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Originally posted by riverman
Very interesting! Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere but what is the best way to retrofit acorn lights to reduce glare and put more light on the street instead of the sky?
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Originally posted by sgrizzle
New fixtures. You should have to look up at the fixture to see light. If you can see light looking directly at the side or from above, you are wasting light. The riverparks installed down-only lights which is an improvement but when you put in new fixtures you need to consider color and wattage. 100Watt+ lights are WAAY to bright at night. When you light up an area too bright, then you can't see the surrounding area. Who wants to walk riverparks but be unable to see the river?
That's correct. So much money is still being spent on Acorn fixtures that it's logical we will be looking for a way to salvage that investment someday.
The only redeeming value of Acorns are their aesthetic appeal (which is lost at night because of the blinding high intensity source inside) so your only recourse is to refit the decorative fixture with decorative intensities, and delegate the job of lighting the streets with supplemental fixtures more suited to the task.
You can refit Acorns with moderate intensity sources such as LED's or Compact Fluorescent, with the rule of thumb being you should be able to look directly at the lighted globe at night without discomfort, and still be able to clearly distinguish your surroundings.
The street should be illuminated with Cutoff or Full-Cutoff fixtures mounted high out of the line of sight, and shielded in such a way that the light source is not directly visible form areas you do not wish to illuminate, or shining into the eyes of motorists or pedestrians.
The retrofitted Acorn now becomes a source of ambiance rather than the sole illumination source.
Since a modified Acorn is now more of a "mood light," warmer, more inviting colors are recommended, but to be true to it's historical analog, consider using light sources that mimic incandescent (around 3200 Kelvin or less).