LED bulbs

[k0ua]

Good topic.

I have been using LED bulbs for the past year in my 5 year old garage door opener (LiftMaster) without a problem. (Philips 14w, 100w equivalent from Home Depot)

A month ago, I had the sliding doors on my utility pole building replaced with two overhead doors and LiftMaster openers. The installers told me not to use LED bulbs because the LED bulbs could interfere with the door opener electronics. They also told me of customers calling them about erratic behavior of their openers. And after finding that they had installed LED bulbs, told them to change back to incandescent or florescent bulbs, the problems stopped.

So for now my new door openers have florescent bulbs in them but I am going to try the same Philips LED bulbs in them as I have in my basement garage door opener. The manuals that came with the openers do say to use incandescent or florescent bulbs, no mention of LEDs. :confused3:

Keep in mind that all LED power supply's are not built the same. Some are serious emitters of RF energy, and some are not. I have had good luck with the Cree brand so far.

See my thread on the subject here:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/related-topics/318587-rfi-cree-led-bulbs.html?highlight=bulb

 

[Larry Caldwell]

My porch lights get left on a lot, so have had CFLs in them for years. I choose the lowest wattage I can find, currently 25w equivalent. I think they actually use 6 watts. The next time one fails I'll replace it with an LED, but they last for years. I installed the current bulbs 14 years ago and they are still working fine.

I replaced the 65w bulbs in the kitchen can lights with LEDs a while back. It really saves on the air conditioning.

 

[Bird]

I have had good luck with the Cree brand so far.

That's what I tried in my garage door opener with no luck. And that what lasts less than a year in our 3 way lamp that's on about 16 hours a day. Home Depot replaced one under warranty, but this last time I bought "Great Value" cheaper at Walmart.

 

[ultrarunner]

My tenant called because the opener did not work and his wife was most unhappy...

Checked it out and found 2 LED bulbs which I did not install.

Removed the LED bulbs and it worked fine.

I like 130V rough service incandescent and installed same.

 

[Oldoak]

My tenant called because the opener did not work and his wife was most unhappy...

Checked it out and found 2 LED bulbs which I did not install.

Removed the LED bulbs and it worked fine.

I like 130V rough service incandescent and installed same.

A good example of what I was told by the contractor who installed my new garage doors just last month.

 

[k0ua]

Now, think about this garage door opener thing. They operate near 300Mhz. And if a source of RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) puts out enough trash from its switching type power supply, to affect a nearby 300Mhz receiver, wow, think about all of the other garbage all through the radio spectrum they are generating.

We as a society just keep on buying these cheap switch mode power supplies and putting them in everything. Our rules and regulations are wholly inadequate to protect the radio spectrum. It only takes a few cents per item to suppress this electronic pollution, but we won't spend this money to make them clean.

Think about the "antenna's" that these devices have to radiate their RF energy in the airwaves. Yes the house wiring, and entrance wiring for sure, and some may make it through the transformers to radiate over the longer powerlines. I haven't detected any RFI from Cree Led bulbs, but many others are horrible RF radiators. Most Chinese switch mode power supplies are filthy, some more than others.

The end result is over the last 10 years the "noise floor" has risen by several decibels. I predict that this will continue thru the years as an ever increasing pollution source.

We thought nothing about chemical pollution of our environment until some rivers caught fire and people got sick. And we are totally ignoring this new form of "pollution". The pollution of our RF spectrum. It makes our radio receivers "deaf" and decreases the ranges that communication can be maintained. It effects all radio services and is no respecter of boundaries.

But money talks, and BS walks. We will always buy the lowest cost item when we don't see a benefit to buying the higher priced one.

 

[techman]

Garage door openers (at least mine) requires a rough service bulb. Ir is a sears chain drive, and there is quite a bit of vibration. I have tried CFLs and LEDs and neither has lasted more than a month or two. Rough duty bulbs, 3-5 years.

Paul

 

[flyerdan]

James, I think that one of the reasons that the rf spectrum pollution continues is that something like a river catching fire is readily noticeable to everyone, while the frequency problem would only be noticeable to those interested in the field. Remember back in the day of unshielded spark plug wires when few cars had radios? Once am radios started to become prevalent that pretty much forced the retirement of the dirty plug wires. Of course with tv coming through a cable, and most music being streamed or listened to on the fm band it might get considerably worse before anything is done.

As to the garage door openers being tough on light bulbs, how about having a cheap ceiling mount fixture (or two) and feed them from the power to the onboard socket?

 

[Tractor Seabee]

The price on LEDs is fast approaching that of CFLs. We just bought a new (to us) house. We have changed out over 90% of the lamps throughout. I installed a 12" X 48" LED panel light in my office and in the process of installing 8 new 2 lamp LED fixtures in the Garage. I have noted no RF interference with any thing yet. My hearing aid has a setting that only picks up the blue tooth loop at our church. When setting idol it picks up a lot of RF from CFLs and fans. Does not happen with the LEDs. Through sales, promotions, rebates, and etc; I have not paid more than $3 per lamp. The office panel and the garage composite units are comparable in price with CFL fixtures with their lamps. Leds are here to stay.

Ron

 

[gwstang]

" I chose the Cree brand for it cleanliness of RFI emissions. Not all LEDs are Radio Frequency clean."

Wish someone would have explained this to me before I bought four of the 4' fixtures from ebay. They mess up my radio something terrible in the shop. I have to hang it outside on a screw to get far enough away for it to work ok.