New LED street lights

[Wilson221]

I'd report it straight away, they said they would dim not turn off

[maggidee]

wish they would finish on normanton hill springs, been at em for months now ,one day 15 men then nobody for a week plastic fence gaurds all over the place looks a right mess

[Colin Foster]

Great, because Amey fitted the old fashioned sodium lights, which aren't controllable, to the new columns on our street, they've been left on all day for the past month and now, half of them have finally blown. So half the street is pitch black again.

 

Would have been a lot easier if they had just fitted the new LED ones instead, now they're going to have to come back again to sort it. Sheer genius

[AlexAtkin]

Great, because Amey fitted the old fashioned sodium lights, which aren't controllable, to the new columns on our street, they've been left on all day for the past month and now, half of them have finally blown. So half the street is pitch black again.

 

Would have been a lot easier if they had just fitted the new LED ones instead, now they're going to have to come back again to sort it. Sheer genius

 

How would it be "easier" to fit something that they haven't got in stock, compared to fitting something they HAVE temporarily so they can carry on fitting more new poles in the mean time?

 

At least that's the theory, they seem to be extremely slow at doing anything.

[lukesheff]

hmm, strange. the old sodium lights should have a photocell sensor on the top of them, so they should automatically switch off when daylight arrives.

 

the sodium lights are usually temporary until the LED's have been delivered and are ready to be fitted.

 

i hope they fix the control system for the new LED's because a few alley ways in my area are still pitch black at night (they come on when it starts going dark then switch off between 30 min - 1 hour) they work fine on the roads but switch off in a few alley ways. strange.

[Colin Foster]

hmm, strange. the old sodium lights should have a photocell sensor on the top of them, so they should automatically switch off when daylight arrives.

 

I wondered that. I can see the photocells on top but they presumably haven't even bothered wiring them in series with the bulbs, they're on all day.

 

How would it be "easier" to fit something that they haven't got in stock, compared to fitting something they HAVE temporarily so they can carry on fitting more new poles in the mean time?

 

At least that's the theory, they seem to be extremely slow at doing anything.

 

Nope, I don't buy that for two reasons.

 

Firstly, I emailed Amey over a month ago asking why they had installed the columns a month before that and then just buggered off leaving the pavement dug up all down the street. To their credit they did reply shortly afterwards, they explained they had a delay receiving the new lanterns but they have now arrived (this was 1 August) and work will be completed the following week. As promised they did turn up the week after....and fitted the old sodium lights. I felt like having a word with the workmen asking what they were playing at, but was too busy at the time. Why would they tell me they had the new lights in stock and then come and fit the old style ones shortly afterwards?

 

Secondly, the street light works in this area started in April, 5 months ago. It took them until June to fit the columns on this street due to delays receiving them, but they started digging in April. You're not seriously telling me these lanterns take 5 months to deliver? More likely they only decided to order them recently, even though they have known since April they needed them.

Edited September 11, 2014 by Colin Foster

[AlexAtkin]

The same thing seems to happen with the existing lights during the work, they end up permanently on until the job is done. I assume this is somehow related to the fact the LEDs can be dimmed remotely so existing control circuitry is disabled. Not sure why that would also apply to the photocells though.

[Wilson221]

They've just started this week on our estate, so being a nosey person decided to ask a few questions

 

There is still a backlog in the lanterns being delivered, apparently the lanterns once delivered have to another part fitted for the new control system which is called talensa or telensa

 

Sheffield has two types of control systems at the moment one is live, which has a cell on each lantern, the other is pilot which he called group switching in which a column or a pillar can switch an area of lights on, they have to switch the area on to complete a job so you get areas with lights on all the time. Once complete the new control system needs a live service, I would imagine that's why there are lights on all the time in certain areas

 

The new led lights that are going off after a length of time is a fault and they need reporting, he gave me a card with the number 0114 237 4567 the e-mail is streetsahead@sheffield.gov.uk

And there's a twitter account to follow for updates @SCCstreetsahead

[the_rudeboy]

They've just started this week on our estate, so being a nosey person decided to ask a few questions

 

There is still a backlog in the lanterns being delivered, apparently the lanterns once delivered have to another part fitted for the new control system which is called talensa or telensa

 

Sheffield has two types of control systems at the moment one is live, which has a cell on each lantern, the other is pilot which he called group switching in which a column or a pillar can switch an area of lights on, they have to switch the area on to complete a job so you get areas with lights on all the time. Once complete the new control system needs a live service, I would imagine that's why there are lights on all the time in certain areas

 

The new led lights that are going off after a length of time is a fault and they need reporting, he gave me a card with the number 0114 237 4567 the e-mail is streetsahead@sheffield.gov.uk

And there's a twitter account to follow for updates @SCCstreetsahead

Spot on. For the Telensa CMS system to work, each street light needs a permanently live supply. Much of the old group switched network is being converted to a live network. Hence, many of the old lights which were previous connected to a group switched network are now on a live network and have no control and are therefore permanently lit now. It's a temporary inconvenience of going from group switching to individual live supplies.

[Colin Foster]

Spot on. For the Telensa CMS system to work, each street light needs a permanently live supply. Much of the old group switched network is being converted to a live network. Hence, many of the old lights which were previous connected to a group switched network are now on a live network and have no control and are therefore permanently lit now. It's a temporary inconvenience of going from group switching to individual live supplies.

 

What confuses me though is they don't appear to do that with all the lights. Of the ten lights on this street, they dug up the pavement and put new wiring in for six of them. The other four have simply been wired to the same cable as the old columns, which I know from living here are controlled by a clock. However even the clocked supply has been on all day for the past few months.

 

I understand the need for a permanent live for the new control system, but why do this by digging up the pavement to connect to a permanent live supply for some, and simply leave the clocked live supply on all the time for others?