What Happened to the Table Rock Cross?

I previously wrote about Boise’s Table Rock Cross, you may remember it as the six story symbol of a twisted death cult that was about to get a lighting upgrade so it would shine brighter. Well, I just got an email from Jim:

We noticed the cross was not lit tonight…Is there a problem?? My wife finds it very comforting.

I just stepped outside with my netbook and a beer and I can enjoy my smoke without the glaring light from the cross. The LED upgrade was highly effective, making it appear about three times brighter. It went from a dull, tolerable glow, to a horrible, obnoxious glare.

A quick Google search didn’t shed any light on it’s sudden darkness, in fact the most recent result I saw was from my own blog. I am so exited! I hope they never get it turned back on!

**Update – It’s day time now and I don’t see the cross. I’m pretty sure I could see it fine during the day, but it’s just not as memorable as when the lights are on. Now I’m getting really curious about what happened to it.**


***Update – The upgrades are being done now….goddamn.**

(Thanks to Jim for the tip.)

6 Comments


  1. I am sure it will be back..


  2. Don't be such a downer. I'm enjoying having that eyesore not being in my view tonight.


  3. The budget they listed for the project is incredibly cheap. 2100 watts between 2600 LED's gives about .8 watts an LED. Looking up prices, those LED's run about50 cents each; the price has dropped fast. Just for the LED's $1300 though. I couldn't see them getting the ballast work done for much less than $1500. 90 feet of doubled I-beam would've run about $5,000. $7800. Bulletproof covering? I'd be surprised if they got out for less than $1000, and I'd suspect more. That's $8800, plus materials to join it all together. Never mind the concrete foundation, or the equipment rentals.

    The #1 mistake I see with LED's in aquaria is the assumption that efficient has to mean it runs cool. Keep in mind, it's .8 of a watt burning in a 1/4 inch space. By density, the average T12 bulb is about 2.6% as efficient for the same area. Most people don't realize this.

    Now ponder that a cheap heatsink made of aluminum channeling would've cost them at least another $1000 at wholesale. By the time you enclose LED's in that size and density, it'd be a very smart move to toss a couple of fans in as well. A cooling system is expensive, and counter-intuitive.

    My guess is that something was done cheap. It might've been the ballast, it might've been the structure. Cooling is the new element though, and it's counter-intuitive to the concept of efficiency.


  4. We just changed the lights in our freezers at work to LED fixtures. Fortunately when the ambient air temperature is around -30 C heat build up isn't an issue. If they had a power failure, it would make sense if they had inadequate cooling with the last several days getting up to near 100 degrees.


  5. Ya, that sort of chilling is more than enough. What you probably need for a freezer is 1/4 or less of what that cross has. Perhaps you've watched Weeds? There's an episode where they steal a cross from a church, and use it to light their grow op. The cross on table rock? I could probably go beyond that, and use it to light an 18 inch deep coral reef tank the same size.


  6. LEDs are actually brighter at low temperatures than they are at room temperature. What we're using is two "bulbs" that contain about 30 LEDs each. It's a 100W incandescent replacement. We were having to replace the old lights ever week or two, these should last a year or two.

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