New Street Light Bulbs

Street lights with the new LED bulbs

New energy-saving bulbs were installed today in all of our street light fixtures.  These 30 watt LED bulbs replace the 150 watt high-pressure sodium bulbs (shown here) that have been used since our subdivision was built.

The cost of this conversion will be recouped by the energy savings within 2 years time. The LED bulbs also have a life expectancy that is about four times greater than the high-pressure sodium bulbs, which required the use of a separate ballast that also needed to be occasionally replaced.

The new LED lights emit a white light that has a Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 84, as opposed to the 22 CRI associated with the orange light emitted by the high-pressure sodium bulbs.  Bulbs with a higher CRI allow an object's colors to appear more natural to the eye. When compared to high-pressure sodium bulbs, the white light emitted by LED bulbs has been shown to double driver peripheral vision and increase driver brake reaction time by at least 25%.

The LED bulbs look similar to this one and are commonly called "corncobs". 

The following street lights remain out of order due to failed underground wiring:
1) East side of Lexington West, behind 6638 Lexington South
2) East side of Regent, across from 50011 Regent
3) Northwest corner of Watling and Lexington South
4) Southwest corner of Watling and Lexington North

The street light on Lexington West will be re-wired as soon as the weather breaks.  As previously explained here, the other three will be re-wired after all the new construction is completed in that area, which will probably be the fall of 2017 at the earliest.

Streetlight Outages

The following streetlights are out of order due to failed underground wiring:

1) East side of Lexington West, behind 6638 Lexington South
2) East side of Regent, across from 50011 Regent
3) Northwest corner of Watling and Lexington South
4) Southwest corner of Watling and Lexington North

Some of these failures are due to the underground wiring being cut by construction crews back in 2004-2010.  They were repaired with splices which over time became corroded by moisture, which then caused them to eventually short out. Other failures might be the result of more recent construction activity.

The underground electrical lines for the streetlights do not appear on the MISSDIG drawings, so the contractors are not responsible for the damage.  Therefore, it is up to the Association to repair and replace the failed underground wiring.  Since it is very difficult to find the location of the break, a new underground line must be installed between the streetlight and the electrical meter, which can be anywhere from 100 to 500 feet away. The Board of Directors will have new wiring installed for each streetlight once the risk of damage from new construction in the vicinity has subsided.