(what is with those streetlights tho)

  • atocci@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Defective LEDs with massively reduced service lives made it out of the factory and into streetlights around the world. If you ever see a purple street light, a failing LED module is the cause.

    • ares35@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      none like that around here. they’re all blindingly bright af along the main streets and downtown–probably 4-5x as many lamps in each fixture as actually needed, and going up and down hills they shine right in your eyes because they don’t have adequate shades keeping the light ‘down’.

      residential areas still have the much easier-on-the-eyes sodium vapor lights, though–for now.

      • new_guy@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I know a guy that very was vocal against street lights in the 90’s.

        He was/is an amateur astronomer that modified his rooftop to be an actual telescope and the street lamps were angled in a certain way that like 40% of the light produced by them was shinning to the sky, making his observations harder to perform.

        He went to my school to warn about light pollution and also teach us about planets and all that good stuff.

        I think he became frustrated and quitted because last time I saw anything about him he was all about rescuing dogs from the street. :/

      • Zoidberg
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        1 year ago

        Where I live all street lights used to be low pressure sodium (very monochromatic yellow!) Due to a nearby observatory. Now to hell with everything! It’s LED lights everywhere. They’re strong and not diffused so all the light comes from a small area meaning instant after image… (Sigh)

        Even worse, people now put LED lights on their outdoor house fixtures and all kinds of office buildings pointing UP. Goodbye night sky…

      • uis@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        residential areas still have the much easier-on-the-eyes sodium vapor lights, though–for now.

        Monochromatic isn’t easier on eyes.

        • atocci@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I could definitely be under the wrong impression here, but aren’t LEDs monochromatic also?

          • paholg
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            1 year ago

            I think they’re generally dichromatic (is that the word?). White LEDs are blue LEDs + a yellow florescent coating.

      • Throwaway
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, a lot of these streetlights were designed with sodium lights in mind. Put some LEDs in there, you get blinding light. What needs to happen is lower intensity LEDs, but that much forethought is a little much for the average city to manage.

        • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          There’s more than a few streetlights along the highway near me that have turned blue. It’s shit for visibility but it makes you feel really cool.

    • Infynis@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      We’ve still got a few of those around here. Most have been reported and replaced. But for a time, we had a whole stretch of freeway that was lit up purple. It as sweet

      • Toribor@corndog.social
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        1 year ago

        Same thing in my area, at one point a whole half mile of streetlights near my house was purple. It was cyberpunk as hell and I loved it.

        • instamat@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Me too. I didn’t mind it and assumed it was intentional. A bit out of the ordinary, but different can be good.

      • atocci@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Is the coating not considered part of the module? Maybe module was the wrong word.

        • schmidtster@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’ve never heard the term used like that before. It’s leds and a driver for them, the only thing I would call a module would be the driver, but modules usually go into large complex machines. Not 2 part devices. The driver would have different modules on it potentially.

            • schmidtster@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yeah it was just a weird term, it’s not inherently wrong… if the lights were multicolored a failed module could make it be different colours, but these are one color and one color temperature. So there’s no way for it to put out different colours.