Interesting LED Lightbulb Interference Occurance

[APDrone]

 

I swapped out a burned out incandescent bulb in my garage door opener ( Craftsman ) with a LED A19 bulb ( 60W equivalent 5000k ) and found that when the light is on, the receiver range on the opener is significantly reduced.. to the point it would only operate if the remote was directly under the opener.

Now, this wasn't an issue when opening the door, since the light bulb wasn't on.  We only experienced this issue when attempting to close the door after backing out of the garage ( light is on ).

So, I guess these new LEDs( or, at least, one brand ) are generating some RF that can mess with other stuff. 

Just thought I'd share.

BTW.. the brand is Mega Maxx.. out of  Hong Kong.  Picked it up from Menards.. already had one fail within a year. .. and, of course, I can't find the receipt for it.. 

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I swapped out a burned out incandescent bulb in my garage door opener ( Craftsman ) with a LED A19 bulb ( 60W equivalent 5000k ) and found that when the light is on, the receiver range on the opener is significantly reduced.. to the point it would only operate if the remote was directly under the opener.

Now, this wasn't an issue when opening the door, since the light bulb wasn't on.  We only experienced this issue when attempting to close the door after backing out of the garage ( light is on ).

So, I guess these new LEDs( or, at least, one brand ) are generating some RF that can mess with other stuff. 

Just thought I'd share.

BTW.. the brand is Mega Maxx.. out of  Hong Kong.  Picked it up from Menards.. already had one fail within a year. .. and, of course, I can't find the receipt for it.. 

Is your garage opener RF or IR operated? If the LED emits RF it probably breaks regulations and you should report it to your local authorities.

[Meatwad]

remote or book might say if its an RF or IR remote. If its an RF, it might show the frequency it operates on

[APDrone]

It is an RF system.   

Gonna throw the problem out to my local Amateur Radio buds and see if anybody wants to analyze it.

[Ramesis]

Depends on what the cktry is. SCRs have to be triggered  at a particular rate typically in the KHZ range.
Most, not all, LED cktry that I am familiar with has at most 4 diodes (bridge) that
convert the AC into DC. Hope it helps
RAM

[APDrone]

Well, guess I'm not the first.

I had searched for Mega Maxx LED bulbs and had gotten nothing indicating a problem..

Ham guy said to search for LED Interference..  and voila..

http://homeenergypros.lbl.gov/profiles/blogs/led-lighting-garage-door-opener-interference

[Rob52240]

How would an IR garage door opener remote work if the garage door were closed?

[MrRiplEy[H]]

How would an IR garage door opener remote work if the garage door were closed?

By having the sensor mounted on the wall.

[DubiousKB]

Very rarely would garage door systems be IR (infrared) because it is line of sight based tech. You're most likely getting some broadband RF interference at low levels. Is it possible that there is a bad connection within the light contacts? If you have small electrical arcing occurring at the light or close to the light connection, that can throw out a whole lot of EM interference.

Is the new bulb the same form factor as the old one?

Is garage door opener the only source of light in the area? Leave it disconnected = no opener problem.