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A hotel nearby replaced all their exterior lighting (several hundred CFLs) with omni-directional LED clusters ~ 6000K. They make the place look like a prison co

A hotel nearby replaced all their exterior lighting (several hundred CFLs) with omni-directional LED clusters ~ 6000K. They make the place look like a prison courtyard, and they are painful to walk near after dark (too bright, too harsh). I would think, that as a species we'd all recognize the color temperature of a nice campfire to be comforting and likeable, but I'm honestly surprised some people like these 6000K+ LEDs.

briefcomment 7y ago
I've noticed similar unpleasant changes. I would guess cost is the driver as opposed to aesthetic or physiological preference, but I bet/hope new innovations will make the healthier and prettier solutions financially viable.
jedberg 7y ago
Those 6K LEDs are super cheap, which is really unfortunate, because they are terrible for both animals and humans.
fyfy18 7y ago
I think a lot of it is down to people being clueless about what colour temperatures mean and what should be used in what location. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people assume "higher is better". You also need to consider outdoor lighting such as sodium vapor lamps have much lower colour temperatures of around 1700K, where as off-the-shelf LED bulbs only go as low as 2500K.
- OnlineGladiator 7y ago
  > You also need to consider outdoor lighting such as sodium vapor lamps have much lower colour temperatures of around 1700K, where as off-the-shelf LED bulbs only go as low as 2500K. I adore sodium vapor lamps. I realize they aren't as "bright" at night, and some people prefer that (largely for safety), but the old lights aren't just romantic - they're less offensive to our senses. They aren't nearly as distracting or, quite frankly, ugly. I feel like modern LED lights are ruining entire cities with their blue glow.
  - ImprovedSilence 7y ago
    I love sodium vapor lights. I find it to be a very pleasing monochromatic glow that makes me excited be walking around town after dark. I think I especially came to be aware of them as in college my campus had them, and it made for some fantastic night photography around the school. My dream would be to have some type of consumer version of them, I would love to put them in my exterior lights, but that doesn't really seem to be a thing....
    - ourlordcaffeine 7y ago
      You can totally get sodium vapor lamps on amazon. They are popular as grow lamps. A quick search bough up listings for both high and low pressure sodium lamps, and ballasts
  - grawprog 7y ago
    I really don't like LED lights. Even compared to fluorescents, which are pretty horrible. They replaced all the fluorescent lights at my work a while back with LED's and for the first month all my coworker's were complaining about sore eyes and headaches, they hurt my eyes, they're hard to look at, they even mess with calibrating the lasers on our machines. It's been more difficult since the bulbs were changed. Sometimes the laser doesn't read the calibration lens properly. This didn't happen before.
    - snuxoll 7y ago
      Probably shitty LED bulbs with poor drive circuitry. Eye strain is usually caused by flicker, which often comes from bulbs that use PWM (cheap dimmable bulbs) or don’t have large enough capacitors (or any at all and just rely on a diode and resistor to manage voltage, so you end up suffering from 50/60hz flicker, frequently half wave rectified making it even worse).
kljhtopur 7y ago
City streets look nicer under higher temperature light. This can be easily experienced by walking from a sodium lamp street to a 4000K LED one to a 6000K one, since even today very few cities are completely converted to LEDs. There are reasons to use low temperature lamps, but aesthetics is not one of them.
- andai 7y ago
  Have you tried f.lux (or equivalent built in blue light filter on your devices)? I remember one evening where friends didn't get the point of f.lux, until we switched it off as a demonstration, and they went "aargh, put it back! Put it back!" Not having it on my phone actually led me to buying $1 orange goggles, and eventually a newer phone with a real blue light filter. Also, do you find sunsets aesthetic? Twilight is the natural blue light filter.
- Zak 7y ago
  Low-pressure sodium lights are almost single-wavelength amber. They have a negative color rendering index, while incandescents and sunlight are 100, and most white LEDs are around 70. LEDs can be had in the high 90s at a cost to efficiency. LED and CFL screw-in bulbs for household lighting come in a variety of color temperatures, but people usually go for 2700K-3000K. It does seem to me that people prefer warmer light for many applications. My preference for always-on outdoor lighting is none, followed by dim, warm, and shrouded.

briefcomment 7y ago

I've noticed similar unpleasant changes. I would guess cost is the driver as opposed to aesthetic or physiological preference, but I bet/hope new innovations will make the healthier and prettier solutions financially viable.

jedberg 7y ago

Those 6K LEDs are super cheap, which is really unfortunate, because they are terrible for both animals and humans.

fyfy18 7y ago

I think a lot of it is down to people being clueless about what colour temperatures mean and what should be used in what location. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people assume "higher is better". You also need to consider outdoor lighting such as sodium vapor lamps have much lower colour temperatures of around 1700K, where as off-the-shelf LED bulbs only go as low as 2500K.

OnlineGladiator 7y ago
> You also need to consider outdoor lighting such as sodium vapor lamps have much lower colour temperatures of around 1700K, where as off-the-shelf LED bulbs only go as low as 2500K. I adore sodium vapor lamps. I realize they aren't as "bright" at night, and some people prefer that (largely for safety), but the old lights aren't just romantic - they're less offensive to our senses. They aren't nearly as distracting or, quite frankly, ugly. I feel like modern LED lights are ruining entire cities with their blue glow.
- ImprovedSilence 7y ago
  I love sodium vapor lights. I find it to be a very pleasing monochromatic glow that makes me excited be walking around town after dark. I think I especially came to be aware of them as in college my campus had them, and it made for some fantastic night photography around the school. My dream would be to have some type of consumer version of them, I would love to put them in my exterior lights, but that doesn't really seem to be a thing....
  - ourlordcaffeine 7y ago
    You can totally get sodium vapor lamps on amazon. They are popular as grow lamps. A quick search bough up listings for both high and low pressure sodium lamps, and ballasts
- grawprog 7y ago
  I really don't like LED lights. Even compared to fluorescents, which are pretty horrible. They replaced all the fluorescent lights at my work a while back with LED's and for the first month all my coworker's were complaining about sore eyes and headaches, they hurt my eyes, they're hard to look at, they even mess with calibrating the lasers on our machines. It's been more difficult since the bulbs were changed. Sometimes the laser doesn't read the calibration lens properly. This didn't happen before.
  - snuxoll 7y ago
    Probably shitty LED bulbs with poor drive circuitry. Eye strain is usually caused by flicker, which often comes from bulbs that use PWM (cheap dimmable bulbs) or don’t have large enough capacitors (or any at all and just rely on a diode and resistor to manage voltage, so you end up suffering from 50/60hz flicker, frequently half wave rectified making it even worse).

kljhtopur 7y ago

City streets look nicer under higher temperature light. This can be easily experienced by walking from a sodium lamp street to a 4000K LED one to a 6000K one, since even today very few cities are completely converted to LEDs. There are reasons to use low temperature lamps, but aesthetics is not one of them.

andai 7y ago
Have you tried f.lux (or equivalent built in blue light filter on your devices)? I remember one evening where friends didn't get the point of f.lux, until we switched it off as a demonstration, and they went "aargh, put it back! Put it back!" Not having it on my phone actually led me to buying $1 orange goggles, and eventually a newer phone with a real blue light filter. Also, do you find sunsets aesthetic? Twilight is the natural blue light filter.
Zak 7y ago
Low-pressure sodium lights are almost single-wavelength amber. They have a negative color rendering index, while incandescents and sunlight are 100, and most white LEDs are around 70. LEDs can be had in the high 90s at a cost to efficiency. LED and CFL screw-in bulbs for household lighting come in a variety of color temperatures, but people usually go for 2700K-3000K. It does seem to me that people prefer warmer light for many applications. My preference for always-on outdoor lighting is none, followed by dim, warm, and shrouded.