Street Lights On In Broad Daylight

[waynegohl]

so much for saving power, when some of the street lights along marine drive here in cape town are still burning at midday.

[hj2k_x]

Yes they are. Often too. It is ridiculous.

[Boodles]

Guys, the reason they are on is because its makes it more difficult for the thieves to steal cable.

[waynegohl]

something just crossed my mind...are the globes inside street lamps energy savers, i mean street lights have been around forever and if they are not how much power are we using when these things burn. i dont recall ever seeing the municipality changing street lamp globes for energy saving ones.

[waynegohl]

Guys, the reason they are on is because its makes it more difficult for the thieves to steal cable.

you are right in that respect but i am sure someone would phone in to the police or whoever if they see a couple of bergies digging a great big trench down marine drive so they can steal a cable or two. i reckonmost of that sort of thing would happen at night anyway.

[Boodles]

Its just another situation where, because the lights are always on, the criminals 'win'.

So much of life in SA is ruled by the crimnals - hell like, they even sell stolen electricity in the squatter camps.

[waynegohl]

yeah imagine if we can get all the car thieves a job working with the F1 grand prix guys they would be able to change tyres and body work in under 8 sec and if we employ the cable thieves and their friends who sell the illegal connections in the squatter camps, we would all have cheap electricity.

[psc]

are the globes inside street lamps energy savers

The street lights are probably Sodium lamps which are a lot more efficient than fluorescents

[JAV]

yeah imagine if we can get all the car thieves a job working with the F1 grand prix guys they would be able to change tyres and body work in under 8 sec and if we employ the cable thieves and their friends who sell the illegal connections in the squatter camps, we would all have cheap electricity.

Problem with them working for a F1 team is the tyres, bodywork etc would be changed in under 8 secs, but it would come out of the pits with much more "bling", whitewall tyres, different color bodywork (would make keeping track of the different teams a nightmare:D), different chassis numbers, engine numbers and would probably have a couple of passengers along for the ride. Not to mention the cars stopping on the racetrack to pick up more passengers. And the honking all around the racetrack. :D

And that's just after one pitstop!!:D:D

[Ozymandias]

A few years back, I asked an engineer from our municipality electricity department, why the street lights burnt all day. His reply was that our particular municipality could not switch them off remotely and it was cheaper to keep them on than pay the overtime to switch them off manually.

[waynegohl]

Problem with them working for a F1 team is the tyres, bodywork etc would be changed in under 8 secs, but it would come out of the pits with much more "bling", whitewall tyres, different color bodywork (would make keeping track of the different teams a nightmare:D), different chassis numbers, engine numbers and would probably have a couple of passengers along for the ride. Not to mention the cars stopping on the racetrack to pick up more passengers. And the honking all around the racetrack. :D

And that's just after one pitstop!!:D:D

lol so true

[waynegohl]

A few years back, I asked an engineer from our municipality electricity department, why the street lights burnt all day. His reply was that our particular municipality could not switch them off remotely and it was cheaper to keep them on than pay the overtime to switch them off manually.

always some excuse, hey.

[Alan]

It's becoming increasingly clear this is now just a money making scam.

[MontyPython]

Hello waynegohl and psc,
have a look at the link below:

http://www.c2r.co.za/html/maple_street.html

forget energy savers (compact fluorecents). they are
just mercury filled death lights.

http://www.c2r.co.za/html/comparative_table.html

regards

[waynegohl]

now thats the way to go.

[bekdik]

Maybe they are on in order to see which globes are not working?

[tco21]

Problem with them working for a F1 team is the tyres, bodywork etc would be changed in under 8 secs, but it would come out of the pits with much more "bling", whitewall tyres, different color bodywork (would make keeping track of the different teams a nightmare:D), different chassis numbers, engine numbers and would probably have a couple of passengers along for the ride. Not to mention the cars stopping on the racetrack to pick up more passengers. And the honking all around the racetrack. :D

And that's just after one pitstop!!:D:D

Too funny!

[MontyPython]

now thats the way to go.

indeed it is, and the better thing is they work from 80V to 260V,
so can C2R sell some to you over the big water in F L FL?

:-)

[Cable_Guy]

always some excuse, hey.

and taxpayers money being squandered :mad:

[MontyPython]

and taxpayers money being squandered :mad:

Hi,

its about the money. my brother stays in cape town, and when I saw the street lights on during the day I asked about it. it has to do with cable theft. cape town has a hotline to whoever (ct power, eskom), if you see a section of streetlights that is off, report it to them. they will check it out, it is apparently cheaper to run the lights 24/7, than it is to replace copper cables repeatedly.

go figure :-)

[Arthur]

and taxpayers money being squandered :mad:
How true this is I can't say, but many years ago an engineer in the Joburg Municipality told me that with some lights the on/off cycles reduce lamp life significantly, to the extent that over time the lamp replacement cost actually exceeds the cost of running the lights 24/7. Leaving the lights on is actually cheaper overall, and saves the ratepayer money. Don't know if this still obtains for modern lighting.

[MontyPython]

How true this is I can't say, but many years ago an engineer in the Joburg Municipality told me that with some lights the on/off cycles reduce lamp life significantly, to the extent that over time the lamp replacement cost actually exceeds the cost of running the lights 24/7. Leaving the lights on is actually cheaper overall, and saves the ratepayer money. Don't know if this still obtains for modern lighting.

This is quite possible. Its a fact that in CFL's the rated lifetime is based on switching the light on, never switching it off, and timing it until it dies by itself. That way the manufacturers can show a longer lifetime.

HPS and MV floodlight globes have instructions that says they will only get to full brightness after 10 or so minutes. And when you switch it off, you are supposed to wait a (unknown to me at this time) while before switching on again.

Here I go again, have a look at this:

http://www.c2r.co.za/html/maple_street.html

and also:

http://www.c2r.co.za/html/street_tunnel_lights.html

LED's are instant on instant off lights.
We have found LED street lights from the UK that have motion sensors in them. So on highways where you have a definate direction of travel for each side of the road, these lights dim to 50% if there are no cars travelling, and when they have cars driving, they go up to 100% light, and also signal 2 or 3 lights ahead in the direction of travel so the road lights up in from of you while driving. Brilliant!!!!

Regards,
http://www.c2r.co.za/html/comparative_table.html

[gpe]

Amusing. So they leave the lights on to prevent copper cable theft. The municipality is now resorting to "man-trapping" :D

[chau]

what is the price of those LED lights because i know if you look at the price of the LED downlighters, their is significantly higher than that of the normal downlighter bulb. So maybe cost could be a factor in the municipality not changing the bulbs?

[waynegohl]

oh yes can someone please tell me why street lights are so high up, is it because of busses and trucks?

[davemc]

oh yes can someone please tell me why street lights are so high up, is it because of busses and trucks?So that the light can spread further.
If they were 2m from the ground, we'd have to have lights every 15 metres.

[waynegohl]

hmm i must go measure these things sometime.

thanks man

[MontyPython]

http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Channel=News_Home&ArticleId=1518-24_2540292&IsColumnistStory=False

Welcome one and all to 8 or so more years of 30% increases while eskom builds the next power station!!!!

www.c2r.co.za

[MontyPython]

hooooooooooooooooooo boy people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*** en betaal is die wet van transvaal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=79333

if i understand the first para correctly, WE ARE GOING TO GET ESKOM OUT OF THE RED!!!!!!!

how about cutting down your electricity account by changing your lights to LED lights,
and in the process giving eskom less money per month?

LED lights SAVE MORE ENERGY than "energy saving" bulbs.

http://www.c2r.co.za/html/comparative_table.html

[MontyPython]

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=vn20090910035750440C699852#comment_bottom_b ox