They've always turned off the streetlights at night on the Isle of Man, and used to do it in many parts of the UK too. When they switched to all-night lighting in parts of the UK the crime rate went UP as it was easier for crims to find their way about.

Makes as much sense as firing half the police force to save money.

that bedside lamp... priceless!!

That's crazy!! In America the bars and clubs let out at 2am!! Streetlights are on all night, except for ones that have the copper stolen...

Aint fucking havin' it,wheres me fuckin' hammer

Easy, just attach lights to the criminals.

They might mistaken your house for a brothel for the first 2 minutes when you turn the sodium lamp on

I can't be the only one who was laughing through the first half waiting for some sort of gigantic explosion of light to blind the entire neighbourhood. Didn't get that sadly but still a good video :-)

Only in the UK- they ban knives to reduce crime but then they TURN OFF THE LIGHTS IN THE STREETS. What a joke!

All over Kent ! How are you chaps anyway??

Anyone still waiting for Andy to come back after December 2019?

Wonderful! It's always nice to see an SLI/H in action. Powys County Council started doing this round here several years ago. They turned off 2/3rds of the lights, but without any consultation. Needless to say, there was an uproar, and most of those turned off were converted to part-night. Powys used to be a uniform LPS county, but a few years ago they started to change over to HPS. Pretty much immediately, most were switched off, and are in the process of being removed and replaced with LED, which is substantially dimmer. The council's depots must have mountains of nearly-new HPS fittings and bulbs. Madness. If you want that 70w SON to stay on overnight, all you need do is change the part-night cell for an all-night one. Get a hard hat, hi-vis jacket and trousers, and a ladder. If anyone asks, just say the council's bucket van has a fault. In terms of crime prevention, lighting does have a part to play. Who says? The police. A few years ago, we were visited by the local crime prevention officer, and as well as recommending new locks, he suggested we install a 500w PIR at the back of the house. This I duly did, and at the front, I replaced the halogen PIR with a 70w MH in a GEC Z8896 (I'm a streetlight collector myself), which came on overnight. I then replaced it with Thorn Civic 1 with a 55w PLL fluorescent lamp. That was very good, until the electronics packed up after just over a year. It was a ball-ache replacing it, but I eventually put up a GEC Z8691 running 80w mercury. That's on part-night until my finances improve. Photos of the replacement here, with other photos of my outside lighting: www.flickr.com/photos/welsh_snapper/sets/72157631293802350 I'll share this video on the www.ukastle.co.uk/ forum. Richard

i love the ceramic insulators as decorative tops for those pedestals at the front gate.

Its so they can continue to use Windows XP for another few years..

Love the way LPS lamps glow, they give off a beautiful yellowish Orange compared to the bright orange of HPS lamps. The neighborhood that my mom grew up in is still filled with old circa 1970’s LPS streetlights. Just imagine an entire street only lit by LPS lamps, feels like a dream.

Absolutely brilliant, my friend! I love LPS lamps, and this one takes the cake. I had the same thought when you showed the unpowered streetlamp.. "A LPS SOX lamp would rectify this nicely...". Got quite a good laugh when you showed the bedroom lamp as well. I use a 35W LPS lamp in the yard because the road commission deemed our road not busy enough to warrant street lighting about five years back. These bulbs and ballasts are terribly hard to find here across the pond though, especially since we don't use bayonet connectors.

I could understand why turning lights off in Australia would be safe because they have a VERY low crime rate but here in England bad idea

I love it. It actually gets dark at night now, and I don't feel any less safe for it. The only crimes that have ever affected me have all happened in daylight hours. We've had a few smash 'n grabs in our street over the years and none of them took place at night.

This is by far my favorite video posted. It's the first video I've ever seen of your channel. Some how it keeps popping up in my watch it again and never stops. love it!

decorative ceramic insulators at the gate... this man truly knows his game

-"There is too much crime!" -"Errr... Let's ban guns!" -"There's even more crime!" -"Hmm... Let's turn off streetlights at night!" And I thought our government was stupid.

And with the crazy taxes UK residents pay. WTH man? I heard that garbage pick up is now every 2 weeks in some parts and some places want to extend it every 3 weeks.Nice music choice, Beethoven Moonlight Sonata.

But the funniest stupidity of governments and money saving is when they turn off the streetlamps during the winter nights, but leaving them ON during daylight lit summer nights...

In Norfolk they have been doing this for ova a year now ,but just before they decided to do it they changed the lamps ,there now starting to change them to LED :)

With the lights off the crime actually goes down. The criminals can't see without the lights, so they'd have to walk around with torches, that makes them stick out like a sore thumb. Also crime is generally higher during the day and not at night.

illuminating info and story, I always thought that street lighting was only there to burn off the energy from power stations which essentially never turn off anyway where I live daylight crime is the real nasty one, it's easier to when there is light as people tend to be out of the home due to work

I have to agree with the commenters below. I would love if this happened in my town. I have seen the sky with minumum light pollutuon and it was amazing. To see it every night would be a blessing. Crime may rise without the light, i havnt read any statistics or studies on this. Either way, i have a dog that barks like hell when someone even walks past the house and i am not above puting down whatever twisted individual decides to enter my home.

Good job. Nothing beats a good old LPS lamp.

I thought you would overload your grid

Every since they changed to LED lights in Birmingham my home looks like blackpool illumination at night, I had to go out blackout curtains to be able to sleep fucking council..

Crime rates in totally unlit areas are essentially zero. The criminals need to see, and carrying a torch is a bit of a giveaway. And criminals just love those IR activated floodlights that let them see what they are doing as they break open your front door. And oh my, the stars. It is so great to see the stars again. I wish they would do this all over the country.

I'm glad to see that you're back to posting some videos, Andy. I know that a lot of crazy people stole your ideas before with a lot of the things that you used to do at home...but even videos like this are pretty awesome.

I remember my road being lit by 80w mbf, not particularly bright, but gave a decent colour light output, lots of side roads in Cardiff were lit using 80 or 125 watt mbf. The main roads in Cardiff were mainly lit by 90w or 135w SOX, then some bright spark decided that everything had to be upgraded to SON, out went the lovely GEC lanterns and in came urbis. The main roads now cost more to light because SON is less efficient than the SOX they replaced. No doubt the council will go over to part night, and switch off the very same lights they spent millions on to 'improve' lighting levels! Madness? You bet!

Its much nicer without the glare of a streetlamp, you can see the stars. I Would rather not have any street lamps at all.

That is ridiculous. It's not a third world country to take such regressive measures to save money.

Nice one photon, I'll be doing exactly the same when/if they switch the lights off here. That LPS lamp doesn't look like a SOX, is it one of the older types?

I wish they'd turn them off around here. I hate that awful orange monochrome light. I have a motion activated 80W LED lamp that lights up outside my house so my cameras get a decent view of my car if anyone comes near it. Its a waste to keep lights blazing away all night for no reason.

UK tries to save money by shutting off street lights, but then, mr. photon woke up. All the trouble was for nothing.

The street lights on the A road down the way from me go out from midnight to 6AM because there's a cow field next to it. I can't really see how 24 hour lighting affects cows personally, not compared to getting shot in the head and served up on a sunday anyway.

Love the old LPS. I have an old 55 watt unit here, but no bulb for it. I changed all my outdoor lighting to HPS and LED. As to crime increasing, I have seen studies that show the opposite. Where it is dark the criminals can't see a bloody thing, and if they use flashlights, they stand out like a sore thumb. Cameras with IR emitters will see the criminals in the dark no problem.

Lovely editing and choice of music by the way. 21 thumbs down? Just raise a finger :)

what a load of BS, good work on putting your own up :D, I would do the same thing!, I keep my towing car on the street, illuminated by the street lights and IR Camera also on it. no light would make it a lot easier for the local bogans to go around breaking into cars and stealing other stuff.

A couple of years ago, we had mercury vapor street lights which turned on at dusk and off at dawn. All well so far. But they began to shut them off at AM 12:00 and relit at AM 5:00 in order to save money. During that 5-hour time period, several parked cars ( including ours ) were broken into, and mostly car radios and steering wheel airbags were stolen. In one case, they stole my Dad's suitcase. Then they upgraded the street lights to LED and let them on all night. No parked cars ever fell victim to burglers since then.

Ever since your original channel I've been knee deep in what you talk about. You've inadvertently taught me how resistors and rectifiers work an I'm on my way studying and the like to become an electrical engineer. I don't car if it's just construction but you are one of my heroes photon. It's like reverse engineering you teach us so much of what could go wrong if we did too much. I'd pour you cider. You're the best.

I have dug all the other video's you have made but I have to disagree with you here regarding light pollution. - I live between the two cities of Manchester and Liverpool in the UK - therefore on two overlapping horizons I am blinded by an orange glow - to make matters worse a new neighbour moved in a year ago and he has one of the 1000 Watt floodlights that was switched on when he moved in and is still burning now - Day and night - My telescope is now an ornament - I do understand your concern over criminals but believe they are hampered by lack of light rather than the free provision of it. - Cheers for the excellent videos. Regards.

I think it is totally bizarre that your government needs to shut down the lights at night to save money, but have the money to go to fight in wars.

I miss the old yellow U.K. lights. They were very relaxing and nostalgic

Up here in the Scottish Highlands the council had a trial period where certain areas switched off the street lighting at midnight. There was a marked increase in car crime. The trial was abandoned but not due to the rise in crime, BUT, that the electricity supply company said that if there was going to be less electricity consumption due to lights being off earlier then they would INCREASE the unit price thus negating any benefit!!! :/

why dont they just use led lighting

Here's my solution: When the street lights go out, it becomes "Weapons free" and you can kill any burglar or violent criminal if he's doing it during those dark hours, with no consequences for the person who took out the trash.

Same here North London, lights are off at midnight ! We might as well dig up all the street lights across the country and ebay the lot, as there is no point in having unused street lights !

I see what you did there with the "moonlight sonata" - very clever :) The most relaxing photonicinduction video ever! Awesome

creepy asf I can't sleep there I need lights every where

hey thanks for telling me about this, ima go over to the UK and steal a bunch of crap now. ;P

LPS is so underrated. Who cares if its monochromatic. That's a good thing. Low light pollution, easily filterable.. I went out of my way here to get an LPS luminaire for my house here. 18w lights up the whole place. Was nearly impossible to find. Why they went out in the 70s, who knows. Arc lamps in general will likely be a memory in the next 10 years. Keeping a stock of MV, SBMV, LPS and HPS setups just for nostalgia. :)

I'm a sparky from Milwaukee, Wisconsin,USA and work in the city's street lighting department.. We have around 100,000 luminaries mostly high pressure sodium with groups of merc vapors. We utilize series circuits with a conversion going on to standard multiple circuits.. WE LOVE YOUR SITE! Great job and keep up the fantastic work! We love to blow shit up! Sometimes on purpose...

Crime does not go up, if no one can see, people use torches and therefore anyone with a torch after 1am is suspect

Andy... You could go one step further here friend... Get one of those massive arc lights you have, and stick it pointing upwards near the end of a 100ft pole, then just above the light fit a nice big reflector shaped like this 'V'. Should light up the neighborhood real good and make the authorities & government look like the useless festering piles of sewage they really are! Great vid mate as always.

nice video, love how ur so passionate about your lights and stuff :D

Just discovered your channel and wanted to say thank you, I have always held a strong interest in light technology and also Beethoven.

1:23 - One of the funniest P.I. moments ever! A shame it had to come under such unfortunate circumstances. I like the insulators on your front pedestals too.

Photon please dont pop that old LPS lamp, its very collectable! where on earth did you find a working one!??

They trailed turning them off down here in the SW around a year ago. We're quite lucky here and don't get much crime; when the lights were off it was even better because no one could see outside, so they all stayed in. They've decided to turn them down to ¼ brightness after 11pm now. Hardly noticeable but must save a tonne of energy!

That's a good point, we pay to have so much cctv in this country but they can't see shit if there is no light.

"Who lays for crime?" That's easy: You and I do whilst the bureaucrats sleep comfortably in their big homes with armed security men outside.

I wish they did that in my city, would be nice to see some stars from time to time. Besides, who needs light as a deterrent when you have the equipment to electrify your entire property lol

That low pressure sodium lamp is amazing! nice bgm,love it.

Glad to see your still about and making vid's matey, even if it is a little darker outside! First the motorways, now your street!

Great video, Do your rates go down too. Whoever came up with that idea should gets its ass kicked. Nice to see that LPS in action. Love to get hold of one of those lamps one day. NZ is all HPS. Great those blue LED's in your gate marker insulators.

Guessing they are saving money by turning the lights off so they can buy more cctv crap.

It sure beats the stupid lights that have some sort of a sensor we have here in Toronto. It seems like every time you walk under a light during the night hours, they turn OFF. You can see this happening just by watching someone walk down the street and following the darkness lol

In Basingstoke where I live, the newer white street lights dim in the early hours of the morning. It does make everything look a bit eerie, but produces enough light to see what's going on.

Electric lighting was invented within the last 150 years, mankind survived for 7 million years without it, go somewhere without lighting and wait about 15 minutes, your eyes are capable of seeing in starlight alone. Crime is not reduced with lighting.

Can not believe they turn the lights out at 1am. The council have just dug all our old lights up and replaced them with brand new white LED lights.

That's the best rendition of moonlight sonata i've heard. Thanks for keeping it clean throughout the video.

I used to live in the city where you were lucky to see the Space Station go by in the sky. Then I moved out of town where I could actually see the Little Dipper, but that is fading fast there is more and more light pollution. There is a shopping center with a large flag pole that is illuminated with about 10 million watts of lights . When it is cloudy it lights up the clouds and illuminates about a 5 mile area

To cheap to invest in LED lights. My city did, and in two years they will have payed for them self's. I would go to the mayors street with a bee bee gun and shoot out all the street lights as i am sure they are on.

to stop people thinking you have gone to bed keep all your house lights on simple then you will see how much it costs. im sick of people complaining that thier turning lights off to save money id rather it be dark and see the stars than have no NHS

Light polluters! - and maybe your neighbours don't wan the intrusive glow into their rooms... the street light projects downwards...

"Use the bulb out of the bedside lamp?"

That was the most amazing video I have ever seen.

In about 1980 I tested some of the earliest "midnight off" switches for street lamps which came back on a 6am. At that time they were never intended for town streets but sections of road on the outskirts and some sections of motorways. I can assure you the original designers would have been very disappointed at what they would have considered, a gross misuse of their idea and development.

In our area they are installing led street lights after people voted for the lights to stay on all night

What song is that? Ain't Big Ain't Clever used it, and I can't find it.

They should change to LED illumination. In Düsseldorf it works great. And they save 80% of electric bill they say... The LEDs are payed after 6 months.

Honestly, I think this is the wrong idea. You ask who pays for crime, but criminals need light too. Crime tends to goes down with less light, not up. Adding these lights only gives the illusion of security, while having the negative effect of light pollution. You should instead go outside and enjoy the fact that you can actually see the stars at night from inside the city.

I used to have a lovely old sodium lamp outside my bedroom, they replaced it with a modern one with a led array that makes leafy shadows look like low res videogame shadows and I hate it.

They did this down my road as-well. when the lights go out is pitch place. And as you put it I WASNT AVIN IT... So hardwired our outside lights on our drive and hooked them up to a photocell. Soon as the streetlights go out mine come on. The only home down the road where you can actually see the pavement at night.

well they couldve saved money by using LEDs, much less power used, better choice than turning them off at 1 am

Good Music Choice.

great video photon, love your work!

Haha hell yeah man! Show em who runs the show. If I lived in the UK and I had no lights outside anymore Id pay you to install one too. Keep doin what you do. Great work!

I sincerely hope those insulators on your gate posts are wired up to a Jehovah's Witness detector and apply the necessary voltage when they try to cross the threshold.

But light pollution is serious problem. It harms people's health, same for animals. Too much light during the night is unnatural for both humans and animals. And outdoor lighting is huge waster of energy, usually those lights have really low energy efficiency, if they are not LEDs. Most energy is wasted as it warms the air. Also, most lamps are poorly designed and they blast that light every direction. There is no reason to light the sky. That is also the reason why most people on Earth have detached from real night sky. People do not recognize the stars, constellations, planets, nebulaes and so on. Heck, in largest cities people have never seen any stars except the Sun. It's also problem for astronomers because there is light pollution everywhere, it goes surprisingly far. In Australia alone, it costs A$210 million to run the public lights a year. They use 1,035 GWh of electricity and cause 1.15 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

They do the same here in my town. Not always but still... Glad to see you've found a solution. I've seen a neighbour of mine using a 10W Led projector in the front of the house which is still better than nothing.

This puts a whole new meaning to "its always darkest before the dawn"

What's the matter, afraid you'll see the stars? No vehicle insurance? Enjoy high taxes?

Very nice*

The lights in my area (Weymouth) went off at 1AM for a while but it saw a huge increase in crime... They no longer turn them off.

Here in the states, we have a different way of saving money on street lighting; when the bulbs burn out, we just don't bother replacing them lol