the new white street lighting

[Caltonboy]

makes such a difference to some parts of the west end, cant believe they havent authorised it sooner, oh wait, its glasgow city council, its a miracle they allow street lighting at all since theyre so pro-ned.


anyway, dont they just brighten things up a wee bit, i hope they become country wide, those yellow ones are just so pish

[scotia47]

[crusty_bint]

They've converted Haggs Rd and the Baillieston end of Edinburgh Rd to the white light and what a difference it makes! The trees actually look green instead of brown, its wierrd... in a good way! Strange to see the white glow of them from a distance as well, instead of that orange glow that i've known all my life.

Quite a sad (not as in boohoo) subject, but a valid point none-the-less!

[Pgcc93]

Clydeside Expressway @ the SECC has the new white lights. Definitely a major improvement compared to that horrible jaundiced glow from the old streetlight's.

Are they LED's or plain old lamps? Any cooncil RALF sparks out there that know?

[Apollo]

They may be progressing, but there is simply no way LEDs could be economically viable for this operation with any current technology, and even combining multiple sources, would fail to provide sufficient illumination over the required area.

We had this before http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/vie ... treetlight

Monochromatic yellow lamps are Low Pressure sodium (SOX), used for their low running cost vs high light output. Reckoned to be the most efficient light source available, these cost the least to run for our tax pennies. They have another advantage in that they don't contain mercury.

High Pressure sodium lamps (SON) produce a wider spread of emissions, but are still more like peach than white. This wider spread allows the eye to perceive a range of colours, so does the equivalent of a white-balance to compensate, much like a digital camera. Compared to SOX, they are more expensive to make, using more exotic and hazardous materials, and consuming more power for a given illumination.

Monochromatic SOX light cannot be split and dispersed like SON light, so is safer for driving illumination in rain/mist/fog situations. SON is favoured in and around city areas to keep designers happy, so that their creations can be seen in colour, even at night.

Hopefully the council are just replacing old and knackered installations with new, and not chucking council tax away replacing servicable lighting for fashion.

[PlasticDel]

Do these new white lights burn aw day? I think it's James Watt St there in too? Member that, G?

I passed through the other day and they were still on. What's that all about?

[Apollo]

That one I can't have a stab at.

Maybe the wee man that winds up the timers just gets tired and misses a few.

Most of them have photocells, visible on the top, but they don't alway work, at least not in my street, where the lights occasionally can be seen lit on nice sunny days.

Maybe they use them just to flare off the excess electricity from nuclear power stations

[meganl]

Ach when i wis a wean all street lights wir white they cast wee circles of light and the poles were all at the road edge so cars could knock them doon.

[stinkpad]

They may be progressing, but there is simply no way LEDs could be economically viable for this operation with any current technology, and even combining multiple sources, would fail to provide sufficient illumination over the required area.

They are available but they're 400 quid a pop compared to 40 quid for the fluorescent ones. Give it a few years for the price to come down.

[Apollo]

They are available but they're 400 quid a pop compared to 40 quid for the fluorescent ones. Give it a few years for the price to come down.

Got a supplier/manufacturer name or link?

I'm interested in the technology.

[Captain Brittles]

It may be a further step up from high pressure sodium Apollo, or maybe even an enhanced form of tungsten halogen by the sounds of the description as being 'white' (which indicates a high lux factor) but if my memory serves me correctly tungsten halogen are heavy on the juice and (at least were) expensive to manufacture but not having seen this street lighting I'm really guessing.

[Captain Brittles]

Doing a bit of digging around and it could be these lamps are mercury halide which is an upgraded type of the son range.



Osram-GEC

In another life I used to work in the lamps and lighting industry for this company.

[PlasticDel]

Well, that thing I said about James Watt st... I thought maybe they are just left to burn ALL the time so they stay 'white.'

Like the lights in the yard at my work. When ye turn them on they are kinda orangey, but give it a while and they get whiter.

An' mind how more energy is used (thus more expense, right?) to turn a light on that is used to keep it burning... No?

[Captain Brittles]

Thats the lamp filament heating up Del, whether its cheaper to leave them I don't know but I doubt it as I wouldn't think (Apollo will know about this) there would be more electricity consumed on heat up and then tail off - whatever the technical terms are ..........

[Apollo]

The lamptech site's pretty good Captain, with all the historic stuff on it. I was surprised to find one of these listed. I picked an MBT up years ago, stamped GEC and 240 V. Shares the shelf with a 1 kW projector lamp I acquired then too.

Getting white's not a problem, just the relatively exotic, costly and hazardous materials, together with the manufacturing technology needed for some of them. As noted in Del's post, they're used where these factors are less important than having proper colour for orking under.

The switching advice is less running cost and more ownership cost. Starting lamps usually involves a current surge, particularly for large incandescent lamps, and for gas-discharge, the electrodes are stripped of material, metals are deposited on the inside of the envelope, and the balance of gases and elements is upset, causing colour shifts and failure. Larger lamps can also be ruined by re-starting them when they are hot, hence the advice to leave them on once running, but not 24 hours a day. The are expected to meet their life if turned on and off a few times a day. Dong it every 5 minutes is what kills them.