[Burnaby] Gold House | 40fl, 28fl | Completed

[Zepfancouver]

Originally Posted by whatnext

...Also, for those who have knowledge of such screens, what would be the rough monthly energy usage, which one assumes the strata is on the hook for?

Originally Posted by jollyburger

...143,352 nodes each dot consumes 0.9 W.

Energy cost calculator $15 an hour, I think I calculated correctly.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Strange though - usually a lis pendens would be filed against title to the property and would need to be cleared before a sale.

Also, you would have thought that the transformers could be housed in a truly common area (easily accessible) rather than within particular strata units.

That's what I said earlier.

Or at the very least, if they truly had no option but to place it there (like say,....because of efficiency or circuit design reasons, for example), you would have thought they would have housed it in some sort of containment or enclosure that was tamper-proof and couldn't easily be......you know.....turned off, at will, by the unit owners.

[urbanight93]

A lot of extra details on the dispute in one of the reddit comments (from an acquaintance of a neighbouring commercial tenant that also have transformers). Here are some interesting excerpts:

It seems that the commercial owners/tenants concern about the transformers is related to the noise/heat they produce, and as well as the space that they take-up.

The justification presented by the commercial owners/tenants for why they removed the transformers seems to be that they are 'common property', (and should be installed in a electric closet or something similar as another commenter has pointed out), but were unilaterally installed by the developer into private units without consultation with the owners. It appears that this was done as a cost-saving measure by the developer.


https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c..._behind_giant/

[jollyburger]

Here's some photos of unit 403. It looks like there's some kind of wiring attached to the top of the window frame inside for the LED lights. I'm guessing the transformer is in the second photo on the wall. Or there's also that slim cabinet with some random cable cover coming down from the ceiling in the third photo.







https://www.spacelist.ca/listings/bc.../office#826004

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by urbanight93

A lot of extra details on the dispute in one of the reddit comments (from an acquaintance of a neighbouring commercial tenant that also have transformers). Here are some interesting excerpts:

It seems that the commercial owners/tenants concern about the transformers is related to the noise/heat they produce, and as well as the space that they take-up.

The justification presented by the commercial owners/tenants for why they removed the transformers seems to be that they are 'common property', (and should be installed in a electric closet or something similar as another commenter has pointed out), but were unilaterally installed by the developer into private units without consultation with the owners. It appears that this was done as a cost-saving measure by the developer.


https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c..._behind_giant/

I absolutely agree with them on this part.
It was bad decision-making/lack-of-foresight on the part of the developers/designers to place something of that nature within an individual unit knowing what its operation would entail, as well as the need to have it be accessible for maintainance and operation procedures.

That being said, was any or all of this information availed to the prospective tenants/owners when the units were being sold or leased out to them?
I'm willing to bet that not only was it disclosed, but that they probably got a deal, or some sort of a discount on the price on account of the fact of its presence in their units.

If you willingly buy or lease a unit knowing it has a electrical component that will need to be accessed by the strata or building management every now and again, and which you know or should be aware won't be operating silently, can you ever be justified in taking unilateral action to disable it and/or deny the strata access to your unit to operate it?

[jollyburger]

This LED installer has some more images possibly of what the control box looks like.









https://www.novavisionny.net/flex-tr...or-indoor.html

[WarrenC12]

Yes the disclosure is key and the strata plan should highlight those items in whatever was officially submitted.

The specific noise levels could be argued in court though.

[Spr0ckets]

Again, given how small it seems, I don't really understand why it had to be located within an individual and private unit rather then in a more accessible common area (within a secured closet or cabinet).

Unless it was a wiring limitation or perhaps if there was a need to have it somewhere where a technician could actually see the screen lighting up (or not) in real time as adjustments are being made.
But there are ways to work around logistical issues like that.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

Again, given how small it seems, I don't really understand why it had to be located within an individual and private unit rather then in a more accessible common area (within a secured closet or cabinet).

Unless it was a wiring limitation or perhaps if there was a need to have it somewhere where a technician could actually see the screen lighting up (or not) in real time as adjustments are being made.
But there are ways to work around logistical issues like that.

Yeah, there's the roof deck above that would definitely be limited use common property.

[jollyburger]

I guess the problem was the transformer/controller had to be inside so it limited their options.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Here's some photos of unit 403. It looks like there's some kind of wiring attached to the top of the window frame inside for the LED lights. I'm guessing the transformer is in the second photo on the wall. Or there's also that slim cabinet with some random cable cover coming down from the ceiling in the third photo.

I think what is mounted inside the windows is just the blinds. Outside the window we can see where the cable runs come to the building side and presumably straight into the building. I’m guessing the control boxes (the “transformers”) are mounted above the drop ceiling somewhere close to the window. There would be atleast one control box per cable run entry which I count 14 in total looking on streetview.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by madog222

I think what is mounted inside the windows is just the blinds. Outside the window we can see where the cable runs come to the building side and presumably straight into the building. I’m guessing the control boxes (the “transformers”) are mounted above the drop ceiling somewhere close to the window. There would be atleast one control box per cable run entry which I count 14 in total looking on streetview.

Actually in the install video I posted earlier if you pause it earlier on (0:34-5) you can see a bunch of wires shoved into one of those ventilation grilles above the 4th floor windows.

Just saw this post in the Reddit thread: "The transformers were in the ceilings. The building has requested numerous times for the unit owners to allow professionals in to assess the noise/heat they claimed which the unit owners deny every time. The unit owners were on the joint and commercial strata councils for 2 years but somehow chose not to initiate a lawsuit against the developers..."

That one guy who sounds like he owns one of the strata units came up with this:

"The main reason is the developer cut corners to save costs; in other words, they lied to both the city and the owners. They installed them inside without informing the owners, so they also reduced the height from the promised higher to lower.They did not want to spend money on the length of the LED panel and also saved them an electrical room."

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Zepfancouver

Energy cost calculator $15 an hour, I think I calculated correctly.

So if they’re on 8 hours a day that’s about $43k a year? Not a small amount.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Actually in the install video I posted earlier if you pause it earlier on (0:34-5) you can see a bunch of wires shoved into one of those ventilation grilles above the 4th floor windows.

Thanks I missed that. With those numbers they would need around 50 of the 3000w controllers.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by urbanight93

A lot of extra details on the dispute in one of the reddit comments (from an acquaintance of a neighbouring commercial tenant that also have transformers). Here are some interesting excerpts:

It seems that the commercial owners/tenants concern about the transformers is related to the noise/heat they produce, and as well as the space that they take-up.

The justification presented by the commercial owners/tenants for why they removed the transformers seems to be that they are 'common property', (and should be installed in a electric closet or something similar as another commenter has pointed out), but were unilaterally installed by the developer into private units without consultation with the owners. It appears that this was done as a cost-saving measure by the developer.


https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c..._behind_giant/

Isn't there some sort of standard language in presale contracts that gives the developer some wriggle room on slight changes to layouts etc?

[jollyburger]

Seems like one LED panel right on the corner of the building has been torn up so they'll have to replace that as well.