In today’s world, LED light bulbs are rapidly replacing incandescent light bulbs because of several advantages. LED light bulbs are more efficient and save 75% energy when compared to normal bulbs. They have a longer life and can be installed without any hassle.
Can you install LED light bulbs in your garage? No, you cannot use LED light bulbs in your garage. It is because these light bulbs interfere with the automatic garage opener. This leads to the door not opening. You may experience other issues like
- Remote control working only when it is in close proximity to the door opener
- Remote control closing the door but unable to open it
- Inability to program a new door remote controller.
To understand better, let’s discuss the working of LED bulbs and how they interfere with the garage door openers.
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Do LED Light Bulbs Interfere with Garage Door Openers?
Yes, LED light bulbs do interfere with the automatic garage door openers. The garage door openers work with the help of radio waves. The bulbs create an electromagnetic field that interacts with the radio waves of the door openers. The interference arises due to the intersection of the field and radio waves having a similar range of frequencies. This interference causes the garage doors to not open.
Why LED light bulbs should NOT be used in garage door openers
LED light bulbs should not be used in garage door openers because they both operate at similar frequencies. Let’s take a look at how LED lights and garage door openers work so you can better understand.
How LED bulbs work
The energy-efficient LED bulbs have largely gained popularity in the world. The control circuit that is designed for higher efficiency and longer life of the LED light bulbs produces electromagnetic field waves. The working principle of LED light bulbs is Pulse Width Modulation (PWM).
Pulse Width Modulation is a process of cutting down the average power requirement of an electrical component by dividing it into a number of small parts. With the technology of Pulse Width Modulation, the light in LED light bulbs illuminates 15 times in one second. This reduces the energy requirement of these light bulbs while increasing light efficiency. The control circuits of the LED light bulbs control the flashes of light while working in the frequency range of 30 MegaHertz to 300 MegaHertz.
How garage door openers work
The automatic garage door openers work just like the remote-controlled cars and wireless phones. The door openers are operated by remotes whose working is based on the radio frequencies. These radio waves, having a frequency range of 28 MegaHertz to 360 MegaHertz, are capable of emitting an electromagnetic field. This field can interfere with other remote-controlled devices or electrical devices that work in a similar range of frequencies.
What causes the interference between LED light bulbs and Garage Door Openers?
The range of working frequency of LED light bulbs lies between 30 MegaHertz to 300 MegaHertz. The garage door openers operate between the range of 28 MegaHertz to 360 MegaHertz. Therefore, the bandwidth of LED light bulbs coincides with that of the automatic door openers. This causes interference in the opening of the garage doors by hampering the radio signals in the door openers.
How to fix the interference in your garage?
The increasing popularity of LED light bulbs has pushed manufacturers to produce all qualities, sizes, and kinds of LED light bulbs. While the low-quality bulbs are known to cause a lot of interference with the garage door openers, the better quality light bulbs can reduce the amount of interference in the radio signals of automatic door openers. The good-quality bulbs have a shield that stops interference with the radio signal of the door openers.
To fix the problem of interference due to LED light bulbs in your garage, try out the solutions given below.
- Install LED light bulbs having a logo of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). This shows the compliance of LED light bulbs with the instructions of FCC.
- Replace the garage light fixture with a less energy-efficient alternative.
- To see whether the LED light bulb is the exact reason for your garage door opener not working properly, you can try changing the LED light bulb to a normal CFL bulb to rule out the culprit.
- While buying the LED light bulbs for your garage, look for the frequency range printed on the box to see it doesn’t match with that of the door opener.
- Buy the LED light bulbs having a shield against Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). The shield blocks the electromagnetic field from escaping outside the bulb and causing interference with the door opener.
- Make sure to check the batteries of the remote controlling the garage door opener.
Conclusion
LED lights will interfere with your garage door opener because they operate at similar frequencies. LEDs range from 30-300 MegaHertz while garage door openers operate between 28-360 MegaHertz. Therefore, the two frequencies intersect with each other causing the devices to malfunction.