| Palindr☻me 2005-08-23, 4:21 pm |
| Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
> Here's one for the electrical/electronics gurus.
>
> Our new Wayne-Dalton iDrive garage door opener operates its associated
> light fitting via an IR beam: the opener proper installs right above the
> door, while the light fitting can be mounted to any convenient outlet
> within "view" of the opener.
>
> The light operated correctly when it was first installed, but then would
> sometimes switch on but not be able to be switched off except by killing
> the power to that circuit -- and even then the light would sometimes
> switch on and stay on as soon as power was restored.
>
> I called Wayne-Dalton Customer Service. The rep. asked whether we had
> fluorescent lights in the garage. I replied that we did but that the
> problem existed even when the fluorescents (CF) were turned off. The
> rep. then said, "We have found that fluorescent lights can interfere
> with infra-red sensors even when the lights are turned off." I told her
> I couldn't see how that could be, but there was no point in arguing,
> because she was only reciting her official spiel.
>
> They are going to send a new light unit and a new motor-control board
> (mine is an older revision, it appears), but . . .
>
> Please tell me that there's no way a switched-off fluorescent can
> interfere with IR circuits.
>
"There is no way a switched-off fluorescent can interfere with IR circuits".
Unfortunately, there are few absolutes other than death and taxes.
The tube is a reflector - it could be reflecting other IR sources onto
the detector.
A warm, but switched off tube is still a source of IR.
There are other straws, about as likely.
It is, of course, pure bs. Even if it wasn't, garages often have them,
so it should have been designed for. You could simply have argued that
- and that the unit, by their own definition, was unfit for purpose,
with an intrinisic, designed-in flaw. Unless their literature said not
to be installed in the proximity of such lighting.
In the UK, they would probably have asked if any other electrical
equipment, eg washer, drier, freezer, etc was installed or used in the
garage (which they often are) and blamed that...
--
Sue
|