Hi. This is actually my first post on this board--where I've been lurking for some time to read the knowledge and experience of others.
I have one of those Craftsman garage door openers that has two standard incandescent light bulb sockets but I was never very satisfied with the lighting: high wattage incandescent bulbs are now phased out, and the new 100W halogen bulbs' filaments apparently "droop" and burn out early when not mounted upright. I finally got off my **** and devised a solution I've been planning for some time, and I thought I'd share my solution here.
I ruled out CFL bulbs because they take a long time to "warm up" and reach full light output, and I ruled out LED replacement bulbs because I've read online reviews about their electronics interfering with the garage door opener's radio reception.
What I ended up installing are two 10W LED flood lights (these are meant for general in/outdoor use such as for landscape lighting) which I mounted on the garage door opener bracing. I extended the internal wiring of the garage door opener's lighting circuit (using Romex 14/2 NM-B wiring through a rubber grommet) into a metal junction box which is also mounted on the garage door opener bracing. The wiring is grounded, and then I just used wire nuts to connect the two fully grounded LED flood lights, aimed at a 45 degree angle at my two parking spots.
In this picture you can see the final result (no other lights are on):
Here's a look at the junction box (you can kind of see the white Romex wiring extending from the garage door opener up into it):
I bought these LED flood lights from an US-based Amazon seller and I'm VERY happy with them; although these lights are also made in China (with laughable instructions), they seem much better made than some other cheap China-made lights reviewed on Amazon. The lights I bought are fully grounded (apparently some cheap lights have grounding wires that go nowhere to give the "illusion" of being grounded), the internal electronics are securely mounted and fully weather-sealed with silicone gasket, and I'm happy to see that its AC/DC converter board is even fused (again, some of the cheap lights don't have fuses, which is a fire hazard). Because everything is mounted in fully-enclosed aluminum housing there is absolutely no worries of radio interference either.
In my garage I do have overhead fluorescent lights, but with just these LED flood lights there's a "spot light effect" which gives me a feeling of looking at my cars as if they were museum displays.
(Maybe it's just me, though)
So far, I'm very happy with my solution, and time will tell if my LED flood lights will last. They're supposedly engineered to run for hours at a time so they should be "over-engineered" as garage door opener lights.
One last look at the LED light itself:
I have one of those Craftsman garage door openers that has two standard incandescent light bulb sockets but I was never very satisfied with the lighting: high wattage incandescent bulbs are now phased out, and the new 100W halogen bulbs' filaments apparently "droop" and burn out early when not mounted upright. I finally got off my **** and devised a solution I've been planning for some time, and I thought I'd share my solution here.
I ruled out CFL bulbs because they take a long time to "warm up" and reach full light output, and I ruled out LED replacement bulbs because I've read online reviews about their electronics interfering with the garage door opener's radio reception.
What I ended up installing are two 10W LED flood lights (these are meant for general in/outdoor use such as for landscape lighting) which I mounted on the garage door opener bracing. I extended the internal wiring of the garage door opener's lighting circuit (using Romex 14/2 NM-B wiring through a rubber grommet) into a metal junction box which is also mounted on the garage door opener bracing. The wiring is grounded, and then I just used wire nuts to connect the two fully grounded LED flood lights, aimed at a 45 degree angle at my two parking spots.
In this picture you can see the final result (no other lights are on):
Here's a look at the junction box (you can kind of see the white Romex wiring extending from the garage door opener up into it):
I bought these LED flood lights from an US-based Amazon seller and I'm VERY happy with them; although these lights are also made in China (with laughable instructions), they seem much better made than some other cheap China-made lights reviewed on Amazon. The lights I bought are fully grounded (apparently some cheap lights have grounding wires that go nowhere to give the "illusion" of being grounded), the internal electronics are securely mounted and fully weather-sealed with silicone gasket, and I'm happy to see that its AC/DC converter board is even fused (again, some of the cheap lights don't have fuses, which is a fire hazard). Because everything is mounted in fully-enclosed aluminum housing there is absolutely no worries of radio interference either.
In my garage I do have overhead fluorescent lights, but with just these LED flood lights there's a "spot light effect" which gives me a feeling of looking at my cars as if they were museum displays.
(Maybe it's just me, though)So far, I'm very happy with my solution, and time will tell if my LED flood lights will last. They're supposedly engineered to run for hours at a time so they should be "over-engineered" as garage door opener lights.
One last look at the LED light itself:
