On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:37:03 -0400, John
wrote:

Existential Angst wrote:
Awl --

Inyone know?

The bulbs themselves come anywhere from 50W to 250W, proly more.. I spose I
could climb up and ampprobe a wire real quick, before the police arrive....


Sodium puts out about 6x the lumens per watt of an incandescant.

I'm asking because I have to illuminate some dark areas around Le Hovel,
from my property, and want it to resemble the existing (or in this case,
non-existing) street lighting, at about the same brightness.

I called my town's light peeple, but DATS a shot in the, uh, dark, bleeve
me....

These are like NYC street lites, the tall pole, with about a 6' arm coming
out, edison-like base.
Not the decorative type lites, that are just vertical.



Sodium vapor lamps are about the most efficient ones available but they
have an orange glow to them that the halide ones do not, making the
sodium lamps ok for outdoor illumination but not that good for work
lighting. There are standard formulas for the wattage needed for the
area to be lit up. you should be able to find them on the internet.
Search architectural lighting.

John

You might look at this site before you buy something. Guidelines to
better illumination where you need it and less light pollution.
http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=118983

About 1 mile from me are examples of two extremes. One is a new
subdivision going in with well lit streets and good choices for
fixtures. I can't see it at all from my location. The other is a new
RV parking lot with 10 sodium lights aimed at the horizon. That
turkey gives me a god-awful orange glow to the west. He'd have saved
money on initial purchase, energy usage, and not caused a bunch of
light pollution with a better fixture.

Mind you, I didn't notice this stuff nearly as much before I got a
telescope and started looking at the night sky. I can still make out
the Milky Way here, but whether I can in 20 years or not depends on
lots of folks lighting choices (and whether I'm still able).

Pete Keillor