I tried to replace the two 60W incandescent bulbs with two 13W CFL
bulbs in the garage door opener. They didn't light. Anyone know
why? The CFL bulbs work in other fixtures. I guess the most energy
efficient solution would be to manually open the garage door.

wrote:

I tried to replace the two 60W incandescent bulbs with two 13W CFL
bulbs in the garage door opener. They didn't light. Anyone know
why? The CFL bulbs work in other fixtures. I guess the most energy
efficient solution would be to manually open the garage door.
Hi,
They are very slow in cold temp. At least in my garage they do work but
to get full brightness it takes at least a minute or so. My garage is
insulated but not heated. I understand there are fl. made for cold
environment.

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.

On Jan 5, 12:40 am, wrote:
I tried to replace the two 60W incandescent bulbs with two 13W CFL
bulbs in the garage door opener. They didn't light. Anyone know
why? The CFL bulbs work in other fixtures. I guess the most energy
efficient solution would be to manually open the garage door.

I have the same set up 2 13 watt in place of the pair of 60W. What
you have to do is get a flat head screw driver and pry the contact at
the base of the socket up enough to get contact to the bulb. To test
turn on the light for the unit and then insert the bulbs.The cfl bulb
doen't go in quite as far as an incandescent because of the larger
portion at the base. First unplug the unit though, just to be safe.
This works great for the opener because I have NEVER had to replace
the bulbs for burn out because there is no filament to vibrate and
break!

wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.
Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum load
to activate.

In ,
wrote:
On Jan 5, 12:40 am, wrote:
I tried to replace the two 60W incandescent bulbs with two 13W CFL
bulbs in the garage door opener. They didn't light. Anyone know
why? The CFL bulbs work in other fixtures. I guess the most energy
efficient solution would be to manually open the garage door.

I have the same set up 2 13 watt in place of the pair of 60W. What
you have to do is get a flat head screw driver and pry the contact at
the base of the socket up enough to get contact to the bulb. To test
turn on the light for the unit and then insert the bulbs.The cfl bulb
doen't go in quite as far as an incandescent because of the larger
portion at the base. First unplug the unit though, just to be safe.
This works great for the opener because I have NEVER had to replace
the bulbs for burn out because there is no filament to vibrate and
break!

CFLs are usually not the best choice in applications where on-time is
low, and especially when on-time per start is low. It is probably more
economical to use incandescents rated for vibration duty.

If the garage door opener uses electronic means to switch the lamps,
CFLs may not work right unless they are rated for use with dimmers.

- Don Klipstein )

On Jan 5, 1:14 am, (Don Klipstein) wrote:
In ,



wrote:
On Jan 5, 12:40 am, wrote:
I tried to replace the two 60W incandescent bulbs with two 13W CFL
bulbs in the garage door opener. They didn't light. Anyone know
why? The CFL bulbs work in other fixtures. I guess the most energy
efficient solution would be to manually open the garage door.

I have the same set up 2 13 watt in place of the pair of 60W. What
you have to do is get a flat head screw driver and pry the contact at
the base of the socket up enough to get contact to the bulb. To test
turn on the light for the unit and then insert the bulbs.The cfl bulb
doen't go in quite as far as an incandescent because of the larger
portion at the base. First unplug the unit though, just to be safe.
This works great for the opener because I have NEVER had to replace
the bulbs for burn out because there is no filament to vibrate and
break!

CFLs are usually not the best choice in applications where on-time is
low, and especially when on-time per start is low. It is probably more
economical to use incandescents rated for vibration duty.

If the garage door opener uses electronic means to switch the lamps,
CFLs may not work right unless they are rated for use with dimmers.

- Don Klipstein )

whatever

Tony Hwang wrote:
wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.
Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum load
to activate.


If he has a mechanical relay, it will make a click sound when the light
goes on or off. If electronic you won't hear anything.
Press the light button on the wall switch if it has one. Or wait for the
light to go off and listen for the click sound.
As others have said, it's probably that the shape of the CFL base is too
bulky and will not properly seat in the socket. I have had this problem
with other CFL's and table lamp sockets especially with the 3-way CFL
bulbs.
Kevin

In article P7Ffj.8493$uV6.6286@pd7urf1no,
Tony Hwang wrote:

wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.
Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum load
to activate.

Why is that, Tony?

Kevin Ricks wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote:

wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.

Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum
load to activate.



If he has a mechanical relay, it will make a click sound when the light
goes on or off. If electronic you won't hear anything.
Press the light button on the wall switch if it has one. Or wait for the
light to go off and listen for the click sound.
As others have said, it's probably that the shape of the CFL base is too
bulky and will not properly seat in the socket. I have had this problem
with other CFL's and table lamp sockets especially with the 3-way CFL
bulbs.
Kevin
Hmmm,
Sealed relay hardly makes loud enough click sound to be noticed while
door is going up making louder noise......

Smitty Two wrote:

In article P7Ffj.8493$uV6.6286@pd7urf1no,
Tony Hwang wrote:


wrote:


It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.

Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum load
to activate.


Why is that, Tony?
Hi,
That is how SS relay works. Remember SCR or thyristor in old days?
Know what avalanche effect in a diode?

Tony Hwang wrote:
Kevin Ricks wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote:

wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.

Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum
load to activate.



If he has a mechanical relay, it will make a click sound when the
light goes on or off. If electronic you won't hear anything.
Press the light button on the wall switch if it has one. Or wait for
the light to go off and listen for the click sound.
As others have said, it's probably that the shape of the CFL base is
too bulky and will not properly seat in the socket. I have had this
problem with other CFL's and table lamp sockets especially with the
3-way CFL bulbs.
Kevin
Hmmm,
Sealed relay hardly makes loud enough click sound to be noticed while
door is going up making louder noise......

That's why I said use the light button on the openers wall switch or
wait for the light to go off on it's own which should be 3-5 min. after
the door stops moving.
I can hear the light relay on my opener click from anywhere in my
garage - 2 year old Genie ProMax

Kevin

On Jan 5, 9:21*pm, Kevin Ricks wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote:
Kevin Ricks wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote:

wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. *The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. *They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.

Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum
load to activate.

If he has a mechanical relay, it will make a click sound when the
light goes on or off. *If electronic you won't hear anything.
Press the light button on the wall switch if it has one. Or wait for
the *light to go off and listen for the click sound.
As others have said, it's probably that the shape of the CFL base is
too bulky and will not properly seat in the socket. I have had this
problem with other CFL's and table lamp sockets especially with the
3-way CFL bulbs.
Kevin
Hmmm,
Sealed relay hardly makes loud enough click sound to be noticed while
door is going up making louder noise......

That's why I said use the light button on the openers wall switch or
wait for the light to go off on it's own which should be 3-5 min. after
the door stops moving.
I can hear the light relay on my opener click from anywhere in my
garage - 2 year old Genie ProMax

Kevin- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Same with mine

jim wrote:
On Jan 5, 9:21 pm, Kevin Ricks wrote:

Tony Hwang wrote:

Kevin Ricks wrote:

Tony Hwang wrote:

wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.

Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum
load to activate.

If he has a mechanical relay, it will make a click sound when the
light goes on or off. If electronic you won't hear anything.
Press the light button on the wall switch if it has one. Or wait for
the light to go off and listen for the click sound.
As others have said, it's probably that the shape of the CFL base is
too bulky and will not properly seat in the socket. I have had this
problem with other CFL's and table lamp sockets especially with the
3-way CFL bulbs.
Kevin

Hmmm,
Sealed relay hardly makes loud enough click sound to be noticed while
door is going up making louder noise......

That's why I said use the light button on the openers wall switch or
wait for the light to go off on it's own which should be 3-5 min. after
the door stops moving.
I can hear the light relay on my opener click from anywhere in my
garage - 2 year old Genie ProMax

Kevin- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Same with mine
Hi,
I have regular ceiling light firxture, door opener light, and I mounted
a IR triggered lights as well. When I work inside garage I turn on
regular lights but if I need to go out to garage to fetch something from
freezer or pick up a tool, IR triggered lights come on as soon as I step
in, when I am done it goes out after couple mins. delay. Also there is a
fair size window. Also I have a motion sensor switch in the hall way
from garage into house. I don't have to fumble around trying to turn
light on with handsful of groceries.

Kevin Ricks wrote:

Tony Hwang wrote:

wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.

Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum
load to activate.



If he has a mechanical relay, it will make a click sound when the light
goes on or off. If electronic you won't hear anything.
Press the light button on the wall switch if it has one. Or wait for the
light to go off and listen for the click sound.
As others have said, it's probably that the shape of the CFL base is too
bulky and will not properly seat in the socket. I have had this problem
with other CFL's and table lamp sockets especially with the 3-way CFL
bulbs.
Kevin


If that's the problem, you might see if you can bend the center contacts
in the sockets up unough to make contact with the CFL's tip contacts.

UNPLUG the opener before you try that. If you bend about 1/4" of the end
of an opened up paperclip at a right angle you'll have made a tool which
can be used to pull up the socket's center contact a bit.

HTH,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Kevin Ricks wrote:

Tony Hwang wrote:

wrote:

It is about 60F in the garage. The CFL bulbs in the outdoor fixtures
work fine. They are a little slow to fully light, but the garage door
opener doesn't light at all.


Hi,
My guess is the light socket in the opener is contolled by a solid state
relay rather than electro mechanical relay. Then it won't light for
sure. For one thing SS relay needs certain amount(Watts) of minimum
load to activate.




If he has a mechanical relay, it will make a click sound when the
light goes on or off. If electronic you won't hear anything.
Press the light button on the wall switch if it has one. Or wait for
the light to go off and listen for the click sound.
As others have said, it's probably that the shape of the CFL base is
too bulky and will not properly seat in the socket. I have had this
problem with other CFL's and table lamp sockets especially with the
3-way CFL bulbs.
Kevin



If that's the problem, you might see if you can bend the center contacts
in the sockets up unough to make contact with the CFL's tip contacts.

UNPLUG the opener before you try that. If you bend about 1/4" of the end
of an opened up paperclip at a right angle you'll have made a tool which
can be used to pull up the socket's center contact a bit.

HTH,

Jeff

Hi,
If the relay is elctro mechanical and one with removable cover.