In reply to Harry Veeder's message of Tue, 15 May 2012 21:33:02 -0400: Hi, [snip] >Yeah it has happened to me with a few street lights, but I thought it >was just some sort of subtle electrical/vibrational connection between >my body and a light which was nearing the end of its life. However, >one night about 20+ years ago, I found I was able to turn a particular >light on and off repeatedly by walking towards and away from it each >time.
Perhaps it has to do with the "fair weather" current, or in this case "field". By walking toward the lamp the top of your head brings the "ground" closer to the lamp (because your body is filled with salt water, which is a reasonable conductor), thus changing the static field. The resultant high voltage change may be enough to trigger the circuitry of the lamp, causing it to turn on. This may only happens with lamps where the normal ground connection (if they have one) is broken . BTW it may also be related to whether or not your footwear is (somewhat) conductive (e.g. wet). Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
