Sean Meighan
General => The Water Cooler => Topic started by: bravado67 on February 15, 2016, 09:51:46 AM
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I live in a new housing tract with a home at the end of a T-section so viewing is great from every angle with the caveat of a street light that illuminates my entire home. Last year I shined a shop light at it from a low angle for Halloween and Christmas which worked. I want to know if others have had this experience and what they might have done to turn down the lights so to speak. I would like to put a matrix on the bottom part to become a model in the show.
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This is the oldest FAQ in the list.
Each street light is structured differently but most of them have the sensor on the top of the light.
My street light has what looks like a hat wit a knob on top. I designed a hat with a light in it to sit over that knob and when I turn the light on the street light goes out.
Some people that do not have easy access to that sensor has used a laser aimed at the sensor to control it as well.
You can post a picture of the street light and perhaps others have similar and have a solution for you.
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This is the oldest FAQ in the list.
Each street light is structured differently but most of them have the sensor on the top of the light.
My street light has what looks like a hat wit a knob on top. I designed a hat with a light in it to sit over that knob and when I turn the light on the street light goes out.
Some people that do not have easy access to that sensor has used a laser aimed at the sensor to control it as well.
You can post a picture of the street light and perhaps others have similar and have a solution for you.
I searched in the FAQ but found nothing. I'll look again. I was able to turn the street life off last year with a flood light. I was hoping someone might have experience working with their city or code enforcement that turned the lights off for a period of time. I remember reading am article where the homeowner worked it out with their city.
Ron
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Have you searched some of the other general Christmas forums?
For example:
Planet Christmas Forum
http://forums.planetchristmas.com/ (http://forums.planetchristmas.com/)
or
Do it yourself Christmas
http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/ (http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/)
or
diychristmas.org
http://www.diychristmas.org/ (http://www.diychristmas.org/)
and there may be others, but these are some of the more widely known.
Hope that helps your research.
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I would definitely give the town/city a call before doing this. I'm sure there will be different bylaws in every place for this. Last thing you want is a knock at the door and the city offering up a fine. I'm sure if you get someone ticked off at you for traffic on the street this may add fuel to the fire.
I know my city is generally Christmas light friendly as there is a mayors bus tour every December but I've never had to deal with this scenario before. Good luck with it and let us know what they say.
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Call the city? Are you crazy? LOL...I can tell you the answer you'll get.
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If you call and they say no, you will have been put on actual notice. Then should something happen or they check....
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Call the city? Are you crazy? LOL...I can tell you the answer you'll get.
And the expected answer is... ?????
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Donuts to the street light maintenance department.. It just might have a temporary malfunction :)
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Call the city? Are you crazy? LOL...I can tell you the answer you'll get.
I have to agree with Gil on this. It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission in situations like this. I live in a small town where police are contracted out via Highway Patrol. There were no complaints when I turned the lights off during Halloween and Xmas in 2015 so I think I will leave it alone. I'll find a crafty way to use a laser instead of the shop light as it draws too much power! and can be seen if you look for it.
Ron
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Donuts to the street light maintenance department.. It just might have a temporary malfunction :)
Agreed. I have seen woodpeckers up there. I hope they damage the sensors. LOL
The sensors face my home so very easy to turn off with enough light. I tried an LED shop light but no luck. A halogen works. I was able to hand hold a laser pointer to make it work.
Ron
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I saw a post , in an astronomy blog, about a person who would use a laser (5mw i think) and aim it at the sensor on top of the street lamp. When he wanted to use his telescope, he would zap the lightpost.
He said red lasers work, green lasers do not.
Infrared would prob be best, no visible light. Shining a laser up to a light post seems to run the risk of blinding passing airplanes. If there is an accident in front of your home and they know you turned off the light, could be lawyer fodder. I wish there was a way to make a shade that would cast a shadow only on my home and leave the street illuminated.
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I saw a post , in an astronomy blog, about a person who would use a laser (5mw i think) and aim it at the sensor on top of the street lamp. When he wanted to use his telescope, he would zap the lightpost.
He said red lasers work, green lasers do not.
Infrared would prob be best, no visible light. Shining a laser up to a light post seems to run the risk of blinding passing airplanes. If there is an accident in front of your home and they know you turned off the light, could be lawyer fodder. I wish there was a way to make a shade that would cast a shadow only on my home and leave the street illuminated.
Sean, there is another light across the street catty corner. Both of these lights have to lanterns so plenty of ambient light. Hopefully, the light show will produce more light than the streetlights so visibility is somewhat improved with the exception of distraction. Last year a Highway Patrol officer stopped across the way and took video. He wanted to share it with his daughter. There are no light contamination laws in my county or for the city so okay there. The neighbors all love it - even when I blasted the music each night for Halloween and Christmas. I do plan to use a transmitter this year for the cars. I will take donations for Wounded Warriors as well. One of my neighbors was an sniper instructor for Chris Kyle.
Ron
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We had. Street light that would shine straight into my child's room at night. We called the city and they put a shade in the lamp to prevent the light from shinning at our house. Maybe your having problems sleeping due to that bright light directly in your window?
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We had. Street light that would shine straight into my child's room at night. We called the city and they put a shade in the lamp to prevent the light from shinning at our house. Maybe your having problems sleeping due to that bright light directly in your window?
If my neighbors use that excuse I would have to turn my Christmas lights off.
I leave right on a corner, so I have 3 neighbors to shine on. :-)
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We had. Street light that would shine straight into my child's room at night. We called the city and they put a shade in the lamp to prevent the light from shinning at our house. Maybe your having problems sleeping due to that bright light directly in your window?
Already thought about that. It does actually put a lot of light into my son's room. He is the closest to the light upstairs. He likes the light. I can convince him not to. LOL
Ron
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We had. Street light that would shine straight into my child's room at night. We called the city and they put a shade in the lamp to prevent the light from shinning at our house. Maybe your having problems sleeping due to that bright light directly in your window?
If my neighbors use that excuse I would have to turn my Christmas lights off.
I leave right on a corner, so I have 3 neighbors to shine on. :-)
Last year I offered my unused light to two neighbors across from me and helped my next door neighbor fix his electrical issues and timer. Besides, if they don't want to hear me playing drums to Rush songs everyday then they better get with the program. LOL!!!
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We had. Street light that would shine straight into my child's room at night. We called the city and they put a shade in the lamp to prevent the light from shinning at our house. Maybe your having problems sleeping due to that bright light directly in your window?
If my neighbors use that excuse I would have to turn my Christmas lights off.
I leave right on a corner, so I have 3 neighbors to shine on. :-)
Last year I offered my unused light to two neighbors across from me and helped my next door neighbor fix his electrical issues and timer. Besides, if they don't want to hear me playing drums to Rush songs everyday then they better get with the program. LOL!!!
Play me some yyz please. 8)
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We had. Street light that would shine straight into my child's room at night. We called the city and they put a shade in the lamp to prevent the light from shinning at our house. Maybe your having problems sleeping due to that bright light directly in your window?
If my neighbors use that excuse I would have to turn my Christmas lights off.
I leave right on a corner, so I have 3 neighbors to shine on. :-)
Last year I offered my unused light to two neighbors across from me and helped my next door neighbor fix his electrical issues and timer. Besides, if they don't want to hear me playing drums to Rush songs everyday then they better get with the program. LOL!!!
Play me some yyz please. 8)
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
No problem. It's a straight forward kind of song. I like challenges like Jacobs Ladder. The time signature changes require some serious concentration. :o
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I use a laser to turn off the street light as well as my house lights. Two years ago I used S3 and configured a couple LOR channels in a background sequence. It worked great, at the beginning of my show my Xmiter, tune to sign, and lasers all turn on, at the conclusion of the show the lasers turn off and the street lights and my house lights turn on. This last year with xLights I had to use a timer, next year I plan on writing a script to control the the channels for my Xmiter and lasers. I actually get a few comments about the laser. The most asked questions is “why do I have a string of red yarn running from my house to the street light….”
So far the city hasn't told me to turn off the laser. I've won 1st place the last 3 years in our city contest so i would think they have noticed it, but you never know!
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I use a green laser pointer targeted at the sensor at the top of the streetlight in front of my house. I'm in the "forgiveness" camp and the only problem I had was a nearby neighbor did not know what I was doing, and one morning I saw him and a utility employee outside looking up at the light. The employee went up in the bucket, futzed around, came down and left - I guess NTF. Waited a few days before I told my neighbor what I was doing...
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I use a green laser pointer targeted at the sensor at the top of the streetlight in front of my house. I'm in the "forgiveness" camp and the only problem I had was a nearby neighbor did not know what I was doing, and one morning I saw him and a utility employee outside looking up at the light. The employee went up in the bucket, futzed around, came down and left - I guess NTF. Waited a few days before I told my neighbor what I was doing...
Very cool! My neighbor works for Edison and volunteered having someone shut it off but he flaked. All my neighbors know how I turned it off. With my 2 and 4 year olds I make sure to keep it safe in the area. I always put out the yellow man warning of children playing. I also cary a strong LED flashlight and point it at the street if I see people crossing and a car coming. Most people slow down to take a look anyway but there is always one idiot that is in a hurry.
Ron
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I wish there was a way to make a shade that would cast a shadow only on my home and leave the street illuminated.
This is exactly how we are handling the problem in our park show. A "shade" is attached to the streetlight that blocks its light from the area the show is in, yet leaves the area it is supposed to cover lit.
We learned about this due to our local florist having problems with their greenhouse plants growing due to constant light. They put these shades on each of the street lights in their block and all is well again.