Is it legal?

[Venus_is_my_friend]

Hi,

I have an extremely bright light out the back of my new house that shines a radiant glow of white!

I have been advised that a green laser pen will trick it into thinking it's daytime and turn it off. My question is simply. Is this legal?

My question in more depth. If I were to do this and a neighbour sees me and reports me to the council, can they fine me? arrest me? give me an asbo? or anything else?

As a sub question, has anyone actually tried this? and does it work?

Thanks for looking,

Neil

[yeti monster]

It is highly unlikely that you would be arrested, as the p*lice are far too busy catching proper criminals to go wasting the tax payers money on trivia...

[Venus_is_my_friend]

I beg to differ, the police do seem to spend more time arresting people for trivial things.

I once had a visit from the police (when I was 16) because I was driving my 40mph limited moped on a dual carridgeway (which is legal) and someone reported me because they had to move into the overtaking lane to (ehhem) overtake me? Nothing happened, but they said they have to follow up on everything that is reported.

This is what makes me wonder if someone did report me, would the police be able to do anything. Apart from visit me.

[Telrad]

Have a look at this vid on YouTube:

The chap uses a green laser to switch off a street light.

As for the police wasting time - they do spend an awful lot of time arresting people for trivial things from what I understand.

[ollypenrice]

I'd just do it.

Olly

[Demonperformer]

I tried this and could not get it to work ... probably me (or too weak a laser pointer)

[saturn5]

I'd just do it.

Olly

Ditto,chances are they wont notice you do it anyway.If it were possible to zap it from another direction,other than from your own house nobody could prove who it was who did it unless they actually caught you in the act.

I would get in stealth mode,do it from somewhere your not easily seen and zap the mother.

[red dwalf]

i`m buying one and trying it out, i have 3 street lamps close to the house, the only thing i worry about is do the street lamps work properly the next day or does it kill the totally ?

[Willarnold]

If it's a council light then report it to you council. This is light pollution, talk about your human rights ect.

Some people on this forum have had some success with the council putting covers on street lights.

[hunterknox]

Try reporting it as a nuisance on http://www.fixmystreet.com/. That should get it to your Council and hopefully get it sorted.

Good luck!

[Mikea]

If the sensor is based on a simple light dependent resistor then sorry, it will probably work correctly next day. If the sensor is semiconductor-based, then it should be protected against any overcurrent so again, no permanent damage should occur. If the circuit was designed by a muppet, then you might be in luck! However, it might fail in the "on" position!!

[barkis]

The upshot is, if you use a laser illegally, even though it might be a trivial act, you may be deemed capable of using it for the far more serious acts of pointing it at helicopters, or low flying aircraft. You will adamantly refute that of course, but mud sticks.

If this neighbours security light is affecting your astronomy, why not approach him in a friendly manner, and try to come to a compromise, you might be surprised at his reaction to you being respectful. If he has kids, invite them for a look through the scope, him too for that matter. Let them see what you do in your garden, and explain that while your out there, you are a better means of security for his property than a lamp is while they are asleep.

Ron.

[Adamski]

Might be worth asking your local gouncil to turn it off because you have trouble sleeping, or just tell them that you are an astronomer. My local council turns the village street lights off at 2am every night to save on energy use. That doesn't leave much time for viewing at this time of year but it's definitely a step in the right direction for them and me.

[PortableAstronomer]

Technically it is tampering public facilities , tampering with local government assets without permission. I'm sure there is some law that you would be breaking, at least in one interpretation.

But I would just go ahead and do it; let's face it, there are not many clear moon-free nights so it is not like you'll be doing it every night of the year.

Some people might report that the streetlight isn't working and then do the standard knee-jerk reaction into panic and fear of safety, then phone the council and ask them to fix it, then they come around an find it's working OK. But if this repeats itself a few times then I'm sure the council will get suspicious.

[ronin]

Thought that lights had sensors on them that switched on when a degree of darkness as present, if so then you might switch it off but when the laser was switched off the light would register the dark again and switch on.

The next point being you would have to hit the sensor with the GLP. As these are probably on the top then you would have to be level or above the sensor to hit it.

Cannot see a 5 mW doing much, not sure a 10 or 20mW would do a great deal. Even when street lights come on it isn't exactly dark and there is more then a few mW of light buzzing around.

[Telrad]

Thought that lights had sensors on them that switched on when a degree of darkness as present, if so then you might switch it off but when the laser was switched off the light would register the dark again and switch on.

The next point being you would have to hit the sensor with the GLP. As these are probably on the top then you would have to be level or above the sensor to hit it.

Cannot see a 5 mW doing much, not sure a 10 or 20mW would do a great deal. Even when street lights come on it isn't exactly dark and there is more then a few mW of light buzzing around.

Some very good points, especially the fact that it's only temporary - the lights will inevitably turn themselves on again...

[Venus_is_my_friend]

Wow thanks you the brilliant replies.

I don't think I will have success asking them to turn the light off as I have just moved in and heard that the local residence fought to get them installed. I am also aware that if I try and they say no then the find out someone is tampering with it, the finger will be pointed at me.

I am guessing I could try to arrange it to be turned down and maybe buy a big tree to plant inbetween it and me.

[Adz]

I am starting to wonder how much money and people it would take to buy an Island in an ocean somewhere for the forum I am so fed up of light pollution and street lights.

[PortableAstronomer]

Put a NeedLess.org sticker onto the lamp post.

[Telrad]

Wow thanks you the brilliant replies.

I don't think I will have success asking them to turn the light off as I have just moved in and heard that the local residence fought to get them installed. I am also aware that if I try and they say no then the find out someone is tampering with it, the finger will be pointed at me.

I am guessing I could try to arrange it to be turned down and maybe buy a big tree to plant inbetween it and me.

That's the way to stop LP ruining your sessions.

I made a DIY black-out blind using two treated wooden stakes and a weed control membrane. It works fantastically in cutting out LP, plus the neighbours and any other authority can't complain, as you're perfectly within your rights to do so... and you won't get in trouble with the

[Starlight 1]

You may find the council are trying to save money by lowering co2 emissions and are puting in modern lights and are much better at directig light where it is needed so I think there more then happy to help you.

[nicnac]

a decent electro magnet can displace the fuse if you position it correctly

the laser trick does work but i find, once the sensor has been tricked, the light resets after about half hour (unless you leave the laser in place)

asking the council is a good first step but if yours is like mine, your request will fall on deaf ears.

contact AMEY instead, they install and maintain the street lights, then claim the light pollution is great and impeeding your property causing distress in various ways "can you please fit a light shield please?"

Amey have had solicitors letters before on this matter so i think they would try to be accomodating to your needs without stepping on the toes of those who requested the blumming thing in the first place.

hope this helps

[laser_jock99]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested using an infra-red laser. I have menioted this works equally well on the forum a few times before. Any laser with wavelength longer than 700nm will be invisible to the eye. It will be more difficult to point (since you can't see the beam either) but it could easly be coupled to a cheap riflescope and colimated to the cross hairs.

Some popular diode wavelengths to look for on ebay are 808nm & 980nm

Genuine 200mW Infrared IR (808nm) Focusing Laser Module | eBay UK

808nm 300mW High Power Burning IR Laser Diode DIY Lab | eBay UK

1x 808nm 5mW Infrared IR Laser diode Module Pattern:DOT | eBay UK

A bit of ingenuity and something like this would make your 'invisible temporary street lamp killer'

Highcontrast riflescope rifle scope for hunting 4 x 20 | eBay UK

To colimate the 808nm laser beam to the crosshairs you'll need to make an Infra Red detector- some glow-in-the dark paint should do the trick.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Glow-Dark-Luminous-hobby-paint-Bright-Green-/280603655976?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D590842492072172065

Paint a cardboard target and set the parallax for the same distance as the nuisance light. You could make the arrangemt tripod mountable so 'fixing the light' merely takes the press of a button!!

Good hunting.

[Venus_is_my_friend]

The blackout blind has been recommended before, as it is considered a temp structure so like you say people can't complain.

I might also look into AMEY (after asking the council) because it is extremely bright and very close the the back of my house. I could tell them we are having trouble sleeping, but it doesn't shine into our bedroom so if them came into our house to see what its like they may figure me out haha.

I like the idea of a rifle sight, maybe I could improve the idea and attach it to a rifle haha.

Hmm many more great ideas. Keep them coming

[virtualpilot45]

This thread has gone from 'Is it legal' to 'Can we do it without getting caught'. To be honest if someone saw you every night with your telescope and noticed a street light regularly going off when you pointed at it, they may just add two and two together to work out what you're doing. Either that, or they'll think you're Dumbledore. Sadly the latter is unlikely.