On 09/09/05 05:26 pm TKM tossed the following ingredients into the
ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

There is certainly no way a fluorescent lamp which is switched off can
interfere with any type of control.

However, operating fluorescent lamps can interfere with IR controls. It
doesn't seem to be a widespread problem, but I've heard about situations
where IR controls used for TV and other A/V systems don't work in rooms with
fluorescent lighting. The reason is the frequency of the IR signal. If it
is close to or a multiple of the frequency that the ballast sends to the
lamp, then the lighting signal will swamp the IR receptor.

I have now received and installed the free replacement light unit and
motor-control board, and they work fine -- but the light unit is now
controlled via an RF link instead of via the earlier version's IR link.
So it's quite possible that W-D had enough problems with fluorescents in
garages (surely a rather common situation) interfering with their
IR-signalling system (when the fluoro. lights were ON) that they felt
obligated to scrap the IR in favor of RF.

Perce