an issue for pilots.

17 minutes ago, Richard Hamilton said:

Without experimenting, I just concluded that it probably won't work because the street light photosensors don't respond the the wavelength of lasers which are typically 810 nm and higher wave length, and you would probably have to be pointing down on the sensor from up above it anyway.  Who knows..... might work.

I have turned off street lights with a high power flashlight.  It works quite well.  Never tried it with a laser, but I have heard of people doing so.  The photo sensor is normally on top of the fixture, so you can't shoot up at it, but they are not hard to hit from a bit of a distance. 

Um, 810nm is in the near infrared range.  I'm thinking more like the typical green laser pointer (around 525nm) - which is what were tracked with in the helicopter.  I can assure you that from about 1000 feet away, those are still plenty bright when pointed at you at night!  Of course, we returned the favor with 40 million candlepower from the Night Sun after the ground officers came over to take the perps into custody.

 

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7 hours ago, Kapkirk said:

Good luck with the switch idea Bob, I have a street light right in front of my house that degrades our show, the first year my neighbor and I put a led light on a piece of pvc and I would plug it in during the show, worked great. Then the next year I put it on its own channel so I didn't have to remember.

 

The third year we didn't put it up because of the possible litigation, our traffic started getting heavy because of the show and the drivers were not so smart about driving and we began to think about the possibility of accidents and the inevitable blame that would follow, so we decided that we would just leave it alone.

 

I think we discussed this in a previous thread and the lawyers won out, at least in our case they did, but I sure liked the show better without the street light, I was never able to get anyone in the county to answer the question about a switch and we always figured it got stuck in the legal department so we just put the show on with the street light.

 

Keith

You got me.  I have been wanting to do this for years but have taken no action.  This year I have the email saying subdivision is raising assessment due to higher cost of street lights.  I just want to help them with one less light to pay for. 

I just found this article which mentions several cites around me using the same electric company.   I now feel it would be impossible to get a switch or timer installed.     

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/cities-take-on-ameren-missouri-over-streetlight-policy/article_1eea77b1-dcb7-55e7-8bf4-20c63a7f331a.html

 

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10 minutes ago, ItsMeBobO said:

I just found this article which mentions several cites around me using the same electric company.   I now feel it would be impossible to get a switch or timer installed.     

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/cities-take-on-ameren-missouri-over-streetlight-policy/article_1eea77b1-dcb7-55e7-8bf4-20c63a7f331a.html

Read the article.   wonder if the cities might be able to use the power of eminent domain to purchase the streetlights from the utility?  I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV...

 

 

 

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Bob

 

Yep, we pay for our street lights too, it is a one line assessment on our electric bill, don't remember how much, cents I think but either way no control over either the light or the cost. They do get out pretty quick if it goes out and you call. Bet our costs will raise soon too. Maybe better look at electric bill soon.

 

Jim

 

My neighbor and I tried a couple lasers first, we never could get the lasers to cut the light out, we just surmised the sensor was pointing up and that was the reason, the LED light on the end of 25 feet of pvc did the trick, we were quite the sight trying to get that contraption suspended over the sensor for a while, our wives kept saying they were going to film us and put us on youtube LOL. Finally a rope to pull and steady the contraption worked.

 

Keith

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19 hours ago, Kapkirk said:

“My neighbor and I tried a couple lasers first, we never could get the lasers to cut the light out, we just surmised the sensor was pointing up and that was the reason, the LED light on the end of 25 feet of pvc did the trick, we were quite the sight trying to get that contraption suspended over the sensor for a while, our wives kept saying they were going to film us and put us on youtube LOL. Finally a rope to pull and steady the contraption worked.”

  

 

Edited by Cdanna77
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CDanna77

 

No pic's, the statute of limitations isn't up yet LOL. We just used 3 sections of 3/4 inch pvc and attached a rope to the pvc about 6 feet down and tossed the rope over the lamp arm to haul it up and keep it near the pole, then when about 10 inch's above the sensor we screwed long deck screws thru the pvc into the wooden pole to keep it at the right spot.

 

Usually didn't have to readjust, the tied off rope and the deck screws kept it there thru the season. But like I said after 2 seasons the online lawyers scared us off, last year we adjusted the hanging light strings coming down from all the trees on the street because we observed kids swinging the strands and the parents just watched, we would try and explain 120 volts but it was on deaf or dumb ears. So instead of hanging strait down we swaged them into the trunks of the trees and made it so the little guys couldn't reach them. Not as good a look as before but safer for the young rascals and our lawyers can relax, I hope LOL.

 

Or were you just kidding about the street light bypass pole?

 

Keith

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A marksman 3040 slingshot from Walmart ($10) and some steel ball bearings would take care of that light problem temporarily for the season then you just call them up and give them the light pole number after the season is over and tell them the light is out LOL.

Not that I've ever tried anything like that  ???? (slingshots are a man's 2nd  best friend) but I would strongly suggest standing at least 10 ft off to the sides and checking the wind direction first so that when the glass comes down, you have a chance to get out the way.... Lol

 

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We created a hack we call the "Deluminator" (inspired by Dumbledore's opening incantations from Harry Potter).

We were lucky enough to have a big old sodium street light at the end of our cul de sac right in front of our house.  Fortunately, it had a dusk to dawn sensor.  Not wanting to get sued or cause permanent damage, my boys and I originally tried to hit the sensor with a variety of lasers to no avail, and then we came up with the solution.  It was really simple after we thought about it...  Our dusk-to-dawn sensor needed a night light on a timer. 

I just put a single, old school blue c7 at the end of an old single fake candle (like the kind you put in your windows at Christmas or Halloween) on top of a long pole that we painted matte black.  we zip tied it to the post and it practically disappeared for all intents and purposes.  We chose a blue light so it wouldn't be too distracting.  After a couple of seasons we've kept it up all year long.  Only mod I've made is putting dielectric grease in the socket to keep it from corroding.  You could use a cane pole, PVC or an extra extend-a-pole with the screw-end like they sell at Home Depot with the shingle clips.  It just so happened the screw end fit perfectly in our solo candelabra.  If you have a spare channel, you can make it part of your show.  Turn on that unit when you want to start your show. Or just use a cheapy $4 timer.  Turn it off when show's over.  Problem solved.  Everyone happy.

Good luck!

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