Do LED lightbulbs eliminate the need for rough duty light bulbs?

GON

GON

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Earlier today I replaced four failed incandescent garage door opener light bulbs.

In the past install rough duty light bulbs on garage door openers to increase the life of the light bulb. Today I installed LED bulbs, with the hope the LED bulbs will last as long if not longer than rough duty incandescent light bulbs.

Wishful but flawed thinking- or a smart move?
 
Well all of our new openers came with LED's (and list of suitable replacements), so I would say yes. I have also gone to led's on the others and no faults yet. I'd say that between a heavy duty, but still fragile hot filament and a solid state led, that the led should be inherently more durable. Maybe not a problem any more, but some older led's would jam garage door opener signals....ask me how I know.
 
GON said:
Earlier today I replaced four failed incandescent garage door opener light bulbs.

In the past install rough duty light bulbs on garage door openers to increase the life of the light bulb. Today I installed LED bulbs, with the hope the LED bulbs will last as long if not longer than rough duty incandescent light bulbs.

Wishful but flawed thinking- or a smart move?
Click to expand...
No because I have a rough duty bulb I installed in 2013 I think and I've never had an LED last anywhere near that long.
 
My experience was the door opener was tough on LED bulbs that tended to have short lives anyway, like some filament type LEDs I bought, and some off brand freebies the electric distributor was giving away. The Feit half dome type bulbs I replaced those with have lasted just fine.
 
IMO, bulb life is a marketing gimmick. If you use a bulb like normal, i.e. turning the light on and off, it's life is reduced by 50% if not more.

I haven't seen rough-duty bulbs in ages. I recall that they are exempt from the gov't mandate requiring incandescent bulbs go away due to energy usage but I don't see them in stores (not that I look either). We used to get dozens of them every year when my Dad was an electrician for the city I grew up in. They used them in traffic lights and bought cases of them every year. Someone decided they can't have any leftover at the end of the year so workers got to take them home. They gave off the worst light too.
 
Quality counts.

Worst are CFL. Forget about it. Environmental failure. I have buckets of failed CFLs.

Regular duty, cheapo incandescent bulbs. NG. HD ones I got some slightly better life back in the day.

LED. So far GOOD QUALITY outdoor use LEDs are lasting and lasting for us. So yes.
 
Pablo said:
Worst are CFL.
Click to expand...
I worked at an electrical supply house when I was younger and CFLs were being introduced/marketed at that time. The Sylvania rep gave everyone a bunch of CFLs and my wife and I had some that lasted at least 10 years. Problem was they cost $12-15 each and incandescents were $1/each or something. Doesn't matter if they last 10-15x longer, no normal person cares or will "do the math" to show they're worth it.
 
LEDs can be very reliable but quality varies. I have a bunch of LES bulbs, some smart WiFi ones, some regular ones. Over the years I’ve had maybe one or two per year fail. Some quite spectacularly with a bang or smoke.
 
GON said:
Earlier today I replaced four failed incandescent garage door opener light bulbs.

In the past install rough duty light bulbs on garage door openers to increase the life of the light bulb. Today I installed LED bulbs, with the hope the LED bulbs will last as long if not longer than rough duty incandescent light bulbs.

Wishful but flawed thinking- or a smart move?
Click to expand...
PIAA, Hella, KC Highlights etc have gone to LEDs as the longer life over halogen. LEDs don't have any filaments that get brittle with heat cycling.
 
Pablo

Post in thread 'LED Bulb Review'

I'm waiting a couple years for the price to come down on LED bulbs.

I will say this: CFL's are a MAJOR BUST. Life for some is shorter than incandescent. I have just turned in my second 5 gallon bucket full of dead CFL's, and went back to mostly incandescent last year.

Pablo

Post in thread 'LED Bulbs-One Year Review'

Thanks Pop!

LED is ABSOLUTELY the way to go. I'm converting, but still have an interesting mix of incandescent, CFL and LED.

CFL has been a huge flop and an even huger waste of resources. I literally have buckets of CFL's that maybe just lasted a year. All that to just be thrown out? CFL never lived up to the long life hype. Disgusting.

LED lighting just keeps improving in my book. Lowest power use, and true long life. My favorite is my spot beam used as a flood light in my covered porch two story entry way. It was not necessarily advertised for this use, but I figured it would make...

Pablo

Post in thread 'Compact florescents and SLOW startup'

I have CFL pretty much everywhere in the house now. Many different types. I have seen a lowering in my electricty bill!

Some are instant on, and I thought all were until I bought a batch of the director type for the kicthen ceiling cans. Those sure are slow. On with a little flash then they just edge up to brightness. Good when you stumble into the kitchen well before the crack of dawn. Compared to the 7 or 9 lamps they replaced, they save some serious juice!

I have an instant on CFL in the laundry room and the switch is a heat movement sensor - I don't predict a long life for this bulb...

Pablo

Thread 'CFL's simply don't last all that long...'

Sorry to say in this house in 5.5 years we have gone through around 25 CFL's. And they are not inexpensive. Plus they need to be saved in a bucket for proper disposal.

Even worse than that, some on dual switches have been inadvertently been left powered and in particular the flood variety lamp base gets quite warm even though there is no evidence of visible photon output. Now that's stupid as well.

I have seen no true savings from CFL's.

Pablo

Post in thread 'LED house lights getting cheaper'

I agree with not jumping on this wagon yet. The CFL thing was a financial failure in my house. I've had them last less than a year, the majority not even two years, at 5X the price. What a joke. I won't go one about the weaknesses of CFL's here, but they never turned out to be anywhere near the promises.

Pablo

Post in thread 'How frugal are you'

Buy a car nearly new and keep it forever.

Buy fresh foods in season.

Don't bother with CFL's, or at least avoid the brands I've been buying. Sure if they last they will save power,but mine cost (a lot) more and don't last as long as incandescent bulbs.

Drink water, not juice.

Don't smoke.

Use coupons and get rebates. Here's what I use: MR. REBATES They are A+ in my book, I would appreciate if you give these guys a shot and you can refer them to your friends. I have nearly $70 coming and started in November.

Always use the best free $ rebate credit card and pay them off each...

Pablo

Thread 'New florescent lights good...'

The water, gas, cable, phone bills seem to be very stubborn. Although if it weren't for the daughters I would kill the land line.

Anyhow I have made good progress on the electric bill. Getting all the rebate coupons, store discounts and research in a pile I went to work on our house. I replaced most high use lights with the modern screw-in florescent bulbs. The kitchen recessed buckets had the 65W bulbs, in went 18W florescents that are actually BRIGHTER! Halls got the lowest wattage bulbs. Some rooms got efficient dimmers. Some rooms got switches with photo and motion sensors (very slick...
 
Be aware that many standard LED bulbs will cause RF interference with certain garage door openers. It has been a problem with a couple of different Chamberlain made units (e.g., LiftMaster, Craftsman, Raynor) where the RFI will diminish the remote transmitter's range by up to 90%! To get around this issue, you can install special LED bulbs with a RF suppression circuit designed for GDOs. I have had excellent results with using these TORCHSTAR LED bulbs purchased from Amazon.

1727551706192.webp
 
Yes imo they do replace rough duty.. but they cant be 100% enclosed if you are going to have them on for longer amounts of time.
and wrong ones can interfere with door opener signal.
I had one that totally blocked the signal.. wouldnt work right outside the door.

Swapped it for a different brand and now it works 200ft away again.
 
GON said:
Earlier today I replaced four failed incandescent garage door opener light bulbs.

In the past install rough duty light bulbs on garage door openers to increase the life of the light bulb. Today I installed LED bulbs, with the hope the LED bulbs will last as long if not longer than rough duty incandescent light bulbs.

Wishful but flawed thinking- or a smart move?
Click to expand...
My only complaint is that with GE CFL Bulbs they had 2700k (Dingy yellow) 3200k, 3700k (the bulbs with the blue base and a little reddish) 4100k, 5000k, 5200 full-spectrum and 6500 with an ever so blueish tone that mimicked daylight. In automotive applications HID is still the way to go.
 
Somewhat related but I'm at a 75% failure rate with Philips Ultra Definition LEDs. Purchased them because of their high 95CRI spec but 9 out of 12 bulbs have failed within a year. Wanted to love them but this is ridiculous. Philips has been good about honouring the warranty with minimal hassle, but even one of the revised bulbs has already failed.

https://ledflicker.wordpress.com/2023/08/19/philips-ultra-definition-95-cri-a19-led/

Strangely enough I've had good success with IKEA >90CRI bulbs. I may switch to those altogether.
 
I put Great Value LED bulbs in my garage door opener around 2016-2018-ish and haven't had any issues. I would have to replace rough duty bulbs yearly.
 
  • Helpful
Reactions: GON
Nukeman7 said:
Be aware that many standard LED bulbs will cause RF interference with certain garage door openers. It has been a problem with a couple of different Chamberlain made units (e.g., LiftMaster, Craftsman, Raynor) where the RFI will diminish the remote transmitter's range by up to 90%! To get around this issue, you can install special LED bulbs with a RF suppression circuit designed for GDOs. I have had excellent results with using these TORCHSTAR LED bulbs purchased from Amazon.

View attachment 242657
Click to expand...
i learned something to day. I try to learn daily even if I don't want to.
 
wpod said:
i learned something to day. I try to learn daily even if I don't want to.
Click to expand...
I've read this but haven't encountered it. I usually just buy LED bulbs from Walmart (most often, their Great Value bulbs) and have no issues with our opener.
 
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