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.)
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I am sure it will be back..
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Don't be such a downer. I'm enjoying having that eyesore not being in my view tonight.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.