Lights on reminder?

[Stormin Mormon]

Partly my fault. I did mention the light my Dad wired in to the garage door opener. Of course, we can still discuss indoor lighting, if you wish.

[John Gilmer]

Why not use an "occupancy sensor" gadget in the room?

At worse, you can put in some perfectly legal surface wiring and put the sensor next to the fixture.

Many of these gadgets can be used with LED/CFL lamps because the actual switching is done with an electro-mechanical device. (Read the package instructions before buying.)

If the light switch is in the same room you simply replace the switch with an occupancy sensor switch.

We use them in the kitchen and bathroom. We had one in a downstair "extra" family room but it would often switch off when someone was still in the room.

Frankly, with CFLs it isn't all that big a deal on the electric bill if someone does leave the lights on.

[willshak]

on 9/26/2009 11:33 AM (ET) Phisherman wrote the following:

No crooks in my garage with an open door, just birds, mice, chipmunks and one time, a snake.

[Tony]

My opener came with a little do-higy that sticks on the inside of the garage door and senses when it is vertical or horizontal. When it is horizontal it sends a radio signal to another little do-higy inside the house and it lights the red LED letting me know the door is open. When the door is closed it lights a green LED.

[trader4]

Yes, but having it ass backwards isn't particularly appealing to me. The normal convention is when something is on then the indicator light is on. When you start to deviate from that, the more confusing everything gets.

[Doug Miller]

LOL! Reminds me of my son's first year playing Little League baseball, when he was about six or seven. He began to develop the habit of grabbing his crotch, repeatedly, on the field. So my wife came up with the idea of fining him a penny each time. After the next one-hour practice, she collected $1.42; the time after that, about 65 cents; third time, maybe a nickel. Not an issue after that.

[Stormin Mormon]

Wow, suppose all Michael Jackson's fans had done the same thing? He woulda had to sell Neverland, and live in apartment with his boys.

When I was a kid, my parents imposed something about put your napkin on your lap, at dinner table. Nickel fine. Someone, not me, in the family used to remark about being "first nickel winner". Which was absurd.

[harry k]

Sounds like a good thing to have but what nerd of an engineer added the second light? What information does it show that the red light doesn't? Door open - red light, door closed - no red light. Actually simpler as one doesn't hae to even look to tell what color is lit.

Harry K

[aemeijers]

Maybe have it flash if door sticks halfway up?

-- aem sends...

[Jules]

For the same reason that nobody has single-light traffic lights, I suppose - "no lights" is a good indicator of a fault in the system. Failed indicator (even though LEDs don't typically just die like incandescents do), failed wiring/control, door jammed halfway between open and closed etc.

cheers

Jules

[harry k]

I can dig that 'engineer's reasoning' but by extension he shouild add a third light to show 'fault'...and then a 4th to show 'fault in the fault circuite', etc. :)

Harry K

[Jules]

You're getting into the sort of territory when you need an embedded computer to blink out fault codes, purely to keep the LED count down. Never mind that the computer might then be the weak spot, so you then need a second built-in computer to diagnose faults with the first... (yes, I have seen systems designs spiral out of control like that :-)

(I think the two LEDs are a useful idea though, just so you don't leave the house without the door fully latched closed, or can be a little more cautious if it's saying that it's not latched in the open position and might fall on your head)

cheers

Jules

[harry k]

I don't buy the need for the second light at all. "no lights is a good indicator of a fault" - so is seeing the one light not lit and finding the door open. IF the sensor is located at, or near the bottom (closed) position it will also indicate no matter what the door position is other than 'closed'.

As to "latching" either open or closed - I have never seen a garage door that does that. The opener mechanism is designed to hold the door in whatever position it is in be it closed, open, halfway, etc. The only way for it to "fall" is for the springs and cables to break...well to go further I suppose the entire mechanism could fall off :).

I'll sitk with my "nerd engineer" hypothesis :)

Harry K

[Tony]

Ya may have lost me there but whether it was in the instructions, or if I just figured it out myself, I mounted it on the top panel.

The receiver also has a mode where the red and green alternately flash. That seems to be a warning that it lost radio contact with the sending unit. Turn it off and on and it resets itself. Of course this could be done with one LED flashing also.