Street Light Sabotage

[mcut]

Before I go on i do not by means of this post seek to encourage anything that may be illegal, this is a genuine query and not something i am advocating.

I have heard that it is possible with a laser pointer to cause street lights to go out by fooling the sensor mounted on them to think that it is daylight, the street light then going out until the following evening.

Does anyone know if this is true?

[mikkey99]

Think i saw something similar on another post, but if you stop and think for a min you`ll soon see it`s not really feasible

because

1 There is only one sensor for about every 50 or so lamps (so you will have to find which lamp it`s on)

2 The sensor is above the lamp and pointing up into the sky on a very narrow beam (otherwise the pollution from its own lamp would switch it off)

So having found your sensor you would have to climb up to be able to point laser into it

3 if it really did work we`ed all be doing it already

Mike

[Naz]

Me thinks a certain person in Canada may be able to answer this one

naz

[jonifive]

Sorry.......I just shot mine with an air rifle....it's illegal, but there is no need for the blooming thing. When the council finally come to fix it....I will shoot it again. It is really annoying because it (was!) a white light one. It is right outside our bedroom window as well.

I think they should be fitted with a dimmer switch!

Unfortunately I don't have the power or the range to take out the lights from the local technical college which they insist on leaving on until midnight. Perhaps a small tactical nuke would do it.

JV

[beamish]

You didn't ????? :shock:

Before I embark on a course of possible criminal and malicious damage, I have decided to make a sock from 2 thick black rubble sacks I have. Using a telescopic pole for DIY I have to hook it over then remove when I've finished. Ooooh JV what are you like?

Karlo

[jonifive]

Karlo you little monkey..........you have been begging me for a rifle for weeks.

JV

[beamish]

Hey if the offer's still open ......? That 's still plan B, when I get bored of hooking /unhooking. Just Learnt today that "Leeds City Council are proudly embarking on a 130M pound scheme to replace all the sodium streetlights with (wait for it ) Brighter more energy efficient white lights " !! Thats when I'll be really begging for the rifle

karlo

[James]

Karlo, will they be full cut off lights?

James

[lunator]

Karlo

Find out what the light design is.

Bob Mizon from the CFDS should be able to help you to present a case for lighting designed to put light where it's needed.

They replace the lights on one of the main road near me. They are brighter but shine down so I would be happy if all the street light s were like that

Cheers

Ian

[nitram100]

The laser thing worked on the one outisde my bedroom window, but it had to be kept on it or it would come back on, which was difficult to say the least, so i resorted to the air rifle option like jonifive, i bought a silencer for it and have taken a few out already, first one to go was the one outisde my bedroom window, which made my room look like a friggin disco, not that i recommend doing it, because it's naughty :nono:

[GazOC]

Obviously people are free to discuss hypothetical solutions to the problem of light pollution but I'd just like to point out that SGL in no way condones acts of criminal damage or interfering with local authority equipment, hypothetical or otherwise.

With that disclaimer out of the way, feel free to continue the hypothetical discussion...

[Vega]

Tries to think of less destructive measures.....

U could always plant one of those fast climbing plants to reach the light and cover it completely

Naa I prefer the shotgun approach

The only realistic thing we can do is keep campaigning, write to your local councellor. If we don't shout they wont hear us and think we have no problems with these badly designed lights.

Vega

[beamish]

I understand why people may decide to resort to more direct measures. I've been following a thread on another forum and whilst we and most every one else is trying to stay with in the law, frustration takes hold, Ideally given the fact for eg , the light that gives me the biggest problem (cutting out alot of the low SE - SW region) bathes my back gdn in light but lights up an empty street beside my gdn wall-It serves, quite honestly no purpose at all. I'm guessing in some perverted mind !I am s'pposed to benefit from added security " if anything it shows Berty Burglar where to go and also provides nice dark deep shadows to hide in" I'll stick with the sock approach for now and enquire re the "new " lights.

Bear in mind that they are usually due for a bulb renewal and service 1x per 3 yrs !! I'm not going to jump the gun ( pardon the pun) and prompt an early change and raise eye-brows, BUT that's me.

Karlo(DRUNK !!)xx

[peonic]

I've got one offending light that bathes most of my back garden.

I tried to ring the council and complain that it shines into my bedroom (well it would if I was daft enough to not close the curtains!) but nothing ever came of it. I was tempted to borrow an air-rifle to take the damned thing out, but there are quite a few elderly people living in my close, and I didn't want to annoy them, or have the long arm of the law feeling my collar - but the light being chucked into my garden was bright enough that my eyes could never truly dark-adapt. What I did was go to B&Q.

I picked up a pair of 3m long bits of 2x4, a 5m x 4m tarpaulin and a staple gun. Cost me about £15 in total - and I now have a huge windbreak that I put up on the side of my garden near the light to block it's effects. Not something I can really use on a windy night - but for now at least, it's a reasonable solution to the problem.

Chris

[saturn5]

Athough not a street light problem i have to do the same as you Chris.

A neighbour leaves his kitchen light on,no lampshade and curtains wide open causing a path of light to shine exactly where i have my scope and it stays on,sometimes all night.This only happens when i have my scope out :x

[The Warthog]

I have successfully shot out street lamps with a red laser. Our streetlamps all have their own sensor, and it is generally easy to see. If you hit the sensor with the laser, it will go out for about 9 minutes, then spend about 2 or 3 minutes lighting up again. For some reason you can't shut it off until it is fully lit, then you get another nine minutes. If you could keep the laser light on the sensor, the light would probably stay off.

I don't bother any more.

[jakey]

It seems that global warning may be to our benefit, some councils are considering putting out street lights after midnight. Apparently it saves thousands of pounds and thousands of tons of co2 a year.

[The Warthog]

It seems that global warning may be to our benefit, some councils are considering putting out street lights after midnight. Apparently it saves thousands of pounds and thousands of tons of co2 a year.

The bars here don't close until 2AM. They wouldn't dare turn off the street lights until 3AM.

[cygnusx1]

Athough not a street light problem i have to do the same as you Chris.

A neighbour leaves his kitchen light on,no lampshade and curtains wide open causing a path of light to shine exactly where i have my scope and it stays on,sometimes all night.This only happens when i have my scope out :x

What really annoys me is neighbours, sensor triggered spots, that come on and blind you just as you are about to dark-adapt or worse in the middle of a long exposure.

I think i've been known to shout offensive words into their general direction once or twice

[iantobach]

Good article on what you can do about it ( in the UK) in astronomy now this month

[beamish]

Ian would that be the Sept or the new Oct issue?

Karlo

[Stormwatch]

I'm thinking about the guys that have shot out the streetlights - how do the neighbours view it? I mean, what if someone was mugged under one of the shot out street lights? I'd imagine they wouldn't be too happy with whoever had bust the light.... :shock:

Not a moral judgement BTW, just a thought.

[cygnusx1]

I'm thinking about the guys that have shot out the streetlights - how do the neighbours view it? I mean, what if someone was mugged under one of the shot out street lights? I'd imagine they wouldn't be too happy with whoever had bust the light.... :shock:

Not a moral judgement BTW, just a thought.

Good point, or a car accident because of no lights.

Personally i donlt think we should be taking the law into our own hands! :nono:

[The Warthog]

I'm thinking about the guys that have shot out the streetlights - how do the neighbours view it? I mean, what if someone was mugged under one of the shot out street lights? I'd imagine they wouldn't be too happy with whoever had bust the light.... :shock:

I wouldn't do permanent damage to a streetlamp, and I wouldn't shoot out a light on a corner, although the one on my corner was OOS for about a year. As for someone getting mugged - in my suburban paradise? Street lamps go out all the time.