Those used Scott St. this week in the evening during the extreme cold temperatures the region experienced will have been subject to flickering of the new street lights installed in December.
Operations and Facilities Manager Travis Rob says that in the transition to LED lighting, the aesthetic was considered over the operating temperature.
“[The Flickering] is caused by the parameters of the manufacture of those specific lights. When we converted to the LEDs, the want of the time was to maintain the ‘look’ of the downtown,” Rob wrote in an emailed statement. So we had very limited options so ended up with lights that have operating temperatures outside of the temperatures we regularly get.”
LED replacements made to lights along the riverfront have a -30 degree rating.
The lights used on Scott St. were chosen by council according to Rob, and they wanted to maintain the look with the former high pressure sodium fixtures, and the new more electrically efficient LED fixtures are nearly identical, but should require less maintenance.
Depending on the temperatures the flicker maybe brief but in extreme cold as was experienced this week it seems to persist.
“As a result, starting at about -17/-20 (Celsius) ambient temperature you will get flicker upon start up,” Rob wrote. “At -20 the flicker is less than a minute until the driver warms up a bit, so mostly unnoticed. When it gets cold cold like it has been, warmup takes longer. This has been the issue since new, not a new problem.”
