Thread: LED light bulbs effects on wireless lights and fan switch

I have a house is central Indiana that the wireless lights and fans work fine until the automatic garage exterior light come on (dusk to dawn switch.) Once the LED light bulbs come on, they somehow interfere with the fan/light switches (10) in the house. Once the LEDs are on you can not turn off a light that is on, or turn on a light that is off, The same with the fans. This is a new house and is wired correctly. Fixtures and switches were new an came from a large lighting supply house. The manufacturer suggested that the home owner replace the LED light bulbs with regular bulbs. When that was done the switches work fine. What is wrong with using LED bulbs?

Likely RFI or EMI from the LED assembly causing problems with the wireless functions.

Older dimmers and timers are not generally compatible with LED or modern bulbs either.

Dom.

Interference from the LED bulbs. Earlier this week seller called and said his garage door would not work with remotes now. I checked garage door with wall switch, seller did operate the door with remotes, which were working fine at the inspection. My only comment about the garage was a burned out bulb in the door operator, seller had bulbs & a ladder out before I even finished saying anything.
When the seller called to ask what I had done to his door I told him I would stop by and take a look since it is only a couple of blocks away from my home (and the guy really had a clean house as far as the report went). On the way I called the garage door guy I use and his first comment was that the seller should take the LED bulbs back out of the operator. I stopped in and pulled out the LED bulb. Problem Solved! Door guy says LEDs generate just enough interference to jam the signal from the remotes and he is getting more of this call all the time.

Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by Alton Darty

Interference from the LED bulbs. Earlier this week seller called and said his garage door would not work with remotes now. I checked garage door with wall switch, seller did operate the door with remotes, which were working fine at the inspection. My only comment about the garage was a burned out bulb in the door operator, seller had bulbs & a ladder out before I even finished saying anything.
When the seller called to ask what I had done to his door I told him I would stop by and take a look since it is only a couple of blocks away from my home (and the guy really had a clean house as far as the report went). On the way I called the garage door guy I use and his first comment was that the seller should take the LED bulbs back out of the operator. I stopped in and pulled out the LED bulb. Problem Solved! Door guy says LEDs generate just enough interference to jam the signal from the remotes and he is getting more of this call all the time.

Glad to know about that interference with remotes ... good thing my flood lights only come on at night!

I recently (over the last 3-4 weeks) replaced 5 double 150 watt floods and one 90 watt HPS flood with 6 double 28 watt LED floods (at $94 each - Ouch!) and the result is nice bright white light flooding all around the outside of the house. These stay on dusk-to-dawn at about half-brightness and go full-brightness when motion triggers them ... and full brightness is BRIGHT ... all from those little 28 watt LEDs!

Hopefully they aren't bothering any wireless remotes or anything for my neighbors.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Glad to know about that interference with remotes ... good thing my flood lights only come on at night!

I recently (over the last 3-4 weeks) replaced 5 double 150 watt floods and one 90 watt HPS flood with 6 double 28 watt LED floods (at $94 each - Ouch!) and the result is nice bright white light flooding all around the outside of the house. These stay on dusk-to-dawn at about half-brightness and go full-brightness when motion triggers them ... and full brightness is BRIGHT ... all from those little 28 watt LEDs!

Hopefully they aren't bothering any wireless remotes or anything for my neighbors.

I recently noticed a new glow to the SE. Those LEDs are amazing.

Interesting info. I was unaware that LEDs could interfere with wireless devices. I just put in a 4' LED tube light in my garage without any problems.

Radio interference from LED lighting | EMC and Regulatory Compliance


How LED Lights Can Cause Problems With Your Garage Door Opener

The heart of the problem lies in the control circuit that provides the long life that LED (light emitting diode) lights are known for. LED lights get their efficiency from something called pulse width modulation, or PWM, which turns the light off and on more than 15 times per second. The energy savings comes from the fact that the light is actually on for only half the time. You don’t realize that the light is off part of the time because of the phenomenon of persistence of vision


Government guidelines for LED manufacturers require these control circuits to operate on frequencies between 30 and 300 MHZ. By coincidence, most garage door opener remotes have been assigned frequencies between 288 and 360 MHZ.

Originally Posted by Brian Hannigan

The heart of the problem lies in the control circuit that provides the long life that LED (light emitting diode) lights are known for. LED lights get their efficiency from something called pulse width modulation, or PWM, which turns the light off and on more than 15 times per second. The energy savings comes from the fact that the light is actually on for only half the time. You don’t realize that the light is off part of the time because of the phenomenon of persistence of vision
.

Cool info.

However, persistence of vision, while related, does not explain why we don't perceive the on/off cycle. It's more the phenomenon of "flicker fusion" which explains why we don't perceive the black line between the frames in movie film as the film passes through the projector around 24 frames per second but why we see flicker in old movies at 16-17 frames per second.

But knowing that LEDs can interfere with wireless devices will become more important as LEDs become more prominent.

Brian (and all), Thanks for info. I was just talking to another inspector on this exact issue. I have yet to see this happen but now will have it on the radar.

Thanks to all who have replied. The lighting supply company that furnished the remote control wall switches had me switch the poles (in the breaker box) for the outside lighting to be opposite side of the fans and lights. The problem went away. One year later a new house was built next to mine and they installed LED bulbs outside and my problem returned. The supply company said that lights on another house can not interfere with my remote switches. I have had no control of my switches (each day after the dust to dawn lights come on) for the last six months.

Most solution to problems are just reconfigured problems.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Hopefully they aren't bothering any wireless remotes or anything for my neighbors.

Amen!

Originally Posted by Marshall Brown

Most solution to problems are just reconfigured problems.

We have a saying in the software industry: "Many features are just bugs with seniority."

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Marshall Brown

Most solution to problems are just reconfigured problems.

We have a saying in the software industry: "Many features are just bugs with seniority."

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Marshall Brown

Most solution to problems are just reconfigured problems.

We have a saying in the software industry: "Many features are just bugs with seniority."

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Marshall Brown

Most solution to problems are just reconfigured problems.

We have a saying in the software industry: "Many features are just bugs with seniority."

Originally Posted by Brian Hannigan

Radio interference from LED lighting | EMC and Regulatory Compliance


How LED Lights Can Cause Problems With Your Garage Door Opener

The heart of the problem lies in the control circuit that provides the long life that LED (light emitting diode) lights are known for. LED lights get their efficiency from something called pulse width modulation, or PWM, which turns the light off and on more than 15 times per second. The energy savings comes from the fact that the light is actually on for only half the time. You don’t realize that the light is off part of the time because of the phenomenon of persistence of vision


Government guidelines for LED manufacturers require these control circuits to operate on frequencies between 30 and 300 MHZ. By coincidence, most garage door opener remotes have been assigned frequencies between 288 and 360 MHZ.

Thanks.. some new info you shared. I had this article already, but yours were new to me.

LEDBenchmark - LED EMI Interference Issues