Background

Crime has been a problem along Alcatraz Avenue for some time. The City of Berkeley had investigated the possibility of adding more street lighting, but decided it was too expensive a proposition. An alternative idea was to add new lighting to the buildings along the 1300 to 1600 blocks of Alcatraz Avenue. This idea was eventually approved.

All existing lighting on porches, entryways and exterior walls near the street was to be replaced. A preliminary audit was done by Walter Leaman of DataMasters. He found 140 porch lights and 90 flood lights that could be replaced, as well as the potential for 23 additional lighting fixtures that could be added to improve the safety along the street. Many of the existing lights weren't working, or provided only dim lighting. It was decided to replace existing fixtures, but not to add any new ones, as this would be expensive and time-consuming.

The city wanted to use energy-efficient light fixtures controlled with photocells to come on at night and turn off during the day. Energy-efficient porch and flood lighting is a relatively new class of light fixture, using compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs, as a light source. These fixtures have built in ballasts. The CFL is pushed into place in the ballast with two metal pins providing the electrical contacts. The CFLs used are not the screw-in type which have a ballast and lamp incorporated together. Since the ballast lasts longer than the lamp it's more economical to replace only the lamp when it burns out, instead of replacing the entire ballast and lamp.

CFLs use from a fifth to a third of the energy of conventional incandescent lightbulbs, while producing a similar quantity and quality of light. CFL's are also rated to last 10,000 hours, versus 750 hours for an incandescent lightbulb. The table below compares the energy use and life of CFLs and incandescent lights.

At this time (March 1999), few energy-efficient fixtures come with photocontrols. Photocells have been used for some time on street lighting, but the photocells on street lights are generally unobstructed by walls or ceilings in their view of the sky. Only a few lighting manufacturers sell a variety of energy-efficient porch and flood light fixtures with photocontrol as an option, including General Electric, Lights of America, and Westerfield. For this project we chose to use Westerfield light fixtures, as they had the largest selection of styles, including some that were durable and attractive without being prohibitively expensive. Westerfield was also able to customize the fixtures for our needs, which turned out to be extremely useful. Three light fixtures were chosen for their durability, energy-efficiency, common style and the option to include a photocontrol. These were a globe style ceiling fixture, a jar style wall fixture, and a rectangular flood light.

Instructions for Installing Porch Light Fixtures with Photocells

There are 3 types of fixtures to be installed, wall-mounted fixtures, ceiling mounted fixtures and floodlights. These install the same way as regular light fixtures, except some extra attention must be paid to the location of the photocell. In general, the photocell must be positioned to accomplish two things: to collect the most daylight, and to have the least amount of its own light reflected back to it from walls, ceiling or overhangs.

Many of these fixtures will be replacing fixtures in older homes with unknown wiring and fixture conditions. In addition to the new fixtures, it may be helpful to have some extra materials on hand, such as:

The wall-mounted fixtures have the photocell located on either the left or right hand side of the fixture. At each location, you want to make sure the photocell is on the side pointing away from any walls or surfaces that may reflect light back into the fixture. This means you're usually going to be facing the photocell out toward the driveway or street. Don’t worry about lights from passing cars affecting the photocell - the fixture has a 30-second delay before it turns itself off in response to light, so intermittent light flashes from cars should not affect the light.

The ceiling-mounted fixtures have the photocell located on the side of the fixture casing. In theory, the photocell can be pointed in any direction by rotating the fixture, so it should not be a problem to point the photocell away from walls and reflective surfaces. But in practice the fixture's mounting brackets may only attach to the electrical box in a few positions. It's important to mount the fixture in the best position possible, that is, to aim the photocell towards the least reflective location on the porch. This is usually an open front corner. Once again, don't worry about intermittent lights from passing cars.

The floodlights have their photocell mounted on the top of the fixture casing. In this location it's not very likely that any light from the flood will be reflected back to the photocell. When mounting the floodlight just make sure the photocell is on the top side.

After the fixtures have been installed each fixture must be checked at dusk and after dark to make sure they're working properly. Check for two things: 1) they don't come on too soon in the day, which would mean the photocell is not picking up enough daylight; 2) they don't turn themselves on and off every 30 seconds, which is a sign that they're seeing too much of their own light. The first problem can only be fixed by re-positioning the light fixture so the photocell catches more light. The second problem can be fixed by coating the photocell lens with white nail polish. Installing the fixtures according to the instructions given above will hopefully keep these problems to a minimum.

There has been some debate as to whether or not the switch controlling each light fixture should be disabled. If control of the fixtures wasn't left up to the residents then night time lighting could be more assured along the street. However, the final decision was made that the switches would remain operational. This made the installation job much easier, limited the problem of getting access to the inside of the buildings, and left the residents with control over their light fixture use and electricity bills.