Malfunctioning Street Lamp

[josephny]

The streelight right outside my house is broken. The lights flickers and goes and off at random, frequent times.

Each time it does, the cameras facing the house (pointing towards the street as well as away from the street to face my house) are triggered.

That means, 50 times each night an alert is recorded.

Is there anything I can do to fix this (town seems to not be willing to fix the street light, and I am not prepared to get the slingshot out yet)?

Thank you.

Here is my config:

 

[TonyR]

By "outside my house", is the streetlight in the public right-of-way (R-O-W) or on private (your?) property?

Do you know who really does maintain the street light?

If it's a "town" as you say and in the R-O-W, they likely pay your local power company for energy and to maintain the lamp for them and technically, they are the customer and should notify the power co. on your behalf.

If no one at the town is willing to acknowledge responsibillity, you have every right to call the power co. yourself and explain the lack of assistance.

 

[josephny]

By "outside my house", is the streetlight in the public right-of-way (R-O-W) or on private (your?) property?

Do you know who really does maintain the street light?

If it's a "town" as you say and in the R-O-W, they likely pay your local power company for energy and to maintain the lamp for them and technically, they are the customer and should notify the power co. on your behalf.

If no one at the town is willing to acknowledge responsibillity, you have every right to call the power co. yourself and explain the lack of assistance.

The light is on a wooden electric pole, with a metal tag that has a number on it.

I have spoken with both the town and the power company. Neither knows who owns or is responsible for it, and neither has agreed to fix it.

The electric for the light comes from the main power lines (i.e., before my meter) -- that is, the power company is paying for the electric usage -- and the light illuminates the public roadway.

The flickering is very annoying all night long, so I'd obviously want it fixed.

Just hoping that until then, if there was a way to get the BI aspect of this problem under control, I'd ask (after fiddling with this for weeks).

 

[TonyR]

Then I understand your frustration.

I suggest one more call before you get out the pellet or BB gun....talk to the top officer of your local law enforcement (police chief, county sheriff). Oftentimes, the power co. will respond to LEO just to make them happy since they often work together at issues such as roads blocked due to storms, lines down, trees, etc.

If no joy, make sure no one sees you and keep it to yourself.

 

[Bruce_H]

The streelight right outside my house is broken. The lights flickers and goes and off at random, frequent times.

Each time it does, the cameras facing the house (pointing towards the street as well as away from the street to face my house) are triggered.

That means, 50 times each night an alert is recorded.

Is there anything I can do to fix this (town seems to not be willing to fix the street light, and I am not prepared to get the slingshot out yet)?

Thank you.

Here is my config:

View attachment 211187

View attachment 211184


View attachment 211185

View attachment 211186

So what exactly are you getting for the "50 times each night an alert is recorded.", is it sending you an alert email or just recording, what is being detected by CAPI when the alert is recorded, have you tried unchecking the "Static object analysis"?

 

[josephny]

Then I understand your frustration.

I suggest one more call before you get out the pellet or BB gun....talk to the top officer of your local law enforcement (police chief, county sheriff). Oftentimes, the power co. will respond to LEO just to make them happy since they often work together at issues such as roads blocked due to storms, lines down, trees, etc.

If no joy, make sure no one sees you and keep it to yourself.

View attachment 211201

Excellent plan -- Thanks!

Shultz is my idol.

 

[josephny]

So what exactly are you getting for the "50 times each night an alert is recorded.", is it sending you an alert email or just recording, what is being detected by CAPI when the alert is recorded, have you tried unchecking the "Static object analysis"?

Just a recording.

I just took a quick look at "Static object analysis" and I can't say I have a good understanding of it.

It looks like the change from dark to being illuminated is the trigger.

I just unchecked it and we will see tonight if it makes a difference.

Thank you.

 

[Bruce_H]

You have the DAT file analysis enabled, what does CAPI detect when the camera is triggered? <Ctrl> double click on the alert image or look in the CPAI log for a recent alert! Hopefully you are aware that the DAT files will eventually file your hard drive storage as BI does not automatically delete them, the DAT file analysis should only be turned on for diagnostics then turned off again and the DAT files manually deleted!

 

[josephny]

You have the DAT file analysis enabled, what does CAPI detect when the camera is triggered? <Ctrl> double click on the alert image or look in the CPAI log for a recent alert! Hopefully you are aware that the DAT files will eventually file your hard drive storage as BI does not automatically delete them, the DAT file analysis should only be turned on for diagnostics then turned off again and the DAT files manually deleted!

I have no idea what a DAT file analysis is or where the setting to have it ON is.

Where can I find it?

Where exactly do I CTRL-doubleclick?

 

[biggen]

If it’s being fed directly by the pole transformer then it’s a power company light. Does you power company not have a way to report a street light outage? My company has a map to identify street lights and each light has a metal tag indicating its ID number.

 

[josephny]

If it’s being fed directly by the pole transformer then it’s a power company light. Does you power company not have a way to report a street light outage? My company has a map to identify street lights and each light has a metal tag indicating its ID number.

It does have a way, and I have reported it. Once by phone, and another via their online form.

Perhaps they are busy....

 

[Bruce_H]

If you look on the AI screen; the second screen capture in your first posting, there is a check box for "Save AI analysis DAT files", that will toggle the saving of the DAT file on and off!

That is also the same screen where you can turn on and off the Static object detection!

To look at the analysis, you <Ctrl> double click on the alert in the side bar on the left side of the screen, this assumes that you are viewing the Alerts list (the little lighting bolt) above the left side bar)

 

[josephny]

Got it.

Seems BI/AI thinks it saw a person (which is definetly not correct).

 

[Mike A.]

Yet...

 

[wittaj]

You could try a longer make time as well.

 

[jaydeel]

Hopefully you are aware that the DAT files will eventually file your hard drive storage as BI does not automatically delete them, the DAT file analysis should only be turned on for diagnostics then turned off again and the DAT files manually deleted!

I don't think this is correct.

1. DAT files are stored in the Alerts folder. By default **, they are managed by Blue Iris per the Alert Folder's storage rules.
2. Additionally, once an Alert is deleted by Blue Iris, its associated DAT file is also deleted.

For these reasons, I don't think the continuous creation of DAT files in a default 'managed' folder will overfill your hard drive storage.

** this can be changed; as of 5.8.1, folders may be designated as 'unmanaged'.

For example:

 

[d5775927]

Crazy idea, if you can match the fps and the shutter with the flickering, maybe you will be able to sync with the flickering to get a static no flicker image.
This is a temporary fix, of course.

 

[Bruce_H]

I don't think this is correct.

1. DAT files are stored in the Alerts folder. By default **, they are managed by Blue Iris per the Alert Folder's storage rules.
2. Additionally, once an Alert is deleted by Blue Iris, its associated DAT file is also deleted.

For these reasons, I don't think the continuous creation of DAT files in a default 'managed' folder will overfill your hard drive storage.

** this can be changed; as of 5.8.1, folders may be designated as 'unmanaged'.

For example:
View attachment 211246

Thanks for the clarification, I had gotten the impression that they were not managed from reading other posts

 

[jaydeel]

Thanks for the clarification, I had gotten the impression that they were not managed from reading other posts

Your memory was correct, just dated.
DAT files were first introduced in 5.4.8 (June 2021). They were not managed until 5.5.4 (Dec 2021).

I've been creating DAT files routinely since Jun 2023 without issue.
I use them as a handy source of JPG images for my bi_gif_tool utility.

 

[josephny]

Update: Last night still had 50+ false alarms/triggers/recordings.

Seems AI thinks the garbage can is a person, perhaps when it becomes illuminated.