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Read somewhere a few years ago this was a manufacturer defect and they were in the hook for replacing them all.

I've (not seriously) considered buying a pellet gun to shoot out the 4 massive neon purple lights at the entrance to my quaint 1970s era neighborhood. They didn't remove the old light poles after installing the new ones about 3 years ago, so it's double lit with sodium vapor and purple now.

Curious is there is a single person on the planet that prefers the white (er, purple) street lights?



Single wavelength light is easier to remove or filter out for astrophotography than broad-spectrum light.

But driver safety is probably way more important than my hobby


> Curious is there is a single person on the planet that prefers the white (er, purple) street lights?

Yes

One at least, me

(I've never seen this failure mode, so I mean the LEDs)

I especially like the reduction in light pollution


I don't understand, you prefer the new LED lights but also like reduction in light pollution? The LEDs way brighter, so I'd think you'd prefer older lights.

I'd guess about 20% of the lights in and around Orlando are purple now. Maybe the heat and UV makes it worse here?


Modern LEDs direct more of their light down, less up to the sky, so yes, much less light pollution

Also they are better suited to their job so need less light.

Sodium lights are nowhere near as flexible so are worse, mostly, on both counts


They're definitely far far brighter. Here a photo of an old sodium vapor lamp next to a (failing) LED near me: https://photos.app.goo.gl/vwidbJUmG997VLRN7

As far as directional lighting patterns go, that's a matter of the lamp design. Sodium vapor could be housed in a reflector that directs nearly all of it's light downwards.

I'm not against LED technology being used though, just the rampant failing LEDs and the obnoxious brightness & color they produce. Also not fond of the futuristic looking light pole design they seem to always use.

For astrophotography, sodium vapor's color cast is very easy to filter out, whereas the broad spectrum LEDs are not, especially when they don't all emit the same frequencies.


I haven't tried them, but they sound awesome.




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