Edit: the duality between “lol get curtains” and helpful things is great. But! I can’t put up curtains on the windows the light floods in - it’s the front door and the sort of side window beside the front door. Since I rent, I’m not going to put holes in the door, nor do I think it would look decent enough not to bother me. But also for those concerned about safety of sidewalks, I don’t have a sidewalk on my side, I’d only be blocking light on the front yard and hopefully into the house. But thanks y’all, this has been helpful:))
Basically I’m looking for maybe a semi unethical tip so I can cover the half of the street lamp that shines the light of freaking Helios’ arsehole in my windows every night.
I don’t want to permanently ruin it because I only rent this house and I don’t wanna get in trouble. But it’s way too bright and so very annoying.
So my thoughts are maybe duct tape, or maybe some sort of latex paint I can later peel off? I’m just not sure either will stand up against the elements.
Insofar as the lamp itself is concerned, it’s not one of those with a bent neck. It’s like a lantern on a 9 foot pole. So it should be easy(?) to cover half the glass, I should think.
I used to have a streetlight that beamed into my front room.
I did some research on the type of streetlight, bought a security bit that was the right fit to unscrew the access panel near the base, and ripped out the big fuse that lives there. Put the panel back in place. The city never fixed it. If they did I would have taken that fuse too
When I was a kid we had a way of disabling streetlights with no tools. We learned that if you get one kid on either side of it, and push-pull it at the right frequency, you can get it to oscillate in a feedback pattern until the top of the lamppost was shaking back and forth so hard the globe would shatter.
Do not modify a public street lamp. It is not yours. More importantly, you’ll be creating an unsafe environment.
Put up curtains.
Have you considered talking with your council about it? It is their utility after all.
Maybe get some light readings and look into what your town says about acceptable light levels.
Yeah this. See if there’s others in your area also concerned about public lighting and advocate together. Too many cities are putting in new LED lights that are way too bright and it’s accelerating light pollution levels. Being able to see stars in the night sky should be something every one can do to connect our humanity.
Just some light reading material.
Have you heard of blackout curtains?
Tin foil, trash bag, bucket cut into the shape of a hat?
Or just buy some curtains. Or tape up some tin foil. Or wear a sleep mask.
Get scissor cut black plastic sheet, something that’s ridgid, and silicone fishtank adhesive.
Cut the plastic to match the shape of the glass sections that face your window. Clean the glass with alcohol, then apply a thin layer of silicone to the plastic piece and press it to the glass. Use a finger to wipe any excess and ooze into a tight seam.
So long as it doesn’t hit sweltering hot, freezing cold, or rainy for the next 24hrs it takes to cure, that plastic isn’t comming off without a putty knife and effort (it will come off fine without harming it, but not on its own)
If you want to increase the chance that no one will do anything about it, do the same to every lamp on your block. Nothing hides vandalism like uniformity.
Talk to your local council, or whoever looks after lighting in your area, they should be able to put a shade on it tgst blocks light from hitting your window. It might take sime effort to persuade them, but it’ll be the best solution.
Failing that, or in addition, as others have mentioned, blackout curtains do wonders.
Any rotating shift worker will tell you. Black out curtains. They’re a god send.
Why are those poor shift workers rotating? They’re gonna get seasick!
It’s time to improve your paintball skills.
I wish they made curtains that blocked light. Some sort of “black-out” functionality. Oh well, you should probably continue illegally modifying city lighting…
One suggestion I haven’t seen: aluminum foil.
You can stick aluminum foil to a flat surface by wetting the aluminum foil and spreading it with your hands while pushing the water out. It’s cheap, easy to remove and leaves no trace. Now, you can think of applying it on the street lamp or on your own window
Lights you can’t control are awful. We have an insanely bright one on the corner that light pollutes so bad. Even worse now because they are horrible white LED. Warm halogen were 1000x better (youll never convince me otherwise). Same with car headlights. White led gives me a headache even when I’m the driver. I’ll take my 90s warm lights any day.
This is a corner that get like 20 cars traffic a day. A light isnt even needed. Plus its in my yard.
Can I try to convince you that LEDs aren’t the real problem? They’re more energy efficient than any other kind of light and last longer too. Mostly what I think people hate is that LEDs usually have a cooler color temperature, but you can get LED bulbs that are warmer, or even have variable warmth settings
Yeah, but the default is to shine with the power of floodlights.
My apartment is next to a square that has a pole in the middle with some LED lamps. My living room and balcony are uncomfortable at night due to the light from these, it’s frustrating as hell.
If they used halogen hue and luminosity, it’d be a very different experience.I believe it’s not only the color, but the actual wavelength of led. There is something about the frequency that messes with my eyes.
Wavelength is color. Your beef sounds like it’s with duty cycle/flicker
Get blackout curtains. Wear a sleep mask.
Sleep mask for sure. And not a cheap ass flemsy satin-like ones you get with the dom/sub pack at your nearest adult store!
I recommend the Manta Sleep ones. Used the smaller one for 4 years before the Velcro finally gave in. Immediately bought the regular ones and kept using the eye cups from my old ones. It was a godsend working third shift.
Haven’t tried the heated or cooled cups so ymmv.
This is honestly the best way of dealing with it. Any modifications to the light or likely going to invite repairs and attention from the city.
Try to reason with the local govt. If you’re lucky, the people at the local planning dept or whoever is in charge of public properties will find your inquiry unusual enough to do something about it.
