Woman to sell house owiing to LED streetlights

[bothar]

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/el ... 64731.html

Elaine Dennehy (35), from Tuam, Co Galway, suffers from severe migraine and vomiting as a result of direct exposure to LED backlighting in common household appliances such as lights, computers, televisions and mobile phones.

She has limited her exposure to LED by stockpiling incandescent bulbs that were phased out following a ban in 2009. But she has become a prisoner in her own home after dark following the installation of new street lights - the closest of which is less than 100 metres from her door.

[Patrick Harper]

Presumably that 11 year old monitor she's using is a CRT, otherwise it would be essentially the same backlight as used in a DS screen.

As for the stockpile, I say it was kinda needless as one can get GLS bulbs with halogen capsules inside, which use less energy and have the same light qualities. Those will be banned next year though.

[quarella]

Unless there are specific safety reasons I would have thought the offending light could be switched off.

[kit]

Most CRTs have a 60Hz refresh rate very similar to LEDs. As most streetlights seem quite high (blue-ish) on the light spectrum I wonder if wearing red tinted glasses could help her at night?

[sydneynick]

Surely the voltage applied to LEDs will be converted to DC, so that they do not flicker at all. If they get AC, it will be at the mains frequency of 50 Hz.

I really think that the lady's problems are psychosomatic: she thinks that LEDs cause a problem, and therefore they do.

[Fenlander]

LEDs aren't usually switched on with a continuous voltage but instead are switched on and off very quickly, the flicker rate is very high so most people won't even notice. You might notice it yourself if you turn your head while looking at one, or in your peripheral vision, it's quite noticeable on the rear lights of some cars for example, a pulsed light for rear position lights that turns continuous for braking, some see it all the time but others don't even notice even when you've pointed it out.

[Gareth]

The light seems very 'still' to me. More so than incandescent or vapour lamps.

[rhyds]

LEDs' real problem is that they output a lot more UV light than incandescent bulbs, hence that burning when you look at them.

[Gareth]

Yeah, I find that with the tail & indicator lights on some never models of cars. Can be torture to be directly behind them at night.

[JohnnyMo]

Surely the voltage applied to LEDs will be converted to DC, so that they do not flicker at all. If they get AC, it will be at the mains frequency of 50 Hz.

I know some people have a problem with fluorescent tubes, 50Hz was chosen as it doesn't appear to flicker to most people, 60Hz is slightly better.

I really think that the lady's problems are psychosomatic: she thinks that LEDs cause a problem, and therefore they do.

I was wondering that myself.
LEDs have a far wider range of colours include white, I didn't realise how yellow the low power bulbs were until I installed some LED ones.

[bothar]

I really think that the lady's problems are psychosomatic: she thinks that LEDs cause a problem, and therefore they do.

Her original problem was with a device that she bought herself. Perhaps that had a real problem and she thinks other things also cause problems.

[Derek]

Can't she fit curtains?

That said I don't like LED lighting for reading etc. We have some at work and although it's very bright I can't focus properly under it.

But for streetlights I really can't see a problem. The beams are very directional and the amount of light spill is very small. I'd be very surprised if it's shining a powerful beam into her bedroom.

Derek

[bothar]

I think she could fit curtains, but the point is that every time she went outside to a car etc in darkness she would have a problem.

I think she has a really problem generally, surely some form of googles etc could provide an appropriate filter.