LED Street Lights for Mark

MarkS · Mar 05, 2016, 10:33:03

The signs are up telling me that the street lights down our road will be replaced with LED ones this week.

I'll be sure to take plenty of before and after pictures. I wait in trepidation ...

Mark

Fay · Mar 05, 2016, 15:09:10

Oh dear!

MarkS · Mar 08, 2016, 05:34:58

Monday passed without change ...

MarkS · Mar 08, 2016, 18:59:28

Tuesday passed without change ...

Fay · Mar 09, 2016, 08:00:15

Either they are a bit behind or........they know you are spying on them, Mark!

Rick · Mar 09, 2016, 08:58:33

I expect, like parcel couriers, they're waiting for the least convenient moment, just to surprise you...

The Thing · Mar 09, 2016, 09:22:25

It's bloomin' quick when they do it. You'll come home and find a new set of posts and a row of old stumps waiting to be pulled out.

MarkS · Mar 09, 2016, 19:05:10

Wednesday has passed, event free ...

The Thing · Mar 09, 2016, 19:06:14

Quote from: The Thing on Mar 09, 2016, 09:22:25
It's bloomin' quick when they do it. You'll come home and find a new set of posts and a row of old stumps waiting to be pulled out.

Or is that the dentist

MarkS · Mar 10, 2016, 19:03:51

Thursday has passed, event free ...

Fay · Mar 10, 2016, 19:36:55

You had better come out from behind that bush, now, Mark!

MarkS · Mar 11, 2016, 22:37:00

Friday came and went and we still have sodium lights and the sign still says they're being converted next week.

Mark

Fay · Mar 11, 2016, 22:38:33

I think you had better ring the council to find out what is going on, and what is causing the delay!!!!!

RobertM · Mar 12, 2016, 08:49:22

It's when the sign says 'This week' that you have to worry !

MarkS · Mar 12, 2016, 16:03:51

Quote from: RobertM
It's when the sign says 'This week' that you have to worry !

That's right! All the time the sign says "next week" then, logically, it is impossible for them to ever do the conversion work

Mark

The Thing · Mar 12, 2016, 20:51:31

Mañana, mañana. Just like France really.

MarkS · Mar 14, 2016, 19:06:58

They ignored their signs. Even though the signs say next week, they did them today. They are not too bad - I'll post before and after pictures later.

Mark

Fay · Mar 14, 2016, 22:08:20

They must have known you were not behind the bush, and sneaked up!

I have yet to take an image with the new lights on

MarkS · Mar 14, 2016, 23:38:47

A few before and after images - each pair is taken with identical manual camera settings and daylight colour balance:

The streetlight at the end of the drive:

The streetlights at the end of the cul-de-sac

Looking along my drive:

Conclusions:
1) The ground level illumination on the road is not much brighter than the old ones
2) The new LED lights have much better directed light
3) There is no (or virtually no) light leakage sideways and upwards
4) When you get closer to them the glare from them is very intense

First impressions are that they are an improvement for astronomy - far less local scattered light and an improved view of the night sky when looking in that general direction.

All of Ashford's residential areas are being converted between now and July.

Mark

Fay · Mar 15, 2016, 07:54:36

well that was a surprise result mark, good that you did the test

Carole · Mar 15, 2016, 09:58:46

Great test results.
Well done Mark.

Carole

Rick · Mar 15, 2016, 10:08:08

It'll be interesting to see overall SQM measurement changes with time, as more of the lighting in the area is LED.

RobertM · Mar 15, 2016, 17:42:24

Of course the conditions make quite a difference, for instance if it rains (producing a shiny surface) and snow in particular would produce bad LP. Of course it doesn't really snow any more anyway so that can probably be discounted. The main trouble I find is that the lights are far too bright (trying to make night into day) and have no cutoff fittings as standard. It looks like you are far enough away from them but we've had to spend money on blackout curtains (plus blinds at the front) to allow us to sleep well even with cutoff shades fitted.

I hope it works out better for you than it did for us.

Robert

Rick · Mar 15, 2016, 18:52:35

Yeah, I guess you'd need a lot of weather data in addition to SQM readings to draw any meaningful conclusions... :/

Fay · Mar 15, 2016, 19:16:17

oh dear

MarkS · Mar 15, 2016, 19:43:09

I keep SQM readings every night I'm out imaging - I have 3 years of data so far. If there is a significant difference as the whole area becomes converted then I should hopefully spot any trend.

Robert, the design of these lights seems much more friendly than the ones I have seen in the Orpington area:

They are manufactured by Phosco but I haven't found this exact design on their website. The houses down the road are definitely darker now and I no longer have any stray light shining down into the garden.

Later Edit: It looks as if it might be this luminaire, which they describe as "dark sky friendly": http://www.cuphosco.com/luminaires-p852-led

Mark

Fay · Mar 15, 2016, 22:01:39

I will take a picture of our ones tomorrow

Mac · Mar 20, 2016, 22:15:40

Do they still have the light sensor on the top so that you can use a green laser to switch them of

Mac

Carole · Mar 21, 2016, 08:59:05

It's quite shocking when you look at the pictures of the sodium lighting.

Carole

Fay · Mar 21, 2016, 10:26:31

these are in my street

Fay · Mar 21, 2016, 22:46:17

Is my street light the same as yours Robert?

MarkS · Mar 22, 2016, 06:30:48

Quote from: Fay
these are in my street

How do you find them in practice? Good or bad? They look to me as if there should be very little sideways light spillage. How well contained is the beam? Are they the same as the ones along Crofton Road?

Mark

Fay · Mar 22, 2016, 07:46:12

well I have not been outside since they were put in.

RobertM · Mar 22, 2016, 10:27:54

Quote from: Fay on Mar 21, 2016, 22:46:17
Is my street light the same as yours Robert?

Yes it is Fay except I had the council put shades around them. The beam angle would have been about 160 (or more) degrees without; now it's more like 120-140 and doesn't light up our garden as much. I don't know why they don't make proper adjustable shades to stop all the light ingress rather than attach a thin rim and call it a shade

I must get a spectrum, but in any case they look like cool white which would peak in the blue somewhere.

Robert

MarkS · Apr 01, 2016, 01:39:54

Tonight is the first clear night since the LED conversion and I've just recorded my highest ever sky quality here at home: 21.18 at 1:30am. My previous best at home was 21.15. I have also recorded 21.1 on 8 separate occasions. Is this high value a coincidence? It's too early to say.

The best I've recorded at a DSC was 21.31 at Rother Valley.
The best I've recorded at Kelling Heath is 21.38

Mark

Carole · Apr 01, 2016, 11:11:30

That's good Mark, what was your reading at Cairds?

Carole

MarkS · Apr 01, 2016, 18:51:42

Cairds was 21.1 on both occasions I've been.

Mark

RobertM · Apr 01, 2016, 21:37:26

I'm glad it's worked out for you Mark. It could be that the sharper cutoff and more vegetation (reducing reflected light) is helping.

Hopefully that won't be your best reading either

Is it noticeably any darker ?

Robert

MarkS · Apr 01, 2016, 22:58:06

My latest project is to regularly photograph Ashford town from Wye Downs. I'm very interested to see if the appearance of streetlights reduces and if the overall light pollution reduces over the next 18 months. It could prove to be a most interesting case study.

Here is last night. Canon 600D 18mm 120sec F5.6

Spot the well known constellation!

Mark

Carole · Apr 02, 2016, 08:55:54

Well the glow is not as orange as comes out in most LP towns. Are the street lights in Ashford itself now LED?

Carole

MarkS · Apr 02, 2016, 18:59:58

Quote from: Carole
Well the glow is not as orange as comes out in most LP towns. Are the street lights in Ashford itself now LED?

No they are not LED yet. They have started converting residential areas - this should be completed in July. We must wait until next year before they convert the town centre and the main roads.

Mark

Rick · Apr 02, 2016, 19:46:13

Presumably, then, that's just evidence of a lot of high-pressure sodium street lighting, probably augmented by all sorts of other poorly aimed floodlights and such...

MarkS · Apr 03, 2016, 05:14:13

I have some higher resolution images with shorter exposure where the individual lamps can be seen. They are predominantly orange.

Here's a crop :

The pinprick "blue" lights are on top of the poles that hold up the Designer Outlet "tented" structure. I don't know what kind of lights they are.

Mark

Rick · Apr 03, 2016, 08:52:31

Mostly looks like standard high-pressure sodium rather than the cleaner yellow of low-pressure sodium.

I'd guess the blue might be decorative blue LEDs?

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LED Street Lights for Mark