Hinged street light pole - GIF

[Altair]

Hinged street light pole.




Previously:

Utility pole suspended in midair - GIF
Utility poles collapse during storm - GIF
Electrical lineman's rodeo fast pole climb - GIF
Pole climbing shoes - GIF
Streetlamp design light pollution comparison - photo

[Toolmaker51]

A1 idea; a few minute job minus time absorbed positioning a scissor lift or bucket truck.

[mklotz]

A1 idea; a few minute job minus time absorbed positioning a scissor lift or bucket truck.

I'm not so sure. With long life LED bulbs the need for maintenance may be low enough to challenge the cost of building hinged poles.

Also, in suburban areas, the proximity of trees, power lines, etc. may make hinging impractical. In my suburban area the wires supplying power to the street lights are mounted on the top of the street light standard. Clearly, hinging would be impossible and I suspect that arrangement is used elsewhere.

Like everything, the engineering devil is in the compromise details.

[Frank S]

Those huge cluster lights found at many highway intersections in rural areas are lowered via a pair of cables on a winch, since they are usually too tall for most bucket trucks, Even the ones in my area that have been replaced or have always had LEDs are lowered every few years for repair. The LEDs them selves may last almost forever when compared to other bulb type lamps but the drivers in them fail regularly. We have had LEDs throughout our house for since we moved in 8 years ago, the lights that are on most of the time have all had to be replaced more than once the ones right above me right now have been replaced several times as many as 2 out of the cluster of 6 every year or so, but even at that I'd have to see how much higher my electric bill would be burning 6 incandescent bulbs all the time in that fixture alone

[Toolmaker51]

as both MarvK and Frank S describe, new products alter previous installations; some with complications, benefit to others. WE are lucky to invest toward that kind of capitalistic first world variety of privilege.
The earliest bulb change phenomena I saw was in SoCal, a highway crew serviced towering light standards in Anaheim, where 91 and 5 freeways intersect. They could be 300' + high. Most commuters probably never gave it a thought (same that consider daycare centers, public art projects infrastructure)). The fixture might contain 8 lamps, weighs at least a few hundred pounds, bulbs size of beachballs.
Yup, all it takes is a winch; fixture center is a ring that rides down the post.
Bet they'd have been used earlier, but no one figured how to change bulbs; some little kid probably "how about like a flag pole?"
I hope he was paid well.

[Hoosiersmoker]

This is a great idea! Application is always a consideration when installing any lighting or nearly anything else. Of course you wouldn't use them in rural areas but then those lights would be much shorter and lend themselves to bucket truck maintenance. For unobstructed areas these are a great alternative to high priced equipment and traffic control requirements. Low tech, reliable and simple to operate.