new street lighting and level crossings

Steve · 22 Jan 2015

Mixed bag of random thoughts here.

Has anyone seen new sodium streetlighting recently? It seems all the units doncaster are fitting are a noticeably lighter shade than standard high pressure units. Do these have a special name or gas mix? They aren't halide. Meanwhill down the road in Rotherham all their major routes and quite a few smaller roads are lit by leds.

New level crossing signals. The amber light comes on. Then both red lights come on together before they appear to stutter on and off clumsily then get into their rhythm. Why is this? Why can't they get the led units to flash properly from the start? This is on a totally renewed crossing and there's plenty of videos on YouTube too.

ekmdgrf · 22 Jan 2015

Steve said:
Mixed bag of random thoughts here.
Has anyone seen new sodium streetlighting recently? It seems all the units doncaster are fitting are a noticeably lighter shade than standard high pressure units. Do these have a special name or gas mix? They aren't halide. Meanwhill down the road in Rotherham all their major routes and quite a few smaller roads are lit by leds.

I'm not an expert on street lighting but my understanding is that traditionally low pressure Sodium lamps have been used due to their high efficiency. They've fallen out of favour due to Sodium producing a very narrow spectrum of light, giving that yellow effect to everything. When using lamps with a broader spectrum, one can get away with a lower intensity and this somewhat compensates for the lesser efficiency. I haven't been checking for new deployments of Sodium lamps and the only place that I'm aware of it happening is the front garden of PhotonicInduction's house.

Steve said:
New level crossing signals. The amber light comes on. Then both red lights come on together before they appear to stutter on and off clumsily then get into their rhythm. Why is this? Why can't they get the led units to flash properly from the start? This is on a totally renewed crossing and there's plenty of videos on YouTube too.

I can't see any reason for this. Do you have a link to the aforementioned videos?

Sureitsoff? · 22 Jan 2015

in norwich a lot of the street lighting has been replaced with led lighting and it has involved new pokes as well

mfarrow · 22 Jan 2015

Birmingham City Council have been installing sodium on new poles as part of a renewals programme as recently as last year. Beyond Border Control, Solihull Borough Council have installed LEDs on side roads, typically just replacing the head.

Regarding the wigwags, I suspect the two solid reds is to highlight the fact that these light mean STOP, and aren't optional in the Highway Code. It's a big problem.

westie101 · 22 Jan 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOUUG5ElAT0

I hardly call them stuttering, both come on together possibly as part of a test sequence, immediately go out and then commence flashing alternately

ekmdgrf · 22 Jan 2015

Sureitsoff? said:
and it has involved new pokes as well

New pigs too?

Steve · 22 Jan 2015

ekmdgrf said:
I'm not an expert on street lighting but my understanding is that traditionally low pressure Sodium lamps have been used due to their high efficiency.

Indeed - the most efficient light source besides the sun (and maybe LEDs?)

ekmdgrf said:
They've fallen out of favour due to Sodium producing a very narrow spectrum of light, giving that yellow effect to everything.

LOW pressure sodiums have yes. High pressure sodiums have been almost universally fitted everywhere for at least the last 10 years. Certainly in Doncaster they no longer replace low pressure sodium lamps, they just change the whole head for a high pressure. In Rotherham they swap it for an LED - they don't even fit a high pressure sodium.

ekmdgrf said:
When using lamps with a broader spectrum, one can get away with a lower intensity and this somewhat compensates for the lesser efficiency.

Rotherham fitted thousands of CFL streetlights about 10 years ago but they are 5h1t because they aren't intense enough. Just too dim (ok perhaps when first fitted they were brighter, but one of the characteristics of a CFL is it dims with age).

ekmdgrf said:
I haven't been checking for new deployments of Sodium lamps and the only place that I'm aware of it happening is the front garden of PhotonicInduction's house.

You're talking low pressure sodium here I assume. As I said above, barely any of these are fitted these days. Apart from on PhotonicInduction's house and perhaps other pyromaniac electricians frustrated by their local council's energy saving policies.

The lights I'm talking about were fitted in quantity by Doncaster in one suburb and more recently in a new estate being built in Mexbrough (under Doncaster area). They appear to be high pressure sodium lights, but they have a different colour. They are lighter yellow - I'd say they were more like halogen in colour. I wondered if they had a special name, clearly it's a different mix of gas and they work the same as sodiums.

The "wigwags" - I can't see the startup sequence being intentional - it just looks too clumsy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8hD3eTjrS8

I see since I last did it someone has upgraded the swear filter to filter out "5h1t"

westie101 · 22 Jan 2015

The "wigwags" - I can't see the startup sequence being intentional - it just looks too clumsy.

Looks similar to the UK version but those are in Eire, the train is a Dublin Area Rapid Transit set

ban-all-sheds · 22 Jan 2015

Steve said:
ekmdgrf said:

I'm not an expert on street lighting but my understanding is that traditionally low pressure Sodium lamps have been used due to their high efficiency.

Click to expand...

Indeed - the most efficient light source besides the sun (and maybe LEDs?)

AIUI, LPS is more efficient than LED.

You wouldn't want them in your kitchen though.

ekmdgrf said:
LOW pressure sodiums have yes. High pressure sodiums have been almost universally fitted everywhere for at least the last 10 years. Certainly in Doncaster they no longer replace low pressure sodium lamps, they just change the whole head for a high pressure. In Rotherham they swap it for an LED - they don't even fit a high pressure sodium.

HPS is also more efficient than LED. But for councils I imagine that relamping costs are high, so the long life of LEDs makes the TCO better.

RF Lighting · 23 Jan 2015

The lamps are two pin HQI. Leeds City council fitted loads round here.

A farmer I work for bunged the council lads some cash and ended up with a few columns, cutouts, heads and spare lamps.

I've relamped a couple for him. They are a much warmer colour compared to standard HQI / metal halide lamps. Maybe they use a slightly different mix of gasses? I'm not sure.

ban-all-sheds · 23 Jan 2015

RF Lighting said:
A farmer I work for bunged the council lads some cash and ended up with a few columns, cutouts, heads and spare lamps.

And I'll bet the thieving git is one of the first to complain about the level of council tax.

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new street lighting and level crossings

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