I know this poor horse has been flogged before...

[Cowracer]

Originally Posted by NJKris

I understand Cowracer, but when one's 'whims' are unreasonable (leaving bright lights on all night, shining into your neighbor's windows), it's a problem. Obviously, your playing corn hole at 2 pm is not a problem, guy complaining is just a jerk. Playing at 2 am, problem. One of my last trips there were people playing cornhole until after midnight, complete with loud cheering, using pickup truck headlights to light the game up, which would have been shining right into my windows if not for my poor neighbor's trailer being there to block the light. Man, was that guy in a foul mood the next morning.

Most, if not all, campgrounds have quiet hours. If they are playing after that time, they they are wrong and should have stopped.

Originally Posted by boondocking

It is called common courtesy, which a lot of people do not have in this "me" generation.

Where is the courtesy to the guy who wants to camp his way with his rope lights on? Why is 'common courtesy' only one-direction?

Common courtesy is to follow the rules, not cater to every other persons ideal about what the rules should be.

Tim

[Semperfi24]

I never considered it for pests and such, I always see the rope lights as a site marker. As in, people are less likely to walk through your campsite if the rope lights are there to mark out your area. Could be wrong, but that was the assumption that popped into my mind whenever I see it.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by boondocking

It is called common courtesy, which a lot of people do not have in this "me" generation.

But again, everyone's idea of what is "common courtesy" is different.

How do we know what the person with the blue lights thinks? One can bitch about it all one wants but if the person really believes they are doing nothing wrong, saying they have no "common courtesy" on an internet forum doesn't solve the issue. The person don't know what they don't know.

Now, if a civil conversation was had with them and it was mentioned to them the lights were bothering folks and they came back with a me-me-me attitude, then that's a different discussion.

As I recall the original post, a photo was posted by larry2c showing the lights, indicating the impact it had on him but no mention of having a conversation with the purp. And with that, half the forum here wants to lynch them and throw stones.

Who's got the attitude now?

[gjarrette]

Originally Posted by W5CRE

Hmm... motion sensor lighting.

Sorry but I never saw or heard of a mouse setting off a motion sensor and besides most motion sensors work on Temperature so dogs will not set them off.

From Brinks

How temperature affects motion detectors
Working with a security company means getting the motion detectors that company offers. That’s generally a good thing, but if the detectors aren’t good quality or if they’re too sensitive, they can go off when they get too warm. Motion detectors rely on the break of a beam of infrared light. When that beam is broken, the detector knows that there’s motion in the area. Then the detector sounds an alarm, letting the homeowner know there’s someone or something in the vicinity. But when a sensor gets too warm it can have trouble reading or sensing that beam, which can mean a false alarm that there’s motion in the area.

From the internet.

Mice or rats generally aren't big enough to trigger a false motion, and she had no cats or dogs in her shop. Sometimes I've seen cases were oscillating fans will trigger the alarms, but there weren't any of them in her building.

Mostly it depends on the quality of the sensors.
I guess you could get a dead rat or mouse and pull it along with a piece of monofilament fishing across the bottom of the trailer and determine if you sensors are going to work.

Most light strip applications are temporary and it depends on where you are staying and the placement of the sensors and a dozen other factors to make them effective. Having it go off if a skunk or racoon or any other such animal is not warranted because they are not going to crawl into a small crack or opening. So setting a motion sensor system is a fools errand as it is more trouble than it is worth. The lights form a PERIMETER. It is this perimeter that keeps the critters at bay because light exposes them to other predators such as owls and other animals like coyotes etc. So the lights are in effect a shot-gun approach and by far the least complicated and dependable.

Nocturnal animals are called "Nocturnal" for a reason and that is they prefer dark to light to do their foraging and hunting so it stands to reason that if you have lights they will go elsewhere like the campsites of the people that complain about having lights which is a good thing.

All campsites have their caveats and herein lies the principal of freedom of choice. No one person can dictate what is allowed at a campsite that just happens to fit their desires. That is why there are rules. These rules are set to insure that they fit the desires of the MAJORITY of the people THAT CHOOSE TO CAMP THERE.

I personally do not like loud music but I do play music. I always walk the perimeter of my campsite to check the volume level. It differs from day to night as sound travels further or at is more detectable at night when all other sources of sound are silent. Peoples ears adjust and are more apt to detect sound at night. If you practice this you will be fine.

When selecting a campsite my wife spends days on end on the internet researching camp sites to see that they conform to our needs and desires like distance from other campers, generator rules, direction of our trailer to face a desired direction, the need to orient for say TV dishes, or Sun angle for our solar array and many other factors. My wife has become quite adept at this and then there is always the gamble that something will not be just quite right. But then again is this what camping is all about.

If some or all of these things are not acceptable to some people then I suggest you Boon Dock but even that does not guarantee you will not have neighbors move in and in this case there are NO RULES TO GUARANTEE YOU PERSONALLY WILL NOT BE OFFENDED.

Like the caravel man said;

"You puts your money down and you takes your chances"!

If one wants to know what my pet peeve is it is DOGS!

I do not camp to listen to dogs bark but 90% of all campers have dogs. And 100% of all dogs Bark! Some bark a little and some never stop. It is strange however that dog owners can't hear a dog that I can hear a quarter mile a way barking constantly. Some peoples dogs crap all over and I see them pause in front of my campsite and pea and crap and owners never do anything about what he dog leaves behind. Do I like it NO I HATE IT. But what can I do. There are very strict rules about dogs but ALL DOG OWNERS IGNORE THEM because to them a dog is just another person in their family so they bark and I have to put up with it.

Lights, Rats, Mice, Chipmunks, Squirrels I can deal with but dogs make me crazy. Do I complain, perhaps sometimes when it is loud barking 100% of the time. Oh and I DO REPORT THEM TO THE CAMP HOAST UNTILL THEY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. IT IS IN THE RULES JUST LIKE GENERATORS. I obey the rules and I expect my fellow campers to do the same but that never happens and do you know why. Because the camp hosts have dogs so they are oblivious to barking. I once complained about the constant dog barking of my neighbor 24-7 barking. The police came over to address my complaint. The cop was a K-9 owner. Here is what he told me. "Dogs bark that is their nature" so what is YOUR PROBLEM.

If one follows the rules that is all you can hope for and legally are intitled to. If not make a formal complaint.

As long as lights are permissible you haven't a leg to stand on and personally I believe that the lights do more good than harm so until THE RULES CHANGE, you will have to live with lights or go else ware.

Do I like the light? The answer is ABSOLUTLY NO. And you might ask why?
I am am an Armature Astronomer and lights have made my $30,000 telescope and my $40,000 Observatory obsolete because of urban sprawl.

Like I said "it is about choices but then again what in life is not"?
Maximus the Camp Sage

[Ballistic]

Originally Posted by 5picker

But again, everyone's idea of what is "common courtesy" is different.

How do we know what the person with the blue lights thinks? One can bitch about it all one wants but if the person really believes they are doing nothing wrong, saying they have no "common courtesy" on an internet forum doesn't solve the issue. The person don't know what they don't know.

Now, if a civil conversation was had with them and it was mentioned to them the lights were bothering folks and they came back with a me-me-me attitude, then that's a different discussion.

As I recall the original post, a photo was posted by larry2c showing the lights, indicating the impact it had on him but no mention of having a conversation with the purp. And with that, half the forum here wants to lynch them and throw stones.

Who's got the attitude now?

^^^This. Thank god we [people] are not all the same or there would only be a need for one of us.

[Tabasco_Joe]

If a campground area has rodents, why would a campground owner rule out lights and risk getting bad reviews for rodent problems?

[5er_tom]

If a campground has rodent problems, why would anyone camp there?

[5picker]

Originally Posted by 5er_tom

If a campground has rodent problems, why would anyone camp there?

How would anyone who hasn't been there, know?

It's the same with outdated pedestals, poor cell reception, stinky water and worthless cable and WIFI.

You typically never know about those things until you've been there once.

We have a mental list (and a few written down) of places we won't go back to because of... (insert issue here)

[5er_tom]

Lots of CG review sites to check out.

[stephensatt]

We have bluetooth lights fastened underneath ours the produces blue water effects on the gound. Its shimmers and moves and the colors and be changed to produce all kinds of moving effects, mainly they are for show cars. It looks like the trailer is sitting in water and they were pricey. I was originally going to put those on my "show bike" motorcycle, but they were too long so I ended up putting them under the trailer and they look cool. I always turn them off by midnight, usually by 10pm or so if its a lights out type trailer park. So people leaving them running all night, if they are too bright i just not being aware they are keeping people up.

Personally I think all Camper "Campy" stuff like Pink Flamingos, (we got those too), and crazy lighting it part of the "Scene" and I like it that way, just don't "Grizwald" it overnight.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by KellyG

Please keep us informed. I've heard that they only work on the African forest elephants, but not the African savannah elephants nor any of the Asiatic elephants.

Not to mention that it only takes a few months for a new strain of Loxodonta to develop that becomes resistant to the LEDs currently in use, and new LEDs with different colors and/or patterns of flashing must then be used to ward off the new strain for a few for months.

Anyway, back to the topic initially discussed, the world is evolving into a place where the majority of people think of no one other than themselves.

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by 5picker

But again, everyone's idea of what is "common courtesy" is different.

How do we know what the person with the blue lights thinks? One can bitch about it all one wants but if the person really believes they are doing nothing wrong, saying they have no "common courtesy" on an internet forum doesn't solve the issue. The person don't know what they don't know.

Now, if a civil conversation was had with them and it was mentioned to them the lights were bothering folks and they came back with a me-me-me attitude, then that's a different discussion.

As I recall the original post, a photo was posted by larry2c showing the lights, indicating the impact it had on him but no mention of having a conversation with the purp. And with that, half the forum here wants to lynch them and throw stones.

Who's got the attitude now?

I actually do think it's useful. I really believe there are a lot of people like me who DO want to be a good neighbor. And when they read stuff like on this forum about how many people are bothered by certain behaviors, there are that may more people who WON'T do bothersome things. There are those who just don't give a rat's behind about other people, those folks are hopeless. Then there are those who are just ignorant of campground etiquette, those are the folks who will hopefully make the right choices for everyone's sake.

[Ballistic]

Originally Posted by NavyLCDR

Not to mention that it only takes a few months for a new strain of Loxodonta to develop that becomes resistant to the LEDs currently in use, and new LEDs with different colors and/or patterns of flashing must then be used to ward off the new strain for a few for months.

Anyway, back to the topic initially discussed, the world is evolving into a place where the majority of people think of no one other than themselves.

I applaud you…Loxodonta…priceless.

[NJKris]

It is pretty priceless. And I just learned another new thing.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by NJKris

I actually do think it's useful. I really believe there are a lot of people like me who DO want to be a good neighbor. And when they read stuff like on this forum about how many people are bothered by certain behaviors, there are that may more people who WON'T do bothersome things. There are those who just don't give a rat's behind about other people, those folks are hopeless. Then there are those who are just ignorant of campground etiquette, those are the folks who will hopefully make the right choices for everyone's sake.

Two stories: We pulled into this one spot and we were like 10 Feet from our neighbor with nothing in between like bushes or trees. They were out and about in their campsite, so I went over and introduced myself. I said, we are really close to each other here - if there is anything we are doing that might be annoying, please come tell us about it. We're here to enjoy camping and there is no reason to have a bad experience because our radio is too loud or whatever. They were very appreciative of the effort, and, no they did not have any concerns with us :-).

Second, I went to a concert at a casino and camped in the parking lot. Concert was over about 9:30 pm and I had to leave early the next morning, like 6. When I get back to my trailer, the people in the spot next to me had a little after concert party going on. There was guitar playing and singing and laughing.... So, I grabbed a chair and a bottle of whiskey and headed out the door. I politely explained to them that I had to get up about 5 and leave at 6 in the morning and I was just wondering if maybe....I shared my bottle with you if I could join you for a bit?

[ARhappycamper]

I have nice shades to pull down in my camper and block out others' lights so I can sleep in darkness. If you are complaining about sitting outside and other people have lights on you might be ready to just stay home on weekends and camp during the week. You are getting too old for weekend camping. I love my LED awning lights, my entry lights, my tongue light and the light on back of the camper on all night. Also I love my pretty multicolored Christmas lights I string up in the trees and all around the campsite on all night. Part of the awesome camping experience !

[RickV]

It don't bother me is someone has lights on I have shades.If we are camping over the holidays we may even put up some lights but they get turned off when we go to bed. This is on all night and if someone don't like it too bad.

[moose074]

As always there is truth on both sides, while we pay so we can stay and enjoy ourselves. We love to listen to our music outdoors sitting in our chairs. But we try to monitor the noise level as I know my neighbors may not like my music. Most of the campgrounds are state parks or COE so we aren’t as close as some private campgrounds. But come night when we sit by the fire we turn it down even more and we try to keep our own noise down even more. We bring our dogs with us when we go but we don’t let them bark whenever, they are young pups and have just recently started going more frequently. We hate when dogs constantly bark and don’t want to be those people. Now we do leave the front cap lights on usually the whole trip, it provides light for when the dogs need out but unlike the front porch or awning lite it doesn’t invite every flying insect to my door. If people just don’t take things to the extreme your able to enjoy yourselves without being intrusive on others. If one realizes that the others paid to ENJOY the same campgrounds they won’t be as aggravated and will be able to enjoy their stay.

[boondocking]

Leaving bright lights on all night is a sign of fearing the boogie man. Maybe these people should stay at home where they feel safe.

[emm-dee]

One of our favorite campgrounds has an abundance of possums, armadillos and feral cats..and an occasional skunk. This area is also densely wooded so even on a full moon night it is very dark. I put variable intensity blue LED lights on my awning poles mainly to prevent me (and others) from walking into the poles in the dark.

It wasn’t long to notice the lights also scared critters away. Some folks here claim lights are not effective for that. Maybe that’s true for their area but in the south the lights definitely work. I even intentionally left some food (bait) and waited for the pests to show up. I could barely see them via residual lighting coming from inside but when I activated the lights they (in this case armadillos) immediately left.

And, no, there was nothing else the startle them. The lights are controlled by an iPhone app and I’m sure they didn’t see my thumb applying ¼ ounce of pressure. I also heeded the advice of a local pest control service and installed three four-foot LED shop lights in the crawl space under my house. Haven’t seen a trace of the rats that used to stay there. In fact, with those lights working along with the two Red Tail hawks and several owls that live nearby I haven’t seen a rat in several years, and that’s with eight acres of grass.

As far as light intensity bothering other campers I just don’t see how that can happen. Maybe there are some bright lights around but I’ve never seen any that would be a problem for other campers. Also, if one felt the lights required the camper shades to be lowered, the windows are large enough to require the shades to be lowered for privacy?