On 08/24/05 09:45 am CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert tossed the following
ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

For my senior project I designed a car that could drive around
obstacles. It had infrared sensors. It also had a electronic compass
mounted to its roof for directional help. It worked beautifully. That
is until I presented it in class where they had flourescent lighting...

The thing banged around aimlessly, lol. And the motors were scrambling
the compass which I didnt notice since the sensors were working. It was
all good in theory, but in practice was another thing.

Any idiot, self included, should test their design at the intended
target location. I had no experience so it was excuseable. That garage
door opener using IR is inexcuseable. I guess thats why it was in the
grab bin.

No, it wasn't in the grab bin: it was on the shelf with all the others
at full price (less the "10% off everything -- the same as our
employees" discount). The later-revision ones at Lowes still have IR
control for the light; perhaps it's an improved version -- and they're
supposed to be sending me a new light unit and motor-control board.

Anyway the problem with the original one is more a range thing: the only
reliable switching occurs with the light unit (plugged into an extension
cord for testing purposes, as an earlier customer support rep. had
suggested) just 3 or 4 feet from the opener -- whether the fluorescent
lights were on or off. Beyond that distance there were positions in
which it would turn on but not off again and positions in which it would
turn off but not on again.

Even if the thing is susceptible to interference from fluoro. lights
that are switched on, if one is opening the garage door when arriving
home, the fluoro. lights probably aren't going to be on to interfere
with the IR control, so the garage-door light should still go on -- but
if one then switches on the fluoro. lights before the garage-door light
goes off there could be interference.

When one is leaving the house and closing the garge door, one is
presumably not leaving the garage lights on to interfere with the IR
switching.

Note that I am assuming that the claim that even switched-off fluoro.
lights can intefere with IR switching is a bunch of baloney.

Perce