The new white LED streetlights

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by polak

LED? Are you sure you're not talking about HID's?

Aftermarket LED's might look cheesy and lame but they shouldn't blind you:

I guess maybe if they're poorly done and way to bright? Personally hasn't happened to me yet. Poorly pointed or housed HID's on the other hand can go to hell.
]

I think he meant the giant ###### bars. Just as bad as HIDs in non-projector housings.

[skudr248]

For these to be more effective they need to be lowered, regardless ain't nobody going to do that with the amount of money involved in doing so

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by polak

LED? Are you sure you're not talking about HID's?

Aftermarket LED's might look cheesy and lame but they shouldn't blind you:





I guess maybe if they're poorly done and way to bright? Personally hasn't happened to me yet. Poorly pointed or housed HID's on the other hand can go to hell.

I've owned several cars with HID and my current car has both LED strip and HID headlights (always factory of course). I'm talking about the aftermarket crap that is too bright or improperly aimed due to HID's in halogen housings, etc. Fog lights are not supposed to be overly bright but the trend with some younger drivers is to put aftermarket LED or HID fog lights in their cars which can totally blind oncoming traffic as well as the tacked on aftermarket LED strips placed in a bad spot. These issues are only magnified when they do it to pickup trucks where the blinding lights are right at your rear view mirror height.

[Lubicon]

They've changed over a stretch of Sarcee, near 17 Ave SW to the LED's. I still think they don't illuminate as large an area per light but the light itself is definately brighter and more harsh, at least on my eyes. In this are they have a mix of older and taller light poles where the light is directed directly down and also shorter poles there the light is directed at an angle (not directly down). Those ones in particular are much harder on my eyes as the bright light now shines more directly into your eye compared to the ones pointed directly down.

[me_dennis]

They've replaced the street lights to LED in a big chunk of Signal Hill and I actually really like them. For me, I find it easier to see while driving at night with the new LED lights.


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[Drummer]

Inglewood is now in the process of getting switched over to LED streetlights.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm talking about the aftermarket crap that is too bright or improperly aimed due to HID's in halogen housings, etc.

Those things are effin awful. On top of being far too bright, they also overpower the signal lights right beside them. If you're on the opposite side of the intersection, it's a pure guess if they are turning left or not sometimes.

[Ducay]

I think it'll be quite interesting to see what the city looks like from up on the hill once the lights are installed. Normally its covered in the twinkle of the orange lights, but the new ones you can't see from afar at all as they cast little to no sideways or upward light.

The areas that are done look "dark" comparatively.

[V]

It'll be much darker. Try flying over Edmonton or LA. Way, way less light pollution.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Looks so much nicer flying over the city seeing the pockets of new lights compared to that ugly orange glow everywhere else. Can't wait until we're completely switched over.

[T@T]

[Sluggo]

The roads near where I live just had the lights replaced and overall I like the increased visibility of the road they give however there are a few night driving habits I built up over the years that I need to change:

1. When driving at night my brain/eyes learned to put traffic lighting more into the periphery so if there is a nearby green or red glow it would attract my attention and I can respond accordingly. Now the traffic signals get more drowned out by the led streetlights and recently I had a oh #### moment where I noticed a stale red light 10 ft away from the intersection before I could slam on the breaks the light turned green and I made out looking like a pro.

2. There is a blind intersection near where I live where there is a wall of parked vehicles blocking the view of oncoming traffic to my right when making a left turn. Normally during the day I creep through slowly and can stop on a dime if required but during the night I am less cautious knowing there is also a good chance I will see any oncoming headlight beams. Unfortunately there is lots of led lighting in this intersection now and I had to do some serious evasive driving to avoid a collision from a car I could not see.

Tldr; The new lights are bright, yo. I have to unlearn the little tricks I was (sub)consciously using to drive at night.

[Drummer]

The amount of light sensors that are failing with the new LED lights are high. A failed light sensor means either a section (bank) of lights that either never turn off in daylight OR don't turn on after dark. This results in 5-10 lights in a row not working. IE - an entire block might be dark. Also many poles now have overhead wires strung between them instead of running the wire underground using the existing conduit.

[V]

The relays are independent of the lights, so maybe you're just noticing more circuits out.

The City has always had a boatload of overhead wiring. Every time there is a fault with the underground wire they string a wire overhead to keep the circuit running. That's nice and cheap. Replacing the underground wire isn't, and you can't just run it through the existing conduit for a couple reasons, so there's more and more overhead wiring all over the city. It's ugly, but it's cheap.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

a good reason to tell your kids to get inside when the street lights come on........i would also thisnk this is a win situation for people that sell balls for a living

Why would your kids need to come inside just because it's dark? Playground zones were extended to 9pm even in the pitch darkness of winter just so your kids are safe!

Back on topic: I like the 5000k LED's.

[Snuffleupagus]

Anyone else noticed the blinking ones? I assumed it was some kind of circuit problem but some around the city have been doing it for months. sort of freaks ya out.

ALIENS!!!

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Anyone else noticed the blinking ones? I assumed it was some kind of circuit problem but some around the city have been doing it for months. sort of freaks ya out.

ALIENS!!!

Yeah, those are creepy AF.

[Lubicon]

Nothing like a strobe light in the dark to get your attention. First few times I passed one in particular I thought it was photo radar as you don't really notice the flashing until you have passed it.

[shane_c]

I live about 45 minutes from Halifax. The lights in my area were switched about 2 months ago. The side roads in my subdivision are using 80 bulb LED’s. I’m on the main road and I believe they are 156 bulb LED’s. My house is about 150 feet back from the road but when I look out at night the roadway is very bright. Huge difference from the old lights. Thankfully, it's mostly directed at the road so I don't get a lot of light spilling into my yard.

[Bill Bumface]

The new lights aren't bad, but the sidewalks in areas with boulevards are sooo dark now.