# Combatting streetlights?



## MansionHaunter

We have the most efficient, illuminating streetlights known to humankind here in our neighborhood.

They destroy any control I have over lighting the scene, casting a really ugly champagne-colored light from on high, revealing the entire yard.

Last year I'd had enough and created a simple cardboard and aluminum foil cover I could slip over the top. It was very effective, but the high winds eventually blew it right off. I finally found what was left of it down the street in someone's yard.

Anyone else have any clever and not blatantly illegal or dangerous methods for dealing with obnoxious street lights?


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## Frighteners Entertainment

I wouldn't recommend covering them. If someone was to get hurt due to insufficient lighting, you would feel pretty bad and probably be in pretty hot water.
I would agree, not the best color to work with but, do what you can with the light to help cast shadows into your scenes.


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## DeathTouch

How about a pelt gun?


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## Otaku

These guys had a similar issue with bright street lights. Rob at Skull and Bone put up a great tutorial on lighting a yard haunt:

http://www.skullandbone.com/tutorial_01.htm

I've used some of his techniques successfully. Highly recommended.


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## MansionHaunter

Thanks - that will be good to look through. Whoda thunk you could add more light to overcome unwanted light.


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## Haunted Bayou

Yep, I have the same problem.
My astronomy forum buddies often use lasers to shut them off temporarily. I wouldn't recommend that, though.

You could also call the city and complain that the light is keeping you up at night. Sometimes they will hood the light at no charge. Sometimes they put a hood and charge you for it. I know of a person who got his city to hood the one in front of his house at no charge because he complained about it.


That tutorial that Otaku recommended is great. I will be throwing some spots on the house to change the color and create some shadows where I want them. I think low spots will do the same thing. Highlight what you want and throw some shadows.

I actually thought of painting some shadows on the grass. Don't know how well that would work. Or even anchoring some cut-out shadows with garden pins. I might try it just to see if it would make a difference.


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## slightlymad

I would simply start by calling and asking them if they would turn it off for a few hours during your haunt. Probably because I provided sidewalk lighting and everyone loves the display they turned it off for me for the night.


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## NickG

the skullandbone tutorial is very helpful, there was a thread about this topic sometime last year, might want to search for it.


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## Haunted Bayou

I didn't know they could turn off the light temporarily.
Thanks for that information.


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## NickG

don't forget to take into account the liability of having had the light turned off... though the light is a hassle to deal with, we got 250+ visitors last year and the street was busy at times, with both people traffic and vehicle traffic.. I like the idea of leaving the light on for a safety standpoint, thinking of how horrible it would be if anything happened after the light was turned off. (we don't have sidewalks...)

related thread:

http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=1162&highlight=street+light


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## arcuhtek

I started to start a new thread and found this one.....because i have THREE very bright street lights right in my front yard. I HATE THEM.

I have researched many websites and found the following solutions (in summary):

1. Use them in your scene.....IMO this is too complex in my situation becuase I have a LOT of exterior wall surface.

2. Use a laser pointer to fool the photocell. This is a hit or miss solution, and if successful often lasts for only a few minutes. A haunt last for hours. Not practical.

3. Shot it out with a pellet, BB or a real gun. NO WAY, NOT GOING TO SHOT OUT THREE LIGHTS....even at 3 am when no one is looking. Do you think its a dead give away for three street lights to be blown to bits in front of the same house....that also just so happens to have the best haunt in the entire city.....all occurring near Halloween? Its also illegal. Just happens to be the only solution with guaranteed results of NO LIGHT.....just not worth it.

4. Cover with some material like heavy black plastic or foil. Well this works, but you have to climb 30 feet in the air to do it. There is no way I am doing that. Personal injury abound here. I have no access to a bucket truck, but I have thought of renting a electric construction scissor lift..but its $100 or more. PLUS......its obvious something or someone such as YOU tinkered with them. IF someone gets hurt...the pointer is aimed at you for liability.

5. Spray paint them black. Well this is good for blocking the light. But in broad daylight, its an OBVIOUS alteration just like a trash bag. Again...one must rent a lift or something.

6. Ask the power company to turn them off. This is polite and moral, but from what I can read, it is a toss up if you can accomplish this with the agreement of the power company. I have never heard of anyone actually getting the PC to do this for sure.

7. Cut the wires. DANGEROUS. Plus...even if I did do this...I do not know which direction the power is flowing to the lights. They are linked together with a series of overhead wires. My luck I would cut the first one and every light on the street after that one....and EXCEPT my three.....would go off. This would cause major issue and likely gather the immediate attention of the power company. Back on tomorrow. Did I mention DANGEROUS. NO WAY.

8. Paint ball gun. Well again....the end result is nasty gummed up light lens....and is OBVIOUS to anyone who pays attention in the daylight. Liability points to you. Plus.....would one actually be able to accomplish full coverage? This option is the easiest to attempt.

The solutions I like best are:

9. Spray paint the lens white...neatly. I have seen this done by a local friend who did his own lights. He is a tree trimmer so he has skill and ability to climb a city lamp post like a squirrel. Something I cannot and will not do. I need also mention he has NO FEAR. BUT...the end result was dramatic.... a DIM street light, and when one looks up at the light in the day time...you can tell NOTHING. At night its no obvious.....one just thinks the bulb is growing old...(but its not OUT...so no one calls the power company)....and in many cases no one even notices why suddenly it seems darker outside. Intuitively, they notice..but cannot quiet figure it out. People can still see well enough to navigate the street. For me it still requires a construction lift......electric for quietness.....which I am willing to pay for and use late at night. This would only take about 5-10 mins to do.

10. Use my PAR 38 can light sheet of color gels to put blue/red gels over the light...to create and eeire blue color cast on my house much like the Skull and Bones website. I am NOT sure this would work as I envision it. Yes I would have to rent a lift. It would take longer than OPTION 9....but the effect would be very cool. I could even go to the paper store and get some transparent purple gift wrap....kind like that which comes in the Easter baskets or something. The bad news is that this is something that one would want to remove immediately after Halloween and do again next year. More work. And do I have to rent the lift twice each year....once for install...once for removal?

I like Option 9.

Anyone else care to add to this.....and PLEASE do not suggest guns or driving over the pole with your car.

Thanks
Kevin


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## Lotus

DeathTouch said:


> How about a pelt gun?


I think this is the best idea


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## arcuhtek

Lotus said:


> I think this is the best idea


I guessed you missed the last line in my post....


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## Sickie Ickie

My guess is all the above are illegal and may land you in deep trouble. even the white paint.


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## arcuhtek

Well not all of them are illegal. I just prefer to eliminate the ones that involve weapons....


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## Darkside

I like the white paint idea as well. But I also would not have a way to reach that heigth.
For the past 2 years, and only for a few nights, I apply a home cover that hangs over the light but only blocks the light from my yard, not my neighbors. So far, no complaints.


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## slimy

Careful with the paint.

Streetlights are a very high wattage and put out tremendous heat. Most spray paint can and will catch fire. Look for a 'high heat' paint. Unfortunately, I have only seen that in black ( for bbq grills).

Same thing with the gift wrap. I guarantee that would start burning only minutes after you put it up, and what a mess that will be. Theatrical gels ( though they LOOK the same as the gift wrap) are made to take the higher heat and not melt or catch fire. Now you just gotta find a way to make 'em stay up. 

I see gels as the only option of those above. 

Good luck.


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## Sickie Ickie

Slimy, gels do take higher heat, but it depends how high and for how long. We've hat spotlight gels both melt and burn through.


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## UnderMan

Have you tried talking to the city and asking if they could shut off the light for a few hours on Halloween, explaining your need? It's a simple job of looseing a fuse in the base. My brother-in-law has done it himself in the past and puts it back to right. Nobody has said anything. My yard is the darkest yards on the entire street. When I drive down the street I sometimes miss our house at night, so I don't have to worry about that. I'd do the same thing though if I needed to.


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## arcuhtek

I didnt know street lights were high temp. In fact, I equated them to fluorescent lights that burn cool. I will look into what type I have and their attributed before choosing my method.

I still cannot get to the top of the light..... 

Hmmmmm fuse at the base????? I will look into that.


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## Sickie Ickie

actually, so far- that sounds most feasible


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## Gory Corey

I called and asked the city and they referred me to the power company.
Both state its a liability issue.
I said how bad can it be for 1 night to not have 6 street lights within 300 feet, they didnt like that one bit.

Yes, I do really have 6 streetlights within 300' of the center point of my frontage


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## trexmgd

I hate the street lights too... BUT

Please, do not open up the base - you can be killed. I'm not one to go on about liability and "visibility issues", in fact, I'd rather you shoot out the light. Case in point: a local teen was killed while attempting to cut the streetlight that was affecting his view of a fireworks show.


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## arcuhtek

Well let me be clear.....I would never touch a wire, an electrical housing or anything of the nature without knowing for sure what I was doing, this includes asking electrical engineers (whom are my consultants everyday), researching the exact light...etc.

Even so, I will likely not dive into cutting wires or pulling fuses.

I will look closely and investigate what makes this thing tick. In the end..I think renting a lift....heading out at 3 am....and spraying those suckers white...is very tempting.


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## Revenant

It's still vandalism of city property. Good luck and I hope you don't have nosy neighbors with insomnia. And I hope you're intending for it to come off.


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## arcuhtek

Nope not intended for it to come off....it dims the light, not cuts it out completely. IN the end, three street lights along a 90 foot length is overkill, and two of them shine in my bedroom window directly onto my face at night. Not good.

There is no real answer here....except to do nothing and accept the situation. And I guess that is exactly what I will do.....cough.


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## NecroBones

I still like the idea of using lasers to trick them into thinking it's daylight.


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## dynoflyer

What if the phantom came along and painted them with water soluable, black craft paint which will surely wash off in the rain fairly quickly. Maybe with a cheap foam brush on the end of a long pole???? What if?


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## arcuhtek

I have thought of a long pole. Problem is the light is 30 feet up. Even if I had a pole that long, I could not control it enough to paint the light.

As far as water soluble paint...I had not thought of that.....


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## frstvamp1r

Arcuhtek, here is what my cemetery looks like with the streetlight facing my yard. I really don't think it is THAT much of a problem, but then again, how dark do you want to get you scene to be?


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## arcuhtek

You would have to see it to understand. I use a LOT of black lights to illuminate a lot of things...right by the light. So the lights kills the effect..totally.

Thusfar..this year...the leaves are hanging on to the trees, which block the light from t getting to these parts of my property (but not my upper floor bedroom). So I am going to gamble, leave them alone and hope for leaves.

I did think of a temporary, non-destructive way to dim them last night. It would be obvious, and therefore open up liability. But it seemed to be something I could easily do.


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## dynoflyer

arcuhtek said:


> I have thought of a long pole. Problem is the light is 30 feet up. Even if I had a pole that long, I could not control it enough to paint the light.
> 
> As far as water soluble paint...I had not thought of that.....


Hmmm, what if the phantom has a paintball gun?


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## MansionHaunter

This year I'm going with skullandbone's lighting technique. 

If I can't fight it, I'll overwhelm it.


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## SkullAndBone

MansionHaunter said:


> This year I'm going with skullandbone's lighting technique.
> 
> If I can't fight it, I'll overwhelm it.


:jol: :jol: :jol: !

There is also a anatomical component to using a heavy light load in select haunt moments. If you have a couple of brighter sources, you can keep your viewers eyes from adjusted to the darkness. This will make your 'darkness' seem darker as well as your streetlight.

At least thats what I tell myself ..


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## Death Master

OK, I don't know if this is legal or not ,but I do it. I have a pole long enough (that I use to change the light bulbs in my recessed lighting I have on my house.) to reach the street light ,and I made a sock out of a big sheet of blue gel and I put it over the street light for Halloween and take it off after I'm done for the evening.


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## shaunathan

I've hated the light in front of our house since the day we moved in... I'm pouring miracle grow on the tree in front of the house every month for the past year hoping in 3 years it's going to block out that damn street light!!!


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## MansionHaunter

Raising an old thread from the dead here...

This year, that verschluggeneh streetlight was off; it failed a few weeks ago and left the yard in darkness.

And as a result, this year my usual lighting scheme didn't work as well. I'm finding now that I actually need that light to provide a basic wash over the yard, and to allow the accent lighting to provide the depth and detail.

Amazing.


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## MildAvaholic

I decided it was easier to work WITH the streetlight than fight it. Last year I was glad because the streetlight was out, and I planned my lighting accordingly. Then the week before Halloween, it was fixed and I had to readjust. Now I just plan on it being on and let it work for me.


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## NickG

I think it works out pretty well for my yard as well.


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## debbie5

I had more problems with my drunken neighbor who decided to install a 100 watt lightbulb in his walkway light. It was SO BRIGHT. 
Grrrr....


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## pagan

Buy him a twelver if he shuts it off for the night.. If that fails you could always... Run his lamppost over (someone had to use that in this thread. )


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