New LED Lights at Shippea Hill

[bspahh]

On Saturday, I walked from Ely to Shippea Hill, and got the 19.27 train back. From a distance, you could see the station lights. The platform now has new 15 light poles. They have LED lights which are on continuously. There is a motion sensor so they are brighter when you are nearby.

Shippea Hill LED Platform Lighting

• bspahh
• 27 Nov 2018
• 1

There is also a new Passenger Information Screen

Shippea Hill Passenger Information Screen

• bspahh
• 27 Nov 2018

It does seem a little odd for their press release to be talking about a reduced carbon footprint, from continuous lighting at a station with six request stop trains each week towards Norwich and one a week towards Cambridge.

https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/abo...anglia-installs-led-lighting-more-80-stations

Greater Anglia is installing LED lighting at stations across the network in a bid to tackle its carbon footprint and reduce the impact on the environment.

Since last December, lighting has been replaced at more than 80 stations across its network, as part of a £1.7m investment.

The new lighting, which has been installed on platforms, on concourses and in car parks, will make stations look and feel brighter and more pleasant.

Over the coming months, LED lighting will be installed at a further 24 stations.

Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia Asset Management Director, said: “We do all we can do reduce our impact on the environment and this is the latest scheme to tackle our carbon footprint.

“We aim to install LED lighting at all of the stations we manage. This will help save energy, create a more pleasant atmosphere for our customers and improve safety and security.”

 

[Agent_Squash]

Maybe it's part of the plan to make Shippea Hill a major rural interchange?

 

[AM9]

... It does seem a little odd for their press release to be talking about a reduced carbon footprint, from continuous lighting at a station with six request stop trains each week towards Norwich and one a week towards Cambridge. ...

LED lights dissipate between 10% and 20% of the power used by Tungsten and Halogen types of the same illumination factor. So even if the levels are now higher, when combined with the dimming time when no passengers are present, the overall power consumption is probably a lot less. Then there is the lower maintenance to reckon.

 

[plugwash]

It is true that LED lights are much better than incandescent/halogen but the difference between LED and flourescent or sodium lighting (which I would suspect is what was there before) is much smaller, if there at all.

The real advantage of LED lighting is probably the lower maintenance.

 

[AM9]

It is true that LED lights are much better than incandescent/halogen but the difference between LED and flourescent or sodium lighting (which I would suspect is what was there before) is much smaller, if there at all.

The real advantage of LED lighting is probably the lower maintenance.

Which also has an impact on carbon footprints.

 

[edwin_m]

It is true that LED lights are much better than incandescent/halogen but the difference between LED and flourescent or sodium lighting (which I would suspect is what was there before) is much smaller, if there at all.

The real advantage of LED lighting is probably the lower maintenance.

A domestic LED lamp tends to use about two thirds of the power of a compact fluorescent. I believe LED street lamps are about 100W each.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A domestic LED lamp tends to use about two thirds of the power of a compact fluorescent. I believe LED street lamps are about 100W each.

Interestingly in BR days station lighting used to use small fluorescent tubes - safety (and personal safety) requirements for brighter lighting resulted in a move to brighter, more power-consuming lighting. That's also true of UK street lighting when compared with other European countries where it tends to be a lot weaker.

 

[Parallel]

Interestingly in BR days station lighting used to use small fluorescent tubes - safety (and personal safety) requirements for brighter lighting resulted in a move to brighter, more power-consuming lighting. That's also true of UK street lighting when compared with other European countries where it tends to be a lot weaker.

We still have a lot of low pressure sodium lighting where I live in Wiltshire which is low wattage (a good thing)but offers poor colour rendering.

Gloucester still had flourescent tube lighting until a couple of years ago when the current LED lighting was installed. I can’t think of any other stations that had it in recent years - Possibly Dorking Deepdene? Most NR stations use high pressure sodium/cosmopolis/metal halide/LED - Though you may find some stations that use induction lamps or possibly still Mercury. Neath even had a single column with a low pressure sodium lamp until recently! Must’ve confused drivers into thinking it was a signal set to caution...

 

[NorthernSpirit]

By the looks of it it appears that the lanterns have been retrofitted with "corncobs" (basically chip on board LED lamps with a B22 cap) because it looks quite glary.

Most of the recenly built stations in West Yorkshire are kitted out with Urbis Axias where as the rest have Phillips SGS203's running either SON (high pressure sodium) or MH (metal hadile), Huddersfield has retrofitted LED Urbis Albany's. Castleford and Stocksmoor use to be lit with GEC "Turtles" that ran MBF (mercury) before being replaced.

I'm guessing that eventually all railway stations will be LED'd, retrofitted or otherwise.

We still have a lot of low pressure sodium lighting where I live in Wiltshire which is low wattage (a good thing)but offers poor colour rendering.

Gloucester still had flourescent tube lighting until a couple of years ago when the current LED lighting was installed. I can’t think of any other stations that had it in recent years - Possibly Dorking Deepdene? Most NR stations use high pressure sodium/cosmopolis/metal halide/LED - Though you may find some stations that use induction lamps or possibly still Mercury. Neath even had a single column with a low pressure sodium lamp until recently! Must’ve confused drivers into thinking it was a signal set to caution...

Calderdale's got loads of low pressure sodium in use of which some are installed in some quite historic lanterns and on concreate columns that date back to the 1950's.

Scarborough still has some flourescent tube lighting, Bridlington has/had two lanterns which has Bridlington on one lantern and railway station on the other running flourescent, Selby had one but I think its been replaced. Bradford Interchange use to be lit with the same GEC lanterns that Scarborough currently has but were replaced around twelve years ago.

 

[apk55]

Recently I replaced a 4 foot Florescent tube in my kitchen with a 4 foot LED replacement tube. Power consumption halved from 36W to 18W as well as instant light with no change in light levels. So LEDs are considerably better than even florescent tubes.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Recently I replaced a 4 foot Florescent tube in my kitchen with a 4 foot LED replacement tube. Power consumption halved from 36W to 18W as well as instant light with no change in light levels. So LEDs are considerably better than even florescent tubes.

Indeed they are, there does seem to have been somewhat of a step-change in their functionality of late which means pretty much all lighting can and will be replaced by them. They have the energy saving benefits of CFL (and some) without the disadvantages. They can even be made to look like classic tungsten bulbs if you want that effect.

There are other things they make easier/cheaper/safer too - because they don't get hot, the housings can be plastic rather than glass.

 

[bspahh]

Another advantage is that LED is easier to spell than fluorescent

 

[jon0844]

Another advantage is that LED is easier to spell than fluorescent

That is in fact the main reason for changing. It has been proven that reducing spelling errors also reduces power consumption online, with reduced levels of posting from the grammar/spelling police and follow-on postings related to it. This in turn boosts the economy through increased productivity.

 

[Mordac]

That is in fact the main reason for changing. It has been proven that reducing spelling errors also reduces power consumption online, with reduced levels of posting from the grammar/spelling police and follow-on postings related to it. This in turn boosts the economy through increased productivity.

Post of the week.

 

[AM9]

Indeed they are, there does seem to have been somewhat of a step-change in their functionality of late which means pretty much all lighting can and will be replaced by them. They have the energy saving benefits of CFL (and some) without the disadvantages. They can even be made to look like classic tungsten bulbs if you want that effect.

There are other things they make easier/cheaper/safer too - because they don't get hot, the housings can be plastic rather than glass.

There are of course the optical equivalent of 'perfect pitch' people* who claim that because the light distribution spectrum of LEDs isn't the same as tungsten bulbs, they get palpitations, headaches, rashes, miscarriages or whatever etc., so the rest of the world must stick with combined heat and light fittings, i.e. old fashioned 100W energy gobblers. They will be alright at home of course because they bought a shed load of bulbs before they were outlawed.
* This doesn't mean film/photography specialists who have to deal with the minutae of white balance and colour rendition issues.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There are of course the optical equivalent of 'perfect pitch' people* who claim that because the light distribution spectrum of LEDs isn't the same as tungsten bulbs, they get palpitations, headaches, rashes, miscarriages or whatever etc., so the rest of the world must stick with combined heat and light fittings, i.e. old fashioned 100W energy gobblers. They will be alright at home of course because they bought a shed load of bulbs before they were outlawed.
* This doesn't mean film/photography specialists who have to deal with the minutae of white balance and colour rendition issues.

FWIW I have quite low persistence of vision and so can see flicker on a lot of things most people can't. Cheap and older LED fittings do cause me an issue, but modern ones with better driver circuits that don't pulse them at 50Hz are fine for me (and my house has LEDs throughout). Notably I can see flicker on AMOLED mobile phone displays e.g. my Oneplus 6T, but it's only just perceptible so doesn't cause an actual issue.

Regarding 100W "combined heat and light fittings", as you put it, in winter these may not be so bad as you'll have to burn some gas to give you that heat. In summer of course it is a total waste.

 

[edwin_m]

That is in fact the main reason for changing. It has been proven that reducing spelling errors also reduces power consumption online, with reduced levels of posting from the grammar/spelling police and follow-on postings related to it. This in turn boosts the economy through increased productivity.

Perhaps we should abandon street lighting entirely and instead adopt area-wide illumination from tethered airships. We could call them LED Zeppelins.

 

[bramling]

There are of course the optical equivalent of 'perfect pitch' people* who claim that because the light distribution spectrum of LEDs isn't the same as tungsten bulbs, they get palpitations, headaches, rashes, miscarriages or whatever etc., so the rest of the world must stick with combined heat and light fittings, i.e. old fashioned 100W energy gobblers. They will be alright at home of course because they bought a shed load of bulbs before they were outlawed.
* This doesn't mean film/photography specialists who have to deal with the minutae of white balance and colour rendition issues.

I’ve put LEDs in many fittings round the house, but there’s a few where filament bulbs simply don’t look right. Needless to say I have a rather big stash of bulbs for these fittings. However you’ll probably be pleased to hear generally these aren’t ones which are on much!

 

[bramling]

There are other things they make easier/cheaper/safer too - because they don't get hot, the housings can be plastic rather than glass.

Someone nearly set fire to my office the other week, leaving a desk lamp burning right up against some plastic, which when discovered was already at the point where it was starting to melt. Out of four desk lamps they’d managed to pick the one still with a filament bulb. It’s a nicer light for sure, but the difference isn’t that much to be worth worrying about IMO.

My biggest issue with LED lamps is that they do seem to dim quite severely as they age though.

 

[Pigeon]

It's a nicer light for sure, but the difference isn't that much to be worth worrying about IMO.

There seems to be some combination of the manufacturers having an unreasonable enthusiasm for "cold white" LEDs, probably because they can claim fractionally more efficiency, and an apparent perception by the public that LED lights are "supposed" to look like that, which results in "warm white" ones being disproportionately obscure and hard to find. The public perception then becomes self-reinforcing as when J. Random Punter wanders into Homebase and, somewhat bewildered by all the choices, picks "an LED bulb" off the shelves, the chances are that it will be a "cold white" one.

Several people in my street have been caught out by this - I guess they all went to the same local supplier - and are now stuck for the long lifetime of these things with some absolutely hideous lights which are so blue they look like mercury arcs.

It is worth checking the colour of LED bulbs; they are not all the same, and warm white ones do exist if you look for them, some of them quite good - but some, also, mis-described. So I've decided the best thing is to buy only one of any given make/model to begin with, to see what it's like, and only buy more of that type if the test purchase has an acceptable colour.

My biggest issue with LED lamps is that they do seem to dim quite severely as they age though.

Probably down to overheating. It seems to be not uncommon for manufacturers to operate the individual LEDs at an unwisely high current to make the thing bright (at least to begin with), and at the same time make inadequate provision for dissipating the waste heat. The "corncob" ones someone mentioned earlier generate several watts of heat on a compact "core" with minimal surface area, inside a plastic outer housing with only a token gesture towards allowing air circulation. That "core" gets much too hot to touch - even if you leave the plastic housing off and run the bulb with its guts dangling out - and I've known the individual LEDs to catch fire. That one got really dim after that.

(CFLs have similar problems - about half the time they fail not because the tube is dud, like a normal fluorescent, but because the electronics in the base have cooked themselves.)

So I've now taken to making my own LED bulbs, not buying ready-made ones, as the only way to be sure the components are not overloaded thermally or electrically. I run the individual LEDs at no more than 20mA and mount them in a long string with plenty of dissipative area; the assembly gets no more than mildly warm. Of course, I still have to be careful selecting the LEDs for colour.

 

[broadgage]

Until recently, LEDs offered only a modest gain in efficiency if compared to fluorescent or discharge lamps.
LEDs have continued to improve and are now the first choice for most lighting.

LEDs that achieve 100 lumens of light for each watt consumed are now common, and 200 lumens per watt is achieved by the best examples. compare this to the about 50 lumens per watt of the smaller sizes of fluorescent tube or sodium lamp as might be used to light station platforms.

Also the manufacture or import of certain types of fluorescent lamp has been prohibited, this has no doubt prompted the replacement of equipment that uses these lamps.

 

[stut]

FWIW I have quite low persistence of vision and so can see flicker on a lot of things most people can't. Cheap and older LED fittings do cause me an issue, but modern ones with better driver circuits that don't pulse them at 50Hz are fine for me (and my house has LEDs throughout). Notably I can see flicker on AMOLED mobile phone displays e.g. my Oneplus 6T, but it's only just perceptible so doesn't cause an actual issue.

Regarding 100W "combined heat and light fittings", as you put it, in winter these may not be so bad as you'll have to burn some gas to give you that heat. In summer of course it is a total waste.

I'm in the same boat, with flicker and blue tone in light being a significant trigger for hemiplegic migraines (which can basically knock me out for days at a time, although I have medication to reduce the effects of this now). I've yet to find LED lights that allow me to focus on nearby objects, making reading very difficult, putting additional strain on my eyes.

I don't expect the world to stop for me. I do have specialist glasses to help, and take medication with all manner of unpleasant side effects. And I do firmly believe in reducing environmental harm. What I would like is for more research and acknowledgement of the side-effects of LED lights.

(FWIW, I find CFL perfectly fine - and far better than tungsten. And I have found some tolerable warm LED spots recently, so there are clear improvements happening).

What I do observe happening is that when we replace existing lighting with LED lighting, the brightness seems to vastly increase (which surely has an impact on the efficiency gain). Do we really need to floodlight the world?

 

[jellybaby]

What I do observe happening is that when we replace existing lighting with LED lighting, the brightness seems to vastly increase

The sodium-vapour street lights were brighter than the gas lamps they replaced too.

In homes it's been a long time since a single 60W pendant in a room was common but even that was brighter than the gas lamp it replaced which was much better than the candles before that.

I like bright lights, what annoys me are poorly shrouded outdoor lamps that leak much of their output into space.

 

[AM9]

There seems to be some combination of the manufacturers having an unreasonable enthusiasm for "cold white" LEDs, probably because they can claim fractionally more efficiency, and an apparent perception by the public that LED lights are "supposed" to look like that, which results in "warm white" ones being disproportionately obscure and hard to find. The public perception then becomes self-reinforcing as when J. Random Punter wanders into Homebase and, somewhat bewildered by all the choices, picks "an LED bulb" off the shelves, the chances are that it will be a "cold white" one.

Several people in my street have been caught out by this - I guess they all went to the same local supplier - and are now stuck for the long lifetime of these things with some absolutely hideous lights which are so blue they look like mercury arcs.

It is worth checking the colour of LED bulbs; they are not all the same, and warm white ones do exist if you look for them, some of them quite good - but some, also, mis-described. So I've decided the best thing is to buy only one of any given make/model to begin with, to see what it's like, and only buy more of that type if the test purchase has an acceptable colour.



Probably down to overheating. It seems to be not uncommon for manufacturers to operate the individual LEDs at an unwisely high current to make the thing bright (at least to begin with), and at the same time make inadequate provision for dissipating the waste heat. The "corncob" ones someone mentioned earlier generate several watts of heat on a compact "core" with minimal surface area, inside a plastic outer housing with only a token gesture towards allowing air circulation. That "core" gets much too hot to touch - even if you leave the plastic housing off and run the bulb with its guts dangling out - and I've known the individual LEDs to catch fire. That one got really dim after that.

(CFLs have similar problems - about half the time they fail not because the tube is dud, like a normal fluorescent, but because the electronics in the base have cooked themselves.)

So I've now taken to making my own LED bulbs, not buying ready-made ones, as the only way to be sure the components are not overloaded thermally or electrically. I run the individual LEDs at no more than 20mA and mount them in a long string with plenty of dissipative area; the assembly gets no more than mildly warm. Of course, I still have to be careful selecting the LEDs for colour.

All except two of the 12 CFLs originally fitted in my kitchen have now died to be replaced with LEDs. The most pleasing LEDs are those with SMD led arrays. They have the closest likeness to halogen GU10s and a wide spread of light.
The next problem is the lounge with 2 x 3 GU10s on fittings. The halogens really need replacing with decent LEDs but I need to find a decent falling edge dimmer as they are needed to be very dim for serious TV viewing.
I've had a couple of LED bulbs fail when fitted to an open bowl standard lamp. It seems that the designers of these don't understand that if the hot air in the bowl around the lamp cant be replaced with convection currents, they will just get hotter.
I'm also trying to design a PWM dimmer for some LED tape that I intend putting in a display cabinet. Unfortunately, they go from off to full bright in about 10 degrees of pot turn. I wish I still had access to decent oscilloscopes.
All LEDs I use are 3000k or 2700K so don't get caught out with daylight types.

 

[Dr_Paul]

To return to the original post, why is money being spent on a station that barely receives any services?

 

[Elecman]

I’m fairly sure it’s a requirement for a station to be lit duringbthe hours of darkness from before first train till after last train plus margins for late running, so converting it to LED lighting makes sense as it will reduce the running costs of that location.

 

[dk1]

To return to the original post, why is money being spent on a station that barely receives any services?

I don't think how well it's used is even considered. It's just the specification that applies to a station. Buckenham is all lit up like a space ship each night (LED too) but trains only stop at the weekend & then mostly in daylight.

 

[HORNIMANS]

Poor Berney Arms left in the dark again!

 

[coppercapped]

Perhaps we should abandon street lighting entirely and instead adopt area-wide illumination from tethered airships. We could call them LED Zeppelins.

Judging by the lack of any response, that seems to have gone over the heads of many people...

 

[edwin_m]

Judging by the lack of any response, that seems to have gone over the heads of many people...

It was a bit of a gas anyway.