LED bulbs that successfully work with electric Garage Door Openers

R_adams81 · Oct 8, 2013

Hello all, I'm new to the forum, and recently had a 14' x 28' prefab garage placed in my backyard. One of the next steps after the electrical is done is to install the garage door opener.

I recently got a 1/2 HP Sears garage door opener, and will be purchasing LED bulbs for it, as opposed to CFL bulbs, or incandescent bulbs. I would like to have the 5000K color temperature in the garage area, as well as the great amount of light LED bulbs emit. There are 5000K (daylight) CFL's, but I don't like the warmup time they take in colder weather, and incandescent bulbs just eat up more energy and don't offer the daylight appearance. I do know that some LED bulbs (well, the drivers within the actual bulbs) emit electrical interference, causing interference with garage door remotes, causing the remotes to work poorly, or not work at all.

It would be helpful to have a listing of current LED bulbs that work well with garage door openers, so people don't purchase bulbs that just don't work well.

If you can chime in with bulbs that you use, it would be helpful!

I'm currently looking at the 5000K Philips bulb:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-11-Watt-60W-A19-Household-Daylight-5000K-Dimmable-LED-Light-Bulb-425264/203553284#.UlRE_BBcxtM

rlitman · Oct 8, 2013

Why would it matter?
The lights are off when you press the remote and activate the door, right?

R_adams81 · Oct 8, 2013

rlitman said:
Why would it matter?
The lights are off when you press the remote and activate the door, right?

When I'm coming home from work or going to work and initially opening the garage it wouldn't be a problem. When I leave for work in the morning, I'd have to pull my truck out, get out of the truck, then manually hit the wired button to shut the garage door, since the GDO light would likely stay on for about 3 1/2 minutes after opening, causing it to not close.

pattenp · Oct 8, 2013

I have had that problem. But my light was wireless controlled. I'd push the button to turn off the light after the door closed and some times the light would cut off and others it would just stay on. It boiled down to some cheap CFL's I was using. I put incandescent in the light and the problem stopped occurring. I bought some better CFL's and haven't had the problem. I tried the cheap off brand CFL's again and the problem came back. My light unit is for the LM3800.

R_adams81 said:
When I'm coming home from work or going to work and initially opening the garage it wouldn't be a problem. When I leave for work in the morning, I'd have to pull my truck out, get out of the truck, then manually hit the wired button to shut the garage door, since the GDO light would likely stay on for about 3 1/2 minutes after opening, causing it to not close.

John Stone · Sep 18, 2014

Hi!

I had the same problem after installing LED lights around the house. Fortunately, I found a solution that's working fine for me and its cheaper than replacing all remotes I have at home: http://www.gogogate.com/

I can even open and close the garage door from anywhere with my iPhone and receive alerts!

Pardigital · Sep 21, 2014

I use the Cree brand LEDs from Home Depot and have had no issues in my Chamberlain garage door opener.

CTEnergyHawk · Oct 6, 2014

I am successfully using a GE general purpose 60 watt equivalent LED with a Chamberlain garage door opener. Our system has a remote key pad and the lights work fine and the garage door opener has now worked without any problems for over a week. These GE LED bulbs are now widely available and relatively inexpensive ~$9.00.

cybrdyke · Oct 6, 2014

R_Adams- that bulb will work fine. It's a 60w equivalent. I have a similar one from Philips in my new opener, but I went with the 19w version (2700k), which is a 100w incandescent equivalent. I know the literature says to avoid LED bulbs because of interference, and the guy that installed mine said the same thing, but the moment he left, I swapped out the bulbs and haven't had an issue yet.

CD

maynard9089 · Oct 6, 2014

I wish I had known this was an issue prior to spending $80 on bulbs for my Liftmaster battery back-up units. Never would have thought this could happen.

Chadwilliam1 · Nov 24, 2014

Bump for any new info. I have two Chamberlain 1-1/4 HP openers and I want to put some leds in them.

keating · Nov 24, 2014

I don't spend the premium for low consumption / green lighting for stuff that isn't going to be on long enough to make a difference.
The GDO light is on for a few min at a time, and needs to put out just enough light so that I don't trip over the garbage cans.
When I want light, i turn on the shop lights, so my GDO gets 60W incandescent bulbs. (Fan/GDO, rough service, or appliance bulbs....whatever vibration resistant bulbs are available and cheap at the time.)
Had these in for 2 years now and still going strong.

danfromsyr · Nov 24, 2014

Xs2 this

the GDO light isn't on enough to warrant low consumption lights.
in fact I'm looking to up the wattage.

I did try to put an LED light in my GDO (it's a prehistoric Stanley brand) and the LED light would blink to a rhythm/pattern of some sort. so back to incandescent bulbs.

keating said:
I don't spend the premium for low consumption / green lighting for stuff that isn't going to be on long enough to make a difference.
The GDO light is on for a few min at a time, and needs to put out just enough light so that I don't trip over the garbage cans.
When I want light, i turn on the shop lights, so my GDO gets 60W incandescent bulbs. (Fan/GDO, rough service, or appliance bulbs....whatever vibration resistant bulbs are available and cheap at the time.)
Had these in for 2 years now and still going strong.

67carl · Nov 24, 2014

The bulbs in my GDO kept burning out and I was tired of the dim light they put out anyway, so I just removed them altogether. I then put in 6 can lights in strategic spots around the garage and attached laundry room, all wired to a motion/occupancy sensor that can "see" about 98% of the area. Now when I open any garage door I have adequate light for laundry, unloading car, etc... that will shut itself off after I exit the garage. I had thought about using LED but as others have said, they are only on for a short time and the extra expense is not warranted.

keating · Nov 24, 2014

67carl said:
The bulbs in my GDO kept burning out

Hence the GDO / Appliance / Rough Service rated bulbs. :thumbup:

Beemer533 · Nov 24, 2014

danfromsyr said:
Xs2 this

the GDO light isn't on enough to warrant low consumption lights.
in fact I'm looking to up the wattage.

I did try to put an LED light in my GDO (it's a prehistoric Stanley brand) and the LED light would blink to a rhythm/pattern of some sort. so back to incandescent bulbs.

X3... For the 10 minutes per day you're just wasting cash..

Buy the double life bulbs that are rated for this and they will last long enough for LED to come down in price.. .

I put in a new craftsman opener in my garage about 2 years ago with a motion detector, so the lights come on even if I just go into the garage to toss some recyclables in..

Still on the original bulbs today.

This post has been edited by the NSA

GCncsuHD · Nov 24, 2014

keating said:
I don't spend the premium for low consumption / green lighting for stuff that isn't going to be on long enough to make a difference.

I see your point about they are only on a short time, but in my case I have two reasons to disagree.

1. I do a lot of work outside of my garage with my doors open. Every time I walk through the light beam at the doors trips the light and turns it back on. With the dogs out there with me it might spend most of the day on.

2. Insects. Most LEDs emit little to no light in the UV or IR spectrum (unless specifically designed to.) Many species of bugs are attracted to light in those ranges, while others are attracted to heat. Not saying they don't attract any bugs at all, but I would say less than 5% of the bugs the incandescents or CFLs do. Bugs used to swarm to the GDO light every time I opened the door and fill up the light housing with dead bugs. Now I might get a few little ones at most after going to LED but drastically less.

Chadwilliam1 · Nov 24, 2014

Beemer533 said:
I put in a new craftsman opener in my garage about 2 years ago with a motion detector, so the lights come on even if I just go into the garage to toss some recyclables in..

Still on the original bulbs today.

This post has been edited by the NSA

That is what mine do. But I try not to destroy the enviorment by recycling not only are you creating more polution you are wasting electricity.

sselander · Mar 19, 2015

Bump

I came across a LED bulb compatibility chart for Liftmaster/Chamberlain dated 1/2014
(newest I could find)

http://www.liftmaster.com/Catalogre.../tucmanuals/LED Bulb Compatibility_011714.pdf

And found one for Genie dated 9/24/2014
http://www.geniecompany.com/data/news/press-release_led-replacement-bulb-notice_09-24-2014.pdf

Caman · Mar 19, 2015

With the correct adaptor my Liftmaster can accommodate anything, including 2 four foot led shop lights.

Chadwilliam1 · Mar 19, 2015

That is clever. I have some LED bulbs on order. I will try them in my opener.

ddawg16 · Mar 19, 2015

I'll do LED's next time....but the CFL's I have in my opener have been in there about 5 years. I never had an incandescent last more than 6 months.

Norcal · Mar 20, 2015

Waste of money to use LED's in a GDO, only on for a short time & so energy savings are non existent , CFL's are cheap enough so it does not make much of a difference, IMHO, spend the money where LED's could make a difference.

Caman · Mar 20, 2015

For me they make a huge difference, since I have a motion detector on the garage door opener. I can walk out there and within a second have the entire garage lit.

And also I've been replacing all the incandescents with the Feit LEDs from Costco. 3 pack for $12. Instant on, and look exactly like an incandescent. $4 apiece is a steal for what you get and they will work great in a garage door opener as well.

roscoe2000 · Mar 20, 2015

Just look for bulbs that are rated to work with a dimmer.

ambenz · Mar 20, 2015

I use this....

And run my 4FT LED shoplight to it...works great!

Chadwilliam1 · Mar 20, 2015

Caman said:
For me they make a huge difference, since I have a motion detector on the garage door opener. I can walk out there and within a second have the entire garage lit.

And also I've been replacing all the incandescents with the Feit LEDs from Costco. 3 pack for $12. Instant on, and look exactly like an incandescent. $4 apiece is a steal for what you get and they will work great in a garage door opener as well.

Are those 60 or 40 Watt?

Chadwilliam1 · Mar 22, 2015

I put these in my garage door openers and they work fine.

Got them from Costco. I bought some from the energy company for cheap made by tcp but they didn't work.

ryolse · May 19, 2015

Here's my results after connecting one Utilitech 595731 to our opener. This was simply because we have to park my Fiancée's car into the garage backwards in order to open the driver's door, so it can be a pain with a dark garage.

I was rather disappointed, the other light still in the opener is a 100 watt bulb. My reasoning for the LEDs was to decrease the wattage on the opener which is 100 max per socket, so I could add another double 48" fixture to the right side some time. The other reason was for instant start up on cold days. I haven't had issues with the LEDs interfering with the door remote.

http://m.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-Pro-LED-Wrap-Light/50277255

Here's what the garage normally looks like with my 11 T8's, 4 T5 bulbs and the new 595731. The new light does add some good lighting when working on either my Rally car or another one when pulled in on the right side.

ajax241 · Jun 12, 2015

ryolse said:
Here's my results after connecting one Utilitech 595731 to our opener.

How did you wire the fixture in?
Did you just use one of those fixture to outlet screw-in adapters (like ambenz posted) or actually hard wire it?

Caman · Jun 12, 2015

Chadwilliam1 said:
Are those 60 or 40 Watt?

Sorry, just saw your question, yes they were the 60 watt like you have in your later post. I have them throughout my house and also installed about 50 of them at a buddies business. They've been installed for about 3 years now and not a single problem.

ryolse · Dec 3, 2015

ajax241 said:
How did you wire the fixture in?
Did you just use one of those fixture to outlet screw-in adapters (like ambenz posted) or actually hard wire it?

Just saw this reply, sorry for the late response. But for any others who stumble upon the post I used 2 socket adapters and added another 4' dual LED fixture between the garage door and that pesky pole and then threw in 2 screw in LEDs to the socket adapters. I don't recall who made the 2nd fixture. I'll get another updated picture tonight if I remember and edit it to this post.

The wife uses the garage opener daily and hasn't had any issues with it not working where others have said their opener get's interference from the LEDs. They also come in handy for adding extra lighting to the garage where there were a few shadows. They still didn't help highlight the pole when backing the car in with the sun is beating down on dusty mirrors, I think the next step is to paint the pole white to offset it from my 44" HF toolbox.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Socket-with-Outlets-White-R52-01403-00W/100184555

66HertzClone · Dec 3, 2015

Pardigital said:
I use the Cree brand LEDs from Home Depot and have had no issues in my Chamberlain garage door opener.

This ^^^^^^^^^I've had four of their 60 watt equivalent bulbs in my two Craftsman openers for a few years now with no issue.

Dick in Wisconsin · Dec 3, 2015

R_adams81 said:
When I'm coming home from work or going to work and initially opening the garage it wouldn't be a problem. When I leave for work in the morning, I'd have to pull my truck out, get out of the truck, then manually hit the wired button to shut the garage door, since the GDO light would likely stay on for about 3 1/2 minutes after opening, causing it to not close.

If I understand this correctly, you're worried about burning a light for 3 1/2 minutes a couple, three times a day?

Or am I missing something?

Pointbock · Dec 3, 2015

**** in Wisconsin said:
If I understand this correctly, you're worried about burning a light for 3 1/2 minutes a couple, three times a day?

Or am I missing something?

The original question (over two years ago) was about led bulbs and GDO remote interference. The OP was worried that his remote wouldn't work when the light was on (leaving the garage) and would negate the benefit of a remote 1/2 the time.

CREE and Chamberlin have been working fine for me, btw.

LB-1911 · Dec 3, 2015

Pointbock said:
The original question (over two years ago) was about led bulbs and GDO remote interference. The OP was worried that his remote wouldn't work when the light was on (leaving the garage) and would negate the benefit of a remote 1/2 the time.

CREE and Chamberlin have been working fine for me, btw.

sselander said:
Bump

I came across a LED bulb compatibility chart for Liftmaster/Chamberlain dated 1/2014
(newest I could find)

http://www.liftmaster.com/Catalogre.../tucmanuals/LED Bulb Compatibility_011714.pdf

And found one for Genie dated 9/24/2014
http://www.geniecompany.com/data/news/press-release_led-replacement-bulb-notice_09-24-2014.pdf

Dick in Wisconsin · Dec 3, 2015

Pointbock said:
The original question (over two years ago) was about led bulbs and GDO remote interference. The OP was worried that his remote wouldn't work when the light was on (leaving the garage) and would negate the benefit of a remote 1/2 the time.

CREE and Chamberlin have been working fine for me, btw.

Ahhhhhhh. Interference was the concern. OK. Thanks for clarifying.

reader2580 · Dec 4, 2015

Old thread, but I have been using Philips Slim Style LED bulbs in my Liftmaster (Chamberlain) GDO for more than a year now with no interference. I only paid $4 for the bulbs and I didn't want to have to replace them for many years.

Off-Street Parking · Dec 4, 2015

Interference aside, the only other thing I would worry about is the switching interval when the garage door opener is interrupted. For example, if my door is closing and I trip the safety sensor beam, it flashes the lights quite rapidly for a while after it stops. It's pretty well known that this is hard on fluorescents/CFLs... But I'm not sure the effects are as universal or well known for LED lights.... :dunno:

Rkbuell · Dec 4, 2015

For those of you with motion sensors in the garage opener light circuit, those car be programmed off. Mine came that way, made no difference when parking car at night, but seemed very wasteful in daytime the light was always on when working in the garage. The dogs or me would constantly be turning on a pair of lights that made no difference and were not needed, total waste.

Short Track · Feb 18, 2016

I just had to pull the LED's out of my opener. I have a Marantec opener with 3 bulbs. A lot of problems caused from LED's.....

LED bulbs that successfully work with electric Garage Door Openers

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