streelamps revisited (definitely a misc. topic)

[vortex!lauren]

Yeah, that's right -- they use sodium. Why the hell did I think
magnesium -- I should know better -- POOF!

As for why they turn on and off alot...

1) You can forget about the driving at dawn theory. They tend to blink
on and off on a 3 to 5 minute cycle all night long. I've seen *many*
of these lamps doing this. Of course, it's a small number compared
with total lamps, but it's seen alot more often than might be
expected.

2) Nope, it's not power hits. The fellows who "fixed" the one in
front of my house mentioned something about a bad "control element"
or something like that, but rushed off without giving me any
details. They told me that they saw the problem all the time. Perhaps
it *is* somehow a heat-related problem that can be cured through
proper adjustment at the lamp...

--Lauren--

[mhb5b!smb]

Is there any chance that the individual lights simply have their own
photocells?

[ihnss!warren]

The streetlamp problem may be something as simple as a thermal
circuit breaker that is incorrectly adjusted and shuts the lamp off
if it runs too long. I haven't observed the problem, and in fact
one thing I have noticed about the things is how symetric and even
they look in Chicago when you land at O'hare at night. Either there
are a lot of city workers out there fixing the defective ones or
there aren't many that malfunction, since I have never noticed holes
in the patterns made by the things.

One more note I have heard about these lamps is that they can kill
trees and other plants that get too much of the light, since it
contains the right wavelengths to stimulate growth, causing the tree
to try to grow 24H/day.

I agree, definitely a misc topic.

--

Warren Montgomery
ihnss!warren
IH x2494