Street Light Problem

[idahocampers]

I have a city street light on the edge of my property.
It is way too bright now that they upgraded it to LEDs.
Any tips on shutting it off while the show runs?
Thanks

[Kapkirk]

Idahocamper

 

I will just say good luck with this, I asked the same question or participated in the subject a long while ago don't really remember it all, but the lawyers will tell you to leave it be because if you disable it and an accident occurs you open yourself up for all sorts of stuff. My buddy across the street and I started with LOR in 2015 I think it was and we disabled our bright street light in front of my house.

 

We used a LED type spot light placed on top of the pole with a rope and pvc rig. Then I powered it through a channel from one of my controllers so when the show started it would shut off the light cause of the spot light aimed at the light sensor atop the street light, then when the show ended the spot light would turn off and allow the street light to come back on. We thought we had done a great thing, and we thought it was safe cause we turned it back on after the show but the lawyers had a different idea LOL.

 

So for a couple years we got away with it, then the lawyer talk scared us into just leaving the light alone, sure was nicer looking with it off, but I digress. Good luck and I think I will just wait and see how your question goes.

 

Good Luck, Keith

[Orville]

+1 on what Kapkirk just told you.  I'd highly recommend you just leave it alone. 

Otherwise, like stated above, you could be in for a big lawsuit if something were to happen. 

I asked about the streetlight right next to my driveway that lights up the entire front of my house, and half-way down that side of the house, and was told if I disable it, and someone trips, and gets injured then I'm 100% wide open for a lawsuit.  Also, if any type of accident would occur that would possibly end in someone's death because the streetlight was out by my turning it off, I could be up on manslaughter charges.   Sure don't want that.

If it happens to burn out, notify the power company, or utility that takes care of it immediately!   This is so they have a report it's out, and know to send out a repair crew to get it fixed.  As soon as mine goes out, as much as I would prefer it dark during the holiday light display, I call Duke Energy who takes care of the streetlights in my neighborhood to get it fixed.

So like stated above and in my comment on this subject, just leave it alone.  It's not worth the added risk, if you try and disable it!

Edited April 1, 2021 by Orville

[DLH lites]

Feel your pain !

We live on an very short street only six houses  we are first house on one side , with yup a street lite right on our property. It's on the corner of our lot in our yard ,the only one on the street.  Years ago when we bought the house we planted a  palm tree  very closed to the lite pole.  As the years have gone by it has grown and the palm fronds do shade that side of our yard and drive way, along with the large stand of bamboo, we also planted there.

There have been times when the lite has gone off and if we didn't call no one else would.

2020 mid show it went off, I was like WOW this is great, the show was amazing in the dark. I didn't call FPL,  just to see what would happen.  They came and fixed it two days later, I was sad cause the show looked so great . Yeah, wish I could switch it off but my neighbor who is a cop told me the food at the jail is awful.

Basking in the lite !

 

[k6ccc]

One of the things you may do is to talk to whoever provides the streetlight.  Around here, a lot of the steetlights in residential neighborhoods, have shields that block the light in certain direction.  Those were requested by the homeowners - mainly to keep the lights from pointing into windows.

 

[ItsMeBobO]

The street light in our cul-de-sac has been annoying me for years.  I have been giving it the evil eye but nothing happens!    Our little neighborhood has a bunch of them  BUT they are not evenly spaced and certainly do not cover even a fraction of all the corners and streets.   The accident argument sounds scary until I see lights with a two house range which are 10 houses apart.   What about all that other space and lawyers winning cases against the city for all the accidents which happen between the far spaced lights?     Oh yeah... there have been no accidents I am aware of.    I am personally aware that lights do burn out and are not repaired for a long time.  In our subdivision we only pay for the electricity to the power company and at a much higher rate to cover bulb maintenance since they planted the poles.   Our costs are lower when the bulbs are not repaired.  The largest cost our HOA has is street light electric.   We have petitioned the power company to use LED lights instead of halogen to save on our electric costs but they say no.  The LED bulbs to fit the poles are not approved yet!  How many years does that take?   And this is a contract we can not get out of.  They wont sell us the poles.  We are told they can be turned off but we are not allowed to operate them so we would need to plant new ones including new wire between them.   

Ok so that long ramble is kinda about how I also feel defeated by the light and its impossible to fight the power company forcing us to endure them. 

[dibblejr]

13 hours ago, ItsMeBobO said:

The street light in our cul-de-sac has been annoying me for years.  I have been giving it the evil eye but nothing happens!    Our little neighborhood has a bunch of them  BUT they are not evenly spaced and certainly do not cover even a fraction of all the corners and streets.   The accident argument sounds scary until I see lights with a two house range which are 10 houses apart.   What about all that other space and lawyers winning cases against the city for all the accidents which happen between the far spaced lights?     Oh yeah... there have been no accidents I am aware of.    I am personally aware that lights do burn out and are not repaired for a long time.  In our subdivision we only pay for the electricity to the power company and at a much higher rate to cover bulb maintenance since they planted the poles.   Our costs are lower when the bulbs are not repaired.  The largest cost our HOA has is street light electric.   We have petitioned the power company to use LED lights instead of halogen to save on our electric costs but they say no.  The LED bulbs to fit the poles are not approved yet!  How many years does that take?   And this is a contract we can not get out of.  They wont sell us the poles.  We are told they can be turned off but we are not allowed to operate them so we would need to plant new ones including new wire between them.   

Ok so that long ramble is kinda about how I also feel defeated by the light and its impossible to fight the power company forcing us to endure them. 

Shine a spotlight on the sensor, "the wind must have moved it, sorry"

JR

Edited April 3, 2021 by dibblejr

[Orville]

On 4/2/2021 at 11:11 PM, ItsMeBobO said:

The street light in our cul-de-sac has been annoying me for years.  I have been giving it the evil eye but nothing happens!    Our little neighborhood has a bunch of them  BUT they are not evenly spaced and certainly do not cover even a fraction of all the corners and streets.   The accident argument sounds scary until I see lights with a two house range which are 10 houses apart.   What about all that other space and lawyers winning cases against the city for all the accidents which happen between the far spaced lights?     Oh yeah... there have been no accidents I am aware of.    I am personally aware that lights do burn out and are not repaired for a long time.  In our subdivision we only pay for the electricity to the power company and at a much higher rate to cover bulb maintenance since they planted the poles.   Our costs are lower when the bulbs are not repaired.  The largest cost our HOA has is street light electric.   We have petitioned the power company to use LED lights instead of halogen to save on our electric costs but they say no.  The LED bulbs to fit the poles are not approved yet!  How many years does that take?   And this is a contract we can not get out of.  They wont sell us the poles.  We are told they can be turned off but we are not allowed to operate them so we would need to plant new ones including new wire between them.   

Ok so that long ramble is kinda about how I also feel defeated by the light and its impossible to fight the power company forcing us to endure them. 

Come on down to Florida Bob.  You'll see a lot of those lawsuits between where someone had an accident because the streetlights were improperly placed {too far apart to overlap} or had burned out between those that do, leaving a pitch black void.

But the darnedest thing is, the streetlights are owned by Duke Energy, but are on PRIVATE PROPERTY and, I'm sure we all absorb the cost of them operating in the LOT RENT FEES we pay here.  And they are spaced so far apart there are PITCH BLACK VOIDS between almost every one of them.  We have no sidewalks in our neighborhood, so you have to walk in the street.  So I always make sure I have a very bright flashlight with me and a blinking light attached to my belt on my backside. 

We have a lot of idiotic morons in our neighborhood that drive around here after dark with their lights off, so it's very dangerous to walk around my neighborhood after dark without some type of lighting on you!

It's no wonder they call Florida Flor-ee-DUH!

[weigh2fast4u@yahoo.com]

Dang kids and those BB guns!

We too have one that is pretty bright. I have it tried. But we are a small town. The mayor was talking last year how excited he was to have something like our house in town. He was very supportive of it.. so, I am sure they, and the town hall, would not have a problem with it being off....

cars are supposed to have headlights. There are no streetlights in the country. I don’t see how you could be at fault......

but, I’ve not tried asking them yet.

thanks,

chance Harris