From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: Back from flat spotting
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 21:10:17 -0500
Message-ID: <hr6v50t6vuq8gprnisgjcvp95o8nkfart6@4ax.com>

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 23:37:50 GMT, "Jon Porter" <jonporter@notverizon.net>
wrote:

>A friend of mine moved into a house in town and had one of those street lamp
>type of  lights in her yard that she had to pay the electric bill on. Didn't
>like the light, and sure didn't want to spend money on it either. Couldn't
>get it turned off. Well, one evening she sat out on the back porch with a
>.22 loaded with a few shorts. Only took one trigger pull to fix the problem.
>

I like to sleep in my RV even when it's in the lot next to my restaurant.  I'm
like Bill in that I just hate for my dark to leak out at night. I figured out
a less permanent solution to the (city owned) street light causing dark leaks.

I have one of those cheap chicom laser levels, the kind Harbor Freight sells
for $10 occasionally.  Not good enough to be a level so it was being used as a
cat exerciser.  Came with a cute little tripod.  All I had to do to stop the
dark leak was aim that laser at the photocell window on the street light.
Voila!! Dark all around.  And when I need light in that lot I just turn the
laser off.  The only modification necessary was to wire in a wall wart to
replace the two AAA batteries it formerly required.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: Back from flat spotting
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:35:58 -0500
Message-ID: <eqiv5052bls00qmgj8k3a8fdgdpok7t9in@4ax.com>

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 03:21:59 GMT, "James Summers" <news7y@mcsummation.com>
wrote:


>> I have one of those cheap chicom laser levels, the kind Harbor Freight
>> sells for $10 occasionally.  Not good enough to be a level so it was
>> being used as a cat exerciser.  Came with a cute little tripod.  All I
>> had to do to stop the dark leak was aim that laser at the photocell
>> window on the street light. Voila!! Dark all around.  And when I need
>> light in that lot I just turn the laser off.  The only modification
>> necessary was to wire in a wall wart to replace the two AAA batteries
>> it formerly required.
>
>I wouldn't have thought it was that bright.  Is it this one:
>http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41895

No, not that one.  I have that one too.  Bigger POS than the other one.  I
stripped the laser out for a project and tossed the level.

Anyway, the one I have is a bullet-type level, plastic, with a laser in one
end.  came with a little tripod in the package.  Basically this one except
that when I bought mine it didn't come with a wall wart plug

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41102

I caught 'em on sale for $9.99 at the store in Winston-salem, NC.

The laser is more than intense enough to trigger the CdS cells in the lamp
controllers.  Ironically it is because it's such a crappy laser with a lot of
beam spread that it works so well.  A well collimated laser, as from one of my
HeNe tubes, doesn't illuminate enough area of the cell to work.

I got a look the other day at the new photocell the local utility is using.
Instead of a simple CdS cell and a relay it contains a PCB with a small
phototransistor facing out.  That one is going to take much better aim than
the old style.  Darn!  Hope the one on "my" light doesn't fail anytime soon.

John