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dotcom-jillionaire t1_j5txtna wrote

this was my biggest gripe with the refresh of the boathouse row lighting, and lo and behold it only took a year or two for the refresh to become as dysfunctional as the original white bulbs. if you had to boil down the idea of philadelphia as a functioning city, the disjoint and constantly failing boathouse row lights would be the perfect metaphor.

it's probably something to do with how they're wiring the segments together at each house. unless each boathouse had new electrical run before the city installed the LED strips, it's all for nothing. each house has some illumination, but the random dark areas return frequently.

FWIW PECO/the city seem to fix the problems before a big lighting campaign is set to happen; i remember it looking OK for christmas. just a shame they haven't been able to fix whatever the core problem has been.

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rovinchick OP t1_j5tyiyi wrote

It's amazing that the lights on the PECO building and the Cira Center at 30th Street never seem to have any problems. My guess is that IBEW is trying to ensure a future of contracts with the city to keep rewiring.

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dotcom-jillionaire t1_j5uanr7 wrote

yeah modern infrastructure and building practices are a hell of a thing!

boathouse row came about in the middle of the 1800s.

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rovinchick OP t1_j5uuzrx wrote

But the current lighting was added in 2016, seems it should last more than 7 years. 🤷

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dotcom-jillionaire t1_j5vggmz wrote

who knows what the work looked like to upgrade the lighting though. if i had my guess, i'd say they tore out all the incandescent electrical and literally slapped LED strips on top. i would imagine the lights run on a different circuit than the electrical for each boathouse, but who knows?

i think the core issue is the way the electrical is laid out in those buildings and on the lighting circuit in general. until you enhance the way the circuit is designed and fix the physical wiring therein, you're just polishing a turd.

the boathouses are historically designated as well, so that likely adds a lot of cost and headaches for making modifications. not to say knob and tube is historically designated, but unless all those boathouses have been ripped down to studs and reworked for electrical, there will always be problems.

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Wuz314159 t1_j5xx953 wrote

It's a lot harder to maintain outdoor lights in this climate. Even IP65 struggles in the freezing cold.

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mistersausage t1_j5uue00 wrote

IIRC you don't need a permit for low voltage, which is what I assume these are because of LEDs.

Also they are outside and exposed to the elements, the Cira ones at least are behind glass.

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