Gary Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Seem to be conflicting reports on social media about the new "white" LED lighting popping up around town http://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/2015/11/06/new-white-street-lights-are-coming-on/ How are they for you? Feel free to comment under the article as well - as the council are more likely to see you comments on the main site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 They changed all our road light a few months ago and now the whole road is much darker that it was before with just bright areas directly under the lights. My driveway used to be well illuminated by the old sodium lights but now it's pitch black and I even need a torch just to find the right keys and keyhole. More importantly I live down a long cul-de-sac in what's generally regarded as a relatively crime free area but since the "Darkening" my car has been broken into twice in the space of a month and items stolen. In all my life I've never had any problems like this and yet within a couple of months of the lighting change all this happens. Coincidence maybe but I don't for one moment think this lighting helped! (apart form making it easier for the opportunist thief!) Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 They changed all our road light a few months ago and now the whole road is much darker that it was before with just bright areas directly under the lights. My driveway used to be well illuminated by the old sodium lights but now it's pitch black and I even need a torch just to find the right keys and keyhole. More importantly I live down a long cul-de-sac in what's generally regarded as a relatively crime free area but since the "Darkening" my car has been broken into twice in the space of a month and items stolen. In all my life I've never had any problems like this and yet within a couple of months of the lighting change all this happens. Coincidence maybe but I don't for one moment think this lighting helped! (apart form making it easier for the thief!) Bill Coincidence or the consequences of living in a Tory Britain Maybe you need an external light Bill, cheap and easy to fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 One of my favourite annoyances is traffic lights....nice & bright during the day but at night they dazzle ,they could do with a dimmer switch at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reader Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 I am normally a great fan of LEDs but in this case agree with Bill I dont think they illuminate the end of the cul de sac as well as the old one did which seemed taller than the new post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 I like them, and they will hopefully save money and reduce light pollution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Well I'm all in favor of anything that works well while at the same time being good for the environment It's just that these lamps don't work that well. The light is far too concentrated into one small spot and outside of this there's virtually no illumination. There needs to be some kind of simple plastic diffuser that could be retro fitted to spread the light out a little more evenly and that to me would improve matters greatly. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 The old amber sodium (I presume) light we had in the close was hopeless but since they have installed the new LED (I presume) light the dark corner of our front garden is lit up nicely, so no problem for us!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wirerob1 Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 From a light distribution point of view, compared to the traditional Amber Sodium bulbs they are rubbish spaced at the same distance. The old Amber street lights effectively bleed illumination over a greater footprint - in Thelwall now when I walk the dogs in the dark I go from areas of pitch blackness to the isolated very bright floodlights that are the new LED street lights, which give a circle of light immediately below the pole - hence why they are taller to traditional lamp posts to try and alleviate this defect . Its obvious you need closer grouped led lights to get the same area illuminated for a worth while effect compared to the older amber Sodium lights - was this factored into the whole life cost - I bet not as they quote like for like replacement on numbers - again someone with no technical knowledge signed up on potential cost saving that in asset efficiency terms i.e. illumination quality doesn't exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 They changed all our road light a few months ago and now the whole road is much darker that it was before with just bright areas directly under the lights. My driveway used to be well illuminated by the old sodium lights but now it's pitch black and I even need a torch just to find the right keys and keyhole. Same for my dads road since his were done too Bill. It's awful. Here's what I just posted under the news article before seeing this topic. Ours aren’t too bad as they are at regular intervals on both sides of the road and when they were first installed I thought they were much brighter and better but they do seem to have dimmed since they were first installed. Maybe the levels have been turned down, no idea. The bottom of my dads road however is awful now the old one has been replaced. Plunged into complete darkness and you can’t see a thing. All gardens, drives and the roads turnabout are pitch black. Certainly not very good at all for residents security or for those walking through. Have to say when it was slightly foggy last week I noticed when driving in the dark that the the new lights seem to reflect on the fog and make it worse unlike the old lights that are still on other roads near here. Also now the dark nights have drawn you can hardly see pedestrians walking along the pavements now especially if they are wearing darker clothing. Surely that is dangerous and I never noticed the problem with the old lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 We may also find that in foggy weather LEDs just produce even more patches of bright light. Fog lamps are amber for a reason ,so there isn't as much reflected glare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 My garden is darkness too now. I have always had a PIR floodlight on the corner off the house that illuminates the drive when it detects movement, but I have since put up a couple of solar PIR lights on the side of the house I bought from Lidl. Intend to replace them with dawn to dusk lights of some sort though. As for pedestrians, it is hard to see them, people will need to start wearing lighter clothing or having something reflective on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Pretty much everyone I've spoken to says our road is now a whole lot darker than it was before and yet people in other areas of the town say it's much brighter and a big improvement so something isn't right. Are all the lights the same? or has Paddington been given some kind of cheap sub standard units? Nobodies doubting their green credentials or how much better white light is compared to the orange of sodium but focussing wholly on the illumination provided, the lamps in our area are most certainly not an improvement and It seems a bit late in the day to start asking what people think. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Reading Wirerob1's reply perhaps the reason that the corner of our garden is much lighter now is that the lamp post is quite close and it is just within the narrow cone of light, also now it has been pointed out that the area covered far less than the previous sodium lights. this I agree with. So all in all yet another crap job by our crap council!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 As for pedestrians, it is hard to see them, people will need to start wearing lighter clothing or having something reflective on Or they could walk on the pavements Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Or they could walk on the pavements Or they could walk on the pavements Yes, they should but they appear from behind cars wanting to cross roads, nearly knocked down a guy the other day unloading his van through the side door dressed all in dark clothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Yes, they should but they appear from behind cars wanting to cross roads, nearly knocked down a guy the other day unloading his van through the side door dressed all in dark clothing. Yes, they should but they appear from behind cars wanting to cross roads, nearly knocked down a guy the other day unloading his van through the side door dressed all in dark clothing. Then you were passing too closely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 While I was out and about over the weekend, I checked out some of the other roads that had LED lights. In virtually all cases there's still a big contrast between light and dark areas despite them being higher and having some kind of diffuser on them. I'm sure at some point in the future the technology will get better but as it stands now the overall lighting quality has gone backwards. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Then you were passing too closely. How can you possibly know how closely I was passing, unless your the idiot who was unloading his van from a side door on the road side of a busy street dressed in all black. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 if you almost run over a bloke at the side of his van you are passing too closely, you should drive more carefully and adjust your speed etc. to suit the conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Don't take the bait Coffee. It does seem a bit unusual (or maybe not) that a council that claims to be so concerned about road safety should install a lighting system that could actually increase the risk of accidents. I accept there are plus and minus points to most things in life but to my way of thinking, the economics of potential power saving seems to have been put before safety in this case. Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted November 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 If everyone goes out tonight and takes a picture of their street scene under the new lights I will forward them to the council and seek clarification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Yes but the problem as you know Gary is that night time photography yields some weird results unless you have a really good setup and know what your doing. Ideally you'd need before and after shots but I've seen some of these and if we were to believe what they show then we wouldn't really have a problem. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 But PJ surely people unloading in the dark and at the sides of roads should use their brains for their own safety and not wear all black/dark clothing. High viz waistcoats are only a couple of pounds or how about wearing work trousers/tops with reflective strips in. A lot have them !I've lost count of the number of pedestrians I've seen (well I just about seen) at night over the past week dressed in dark clothes and suddenly appearing from in between parked cars to cross roads. Worst one was a woman all in black, pushing a black pram with a little tot walking beside also dressed in black. You could hardly see them because the new lights weren't lighting up the area they were crossing at. Silly people !!And don't get me started on some cyclists.... they clearly have a death wish !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 If everyone goes out tonight and takes a picture of their street scene under the new lights I will forward them to the council and seek clarification. Yes but the problem as you know Gary is that night time photography yields some weird results unless you have a really good setup and know what your doing. Ideally you'd need before and after shots but I've seen some of these and if we were to believe what they show then we wouldn't really have a problem. Bill Bill is correct as I've already tried to take photos of ones round here and also my dads road with both my cameras and also my mobile phone. None gave a true representation of the actual light regardless of the settings I used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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