Fluorescent lights interfere with Infra-Red devices even when switchedoff!?!?!?

[Percival P. Cassidy]

There is certainly no way a fluorescent lamp which is switched off can
interfere with any type of control.

However, operating fluorescent lamps can interfere with IR controls. It
doesn't seem to be a widespread problem, but I've heard about situations
where IR controls used for TV and other A/V systems don't work in rooms with
fluorescent lighting. The reason is the frequency of the IR signal. If it
is close to or a multiple of the frequency that the ballast sends to the
lamp, then the lighting signal will swamp the IR receptor.

I have now received and installed the free replacement light unit and
motor-control board, and they work fine -- but the light unit is now
controlled via an RF link instead of via the earlier version's IR link.
So it's quite possible that W-D had enough problems with fluorescents in
garages (surely a rather common situation) interfering with their
IR-signalling system (when the fluoro. lights were ON) that they felt
obligated to scrap the IR in favor of RF.

Perce

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

[snip]

I didn't try that. I have now received and installed the free
replacement light unit and motor-control board, and they work fine --
but the light unit is now controlled via an RF link instead of via the
earlier version's IR link. So it's quite possible that W-D had enough
problems with fluorescents in garages (surely a rather common situation)
interfering with their IR-signalling system (when the fluoro. lights
were ON) that they felt obligated to scrap the IR in favor of RF.

There is one more thing you can check, if you don't mind doing a little
research just for the heck of it.

See if any of the lamp sockets into which the CFLs were installed have
their hot and neutral leads reversed. The screw threads of a lamp should
be neutral.