Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top A little while ago our 14 year old garage door opener broke and we had the choice of retrofitting it with modern safety gear (required by code before they could even try to fix it) and then a "moderately simple fix" or replacing it with a new opener that came with all the safety gear, and would work, and would be significantly quieter, and would cost less all said and done than just the retrofit parts for the old unit. Needless to say, we picked the new one. When they put the new opener in, we just moved the light bulb from the old one. it had been in there for a year or two and was still fine. 2 weeks later it flashed and died when opening the door one day. It was an old bulb, so I thought nothing of it and replaced it later that day with another 40w incandescent bulb. That bulb lasted 2 months at the most before it did the same thing... flash and die when turning on (switch on, opener wasn't activated, so no vibrations at all).

Another new bulb, this time a 60w "fan light" supposedly vibration resistant long life bulbs intended for ceiling fans and similar environments, one of the ones pictured is a garage door opener. That one lasted a bit over 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks. Assuming it had to be a bad bulb, I swapped in another from the package... same thing in about a month. So I took one out of our ceiling fan that has been in there for months running just fine. That one flashed and died yesterday, after about a month. It's a Raynor Corporal 1/2 hp residential opener which says it's rated for 100w max bulb, I've been putting 40 or 60w bulbs in, that seems fine. The unit doesn't have a lot of vibraion, in fact it's far less than our old opener (a 1/3 hp Raynor as well). Anyone have any other ideas what's killing light bulbs in here? Vibration is still a good guess. Try a "rough service" bulb, usually sold for the work lights that you hang under the hood of your car. You can also try a 130V bulb; cheaper bulbs are rated at 120V, and so don't tolerate line voltage fluctuations as much.

Another option is an LED bulb. A 40W-equivalent is in the $10 range, and they are supposed to be very vibration resistant. Lower wattage bulbs don't last as long as higher wattage bulbs. If your garage has a high ceiling the longer braces between the tracks and the ceiling allow for more vibration than in installation with a lower ceiling. When I had problems with frequent bulb changes, I used one of these in place of the bulb: Bulb socket outlet adapter Then I mounted one of these on the ceiling: Porcelain Ceiling Lampholder Keyless Light Socket Then I used one of these to connect the two: White 15 Ft. Lamp Cord w/2 Prong Plug and routed the cord along the supports and used zip ties to hold it out of the way of moving parts. Once I did this, the bulb was much more isolated from the vibration and bulb changes were much less frequent.Make sure the opener is unplugged. Get some steel wool and scrub the bulb receptacle, making sure it is clean and smooth.

Screw the bulb in very tightly. This may do the trick. Bulbs burn out when they over heat or just have a lot of use. Over heating is caused by a poor connection ... or an arc caused by a loose connection. I put a compact florescents in my garage door opener. Since they don't have a filament, they seem immune to vibration. I've had exactly the same experiences. Bulbs burn out quickly in new garage door opener. Special vibration-resistant bulbs (specifically for garage door openers) don't last any longer.door curtains online chennai I've had some luck with compact fluorescents. garage door repair tucson reviewsThey last several months, but certainly not as long as they're supposed to, nor as long as you'd expect a normal incandescent bulb to work. garage door motor calgary

Given that CFLs are so much more expensive and require special disposal, I'm just going to buy a box of cheap incandescents and replace it regularly. I have a LiftMaster opener and my bulbs go out frequently, although they are not burned out. It seems the socket is actually too wide for the bulb. I've never seen this problem before, but I can actually move the bulb back and forth in the socket and the light will go on and off when I do it. Seems that a little vibration inevitably jiggles it to the "off" position. Check your bulbs by jiggling or using another lamp before you throw them out, you may have the same problem? I am working on a fix, but nothing yet. Thinking about a little wedge to help hold it snug. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password Post as a guest By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service. Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged lighting garage-door-opener or ask your own question.

If there’s one topic that has people talking, it’s CFL lighting. Here are just a few of the comments HouseLogic has received about CFL longevity or the lack thereof:“… I find myself having to by [sic] those CFLs which cost more and only last three or four months. Additionally, they don’t create much light, which, given the quality of the light, is probably not all bad.”“It is incredibly frustrating to read myths about how long-lasting CFLs are. They simply are not. I’m lucky to get more than three or four months out of one. You might think it’s great to have them for the energy savings, but at least tell the truth about their complete lack of durability.”“We live in the mountains, and our electricity goes on and off frequently due to high winds and damage to the power lines. This apparently decreases the life of CFLs … In my case, a CFL [lasts] no longer than a regular bulb, and the cost is at least 10 times more than a regular bulb.”Based on your comments and some of my own puzzling issues with CFLs, HouseLogic asked me to explore why the bulbs haven’t lived up to many of our expectations — now that federal requirements for light bulb efficiency have begun to phase in.

Our bathroom CFLs just kept blowing outWhen my husband and I moved into our new home four years ago, we decided to replace all our incandescent bulbs with CFLs to be green and save on energy. We had a decidedly mixed experience with the quality and color of light — and the shades of meaning apparently implied by the label claim “instant on.” (Some CFLs take time to hit full light strength.) For instance, our hallway lights warmed up so slowly we went back to regular bulbs.But the most frustrating location for CFLs was in our two bathrooms, where they hung upside-down in wall-mounted bell-shaped enclosures over each sink. A couple of bulbs actually blew out in a single day. others months — but not the touted 10,000 hours by a long shot. We checked the wiring and the fixtures but found nothing wrong. Our electrician sold us expensive, “high-quality” CFLs he liked (we weren’t familiar with the brand); the light was cold and unpleasant, but the bulbs did last 11 whole months.

Then, within a span of two days, they all blinked out one by one, like chorus girls bowing at the end of a show.CFLs can cost between $1.25 to $10 per bulb. 5 factors that shorten CFL lifespanI consulted Russ Leslie, associate director of the Lighting Research Center in Troy, N.Y., who has tested bulbs for Energy Star. “If you just blow a single CFL bulb by itself, you probably just have a bad bulb,” Leslie says. “But when a CFL repeatedly burns out in the same fixture, there’s an issue.” Leslie says several things can shorten a CFL’s lifespan considerably:1. This, I believe, is my problem — and also that of the reader who lives in the mountains. Apparently, projected CFL lifespans are based on a three-hour run time per start. In other words, during CFL testing, bulbs are cycled on for three hours and off for 20 minutes until half the samples have failed. If you turn them on frequently for less than three hours at a time — as I do in my bathroom — you’re in for a surprise.“

Incandescents are somewhat immune to the number of times you switch them on and off,” Leslie says, “but the electrodes inside a CFL are stressed with each burst of starting voltage, and will eventually degrade and fail. With a CFL, the number of starts is the primary factor for determining how long it will last; the number of burning hours is secondary. A CFL rated at 10,000 hours in the three-hour-on standard test might last only 4,000 hours if left on for only 15 minutes per start.” OK, 500 for me, but who’s counting?That’s why you shouldn’t use CFLs in motion-sensor lighting, by the way.2. Heat and humidity can also reduce CFL life, and my bathroom has both. Although the glass bells of my fixtures are open at the bottom, heat still builds up inside each one. “CFLs like things cool,” Leslie says.3. Dimmable or recessed lighting. Not applicable to my situation, but Leslie says that you must buy CFLs explicitly designed for those purposes (it’ll say so on the package).4.

LRC hasn’t tested for this attribute, but the FAQs at GE’s website say that CFLs in fixtures that vibrate — such as ceiling fans and garage door openers — won’t perform well.5. Variation in quality among manufacturers. “Consumer Reports” testing shows significant performance difference from brand to brand and for different applications (particularly for rapid switching, where a number of spiral-type bulbs received middling or poor ratings).I also asked whether it mattered that the bulb was inverted (screwed into the fixture with the base up). Leslie said that LRC tested that attribute and found no significant difference in bulb performance.“Overall, an Energy Star-rated CFL should perform well for you,” Leslie says, “if you choose an application it’s suited for. The technology has improved greatly in recent years, especially after Energy Star started verifying its performance standards.“But if you aren’t having luck with a CFL in a certain fixture,” he says, “consider using a halogen incandescent on a timer or upgrading to LED lighting, which is rapidly improving.”