Great idea! My garage is pretty dark (no windows on the large door) and I like to see well when I CLEAN my car. Two of those screw-in, lower power/higher intensity LED light contraptions would do the job better than having to hang a four foot fluorescent fixture.
Keep it simple, I like that. I made a Laser device similar to yours by taking a cheap laser module and 3D printing a gimbal mount for it but I haven't mounted it yet as I was looking at using a limit switch to activate it and hadn't thought about using the light socket. Thanks for the idea.
Yeah I’m sad too. I do my best to keep up with comments but I got way to overwhelmed with people saying the same thing over and over. This made my life easier and it’s honestly what I was looking for anyway. Thanks for watching (again)!
Good video. I just removed the plastic cover. Amazon sells a socket extender with a directional hinge in it. I simply put that in, pointing down, along with a LED lamp similar to yours.
I’m commenting the same thing. To be honest I have some opener work to do this spring and an old unused box of CAT 5 wire. I’m going to convert the wires. It’s better protected than the supplied wires AND there’s four pairs just in case.
@@DadDoingStuff surprised builder used that CAT 5 or CAT 6 wire when parallel twin copper wire is so much cheaper. CAT 5 is for data. Sure it works, but is overkill in price.
I did something like this several years back. I choose a 5000 lumen 4' LED shop light, which draws under 100 Watts, much less than the rating on the opener. Really lights up the garage. You can also get 9000+ lumen 8' shop lights that draw under 100 Watts. As to your solution of attaching directly to the ceiling, I would need to check the NEC but I believe that is a code violation. You should first install a box, then attach the fixture to the box. That would prevent the hot wire from coming into contact with anything it should not touch. Since there is no ground on that cord use a plastic box. Perhaps a licensed electrician can comment on this. Don't want to sound negative, your idea of having an external light is great, just want everyone to do it safely and prevent shocks or worse, fires. I had a bad experience with a dishwasher repair man recently. My dishwasher would not run and was tripping the AFCI/GFCI breaker. The repair man insisted that it was the AFCI/GFCI breaker. I had already switched that breaker twice to make sure it was not the breaker. He wanted me to remove the AFCI/GFCI breaker and just use an old non AFCI/GFCI breaker. Well, turned out it was a bad wire that was melting the terminal block at the back of the dishwasher. If I had switched to the old breaker it would NOT have tripped and I would have had a fire in my kitchen. Doing some research online I found that terminal block was a known problem and a number of houses were totally lost to fire because of that badly designed terminal block. Bottom line, following the electrical code may seem like a hassle but it is there for a reason to save getting shocked or causing fires.
Appreciate your feedback and that dishwasher example. Something similar happened to my neighbors furnace a few year ago where it was melted inside the box on the furnace. Scary. That’s the main reason I ditched the metal box for mine.
This is great. An alternative and simpler hack is to install a motion sensor switch on the wall switch controlling the home lighting in the garage. When I open the garage door from my car the motion sensor senses the door opening and turns on all the garage lights. It’s a cheap easy hack. There is one downside, if you spend a lot of time in the garage, the timer on the motion sensor will eventually turn off the house lights.
Such a great video this is so helpful and informative for me I'm definitely gonna look into this when we buy a house ! And people just need something to b****h about or they aren't happy I'll never understand it but that's how it seems! It's sad honestly! But you did a great job and I appreciate your video! I definitely will subscribe now
I did this years ago as well, except I used two 4 ft LED shop lights. Had to try a couple of different brands as some will interfere with the wireless signal and door won't close when the lights are on.
Maybe I'm missing something but I have a separate dedicated light switch for my garage sockets.. The opener light is dim but it's minimal lighting for when opening the door.. Are you using this as your only light source? They're often on a timer so unless this is your only source of light I get it but I have 4 sockets in my garage.. i actually installed an adapter to run a bulb but have outlets on the side that I ran a 4ft led light overhead of my work bench. My other 3 lights i do have those fan out lights. Again for my setup it doesn't make sense but if this is the only source (which is usually isn't in a garage) then it makes sense.. Also for that light weight socket you dont need to be into a rafter, some drywalli anchors would be more than enough to support the weight..
Not missing anything. I have regular lights on switches. This setup really does two things in our garage. First, way better light when we get in/out of the car. Second is that our opener button has a motion sensor built in. That triggers as soon as we step into the garage from the house. So when we go in/out to get to the garage fridge and freezer, it lights up and we don’t have to touch the wall switches at all. And then it just turns off a few min later. So works pretty nicely for our use case. And yes….drywall anchors are more than sufficient.
You could create electrical interference problems. My neighbor did something very similar which caused erratic non working issues from his car opener. Removed it and all was fine. For my garage opener I have 2 100w equivalent LED bulbs. I found only Philips brand to be interference free. My neighbor copied me and said it works too.
I have had a few people mention LED interference, which I admit I had never heard of before of. Seems totally possible, but has not been an issue on mine to date.
@@10forthebigguy753 But they cause 10 other issues, including poor lightning, excessive heat, the filaments don't like vibration and tend of fail prematurely just to name a few...
The metal box is only an issue if the wiring wears through insulation and makes contact, or if the light socket base cracks and lets the wiring or contacts touch the metal box, then that bix becomes energized. That is why code requires metal boxes and fixtures be grounded. The solid white light was plastic base so didnt require grounding.
Great idea! The only downside I can see is it changes the UL or SA ratings of the opener. I don't think that's an issue though because you de-rated their maximum 100 watt bulb recommendation, so you should be good to go. You also used UL or SA approved devices. Your wiring is properly anchored as well. Thanks for the tip👍!
This could obviously be done 100 different ways. But I would personally start with just putting in a 28W LED bulb on each end of the opener, which puts out like 2600 lumens each, fits behind the cover, and will give you around 5200 lumens of brightness. Can get those for about $15 each, no wiring, adapter or anything else required. If you wanted more light, just buy a 4 foot LED shop light with a built in cord, and the adapter, mount it to the ceiling and plug it in. No home made light socket adapter contraption required, and you can get one for like $17 at Wally World which is 5500 Lumens called Hyper Tough. As a bonus, you can daisy chain up to 4 of those if you like the garage to be brighter than the surface of the sun, and you can spread them out to light up different areas of the garage. Just an FYI...
👆This is the approach. The “60W” limitation on light sockets is from the world of incandescent bulbs, where the heat produced would be hot enough to soften or even melt the plastic socket. A porcelain socket base solves the problem the best, allowing for very high wattage bulbs. I am not sure how much heat a 28W LED will produce - I suspect it might be too much for the plastic socket. But those “60W equivalent” LED bulbs run at something like 9W of actual power, so there will definitely be some sort of brighter LED bulb that could be used that won’t overheat the socket.
Very good video. I had the same issue with my garage door light, too weak. But I just put one of those 3 wing led lights in the ceiling light of the garage. It doesn’t light up when the door opens of course but I have enough light from the opener to get inside the house from the car. Nonetheless good video and yes garage door opener lights are crappy.
Yeah that totally works too. Some folks suggested putting a motion sensor switch in place of the normal wall switch. That probably works ok as well. Thx for watching!
Hi William. They no longer sell the exact one I have which uses the motion sensor on the garage door opener in order to activate. But they do have these newer ones which have a motion sensor built in. So long as you can plug it in to an outlet it should do the trick. This one seems to be one of the highest rated ones on Amazon. Just line up the laser to a spot on your dashboard and you are set! amzn.to/4acwf7U Hope that helps!
Another dude said he used the clamp on painters lamps for like 10 years. Just clamped them to the metal supports their hold up the opener. Should work just fine!
If you honestly know what you're doing (and it seems you do), just ignore the internet. Everyone's going to find fault with anything someone does, especially with electricity. Like you said you're essentially wiring a lamp... and guess what most lamp sockets are made out of... yes, METAL!
Awesome idea thanks! On a side note, do you know how to make the light come on when someone trips the laser safety sensor? Mine used to but not anymore 🤷🏻♂️
@@DadDoingStuffYa they work correctly… but I used to be able to leave the garage door open and the lights would turn on whenever someone walked in. A repair guy had to fix something on it a while back and it doesn’t do that anymore… you have to find the wall switch to turn them on
I’d love to integrate the GDO to turn on (and off) my normal ceiling garage lights. They’re LED, so low current draw. I wonder if I could install a Lutron remote-capable switch and have the GDO activate it through the bulb socket…
I did have another viewer mention that you could use a relay to have it activate your wall switch lights. I'm sure our internet police would have a field day with that, but it sounds like a cool project.
Why not just replace the light switch with a motion sensor? Then the light turns on after you enter the garage, and then turns off after you leave, and most of them have a manual override. That way your garage will light up with just a bright standard LED bulb in the opener, and then gets brighter when your motion sensor picks up you walking around or entering or exiting the garage....
If you were gonna have it activate your normal wall switch lights, yes. I think in that case a wall motion switch would be a pretty easy route. I have those in my laundry/pantry/and kid's bathrooms. Most of the places they tend to leave the lights on!
A person if so desired could just take the crappie cover off of the garage door opener and install one or two if the opener has two LED 75 watt DAYLIGHT Bulbs which would give plenty of light and would come on every time the garage door was opened or closed and most openers have a button on the wall mount to turn the lights on and off.
We have both and still like the extra light. Our wall button has a motion sensor that kicks the light on when we step into the garage. So for us it’s kinda dual purpose and we use the wall switches way less. Plus the kids don’t leave the garage lights on all the time!
They do because often they have a solid state relay instead of a mechanical relay to turn the lights on and off. You also have to factor in the power draw of the opener motor and electronics in addition to the lights, which is why there is a limit.
The screw base lamp sockets are typically rated for a 60-100W incandescent lamp. That equivalent of 14 screw base LED "60 W" lamps. You could light your garage lie an OR using the method shown -BUT why use the openers' switched socket?
This isn’t my primary garage light. But it doesn’t trigger from the motion sensor built into the wall button. So every time we step in the garage it turns on. We use that to grab stuff from the fridge and such. So 90% of the time we don’t use the main lights with wall switches. Those are mostly for when I’m doing projects out there.
I did this years ago, lights just hang on a clip. LED lights were getting messed up with vibration. Haven't changed bulbs in a decade. Btw an LED 100watt bulb uses only 23 watts so one of your comments at the beginning about using high wattage bulbs is confusing.
Sorry about the confusion on the wattage. Yeah I've had a few viewers do the clip-on light method, which should totally work except for getting vibrated every time the opener runs. Two of the advantages to moving the socket further away would be: Less Vibration, and also less LED interference with the RF between the opener and the remote. I guess some LED's can interfere with that. Thanks for watching and the comment!
Do you have constant power going to your garage door opener? My light only turns on when the garage door is opened then about after 5 minutes the light turns off.
That's what mine does too. The opener button on the wall (on our model) also has a motion sensor, so as soon as you step into the garage from the house, the light will turn on for about 5 min.
@@reyreymtz I wired a motion detection module and added multiple lights all over the garage. Currently 6 LED lights distributed and plenty of light and turn off when you leave after 4/5 minutes. Wife would always leave the light in the garage constantly. That light switch now only controls a 4watt bulb (night light)
I like your first version better. With that version you could add another fixture with the same bulb and still be within the 100 watts. You could always use plastic boxes to appease all the RUclips comment section warriors as well.
I just put a bright, three LED bulb fixture into the regular overhead socket and if I need to have more light, I just flip a switch. The ONLY negative is there is no auto shut off, but so what?
Well. 1) It's your garage. 2) Many good and bad comments. 3) Why do you want the opener light so bright? I just use ours to navigate the garage to the switch for the regular lights. If you don't have regular lights, how is a 2-minute light going to help? 4) I like the laser idea - thanks. 5) What's with all those pulleys?!
1) yes. Everyone should do what’s best for their garage. 2) Internet haters are inevitable, but lots of compliments so that’s nice. 3) ours stays on about 5 min. Our particular opener has a motion sensor built into the wall button. So anytime we step into the garage, this light kicks on for 5 min. It happens to also be right in front of our garage fridge/freezer. 90% of the time this is the only light we use as we are just popping out to grab something out of the fridge. Kinda ties back to point 1, it works really well for our garage. 4) yeah laser parking assist kicks butt! 5) We have a roof tent that is pretty heavy. I built that system so we can store it up by the ceiling, then lower it onto the racks on my truck. When we are done camping I just detach and crank it back up. Works pretty awesome. I should probably do a video on that sometime. 6) Thanks for watching!
Why don't LED bulbs work in my Chamberlain garage door opener? It seems only incandescent bulbs work properly. The LEDs flicker and then go out quickly. Also, would you provide a link for those laser parking lights PLEASE. THANK YOU!!
@@leewhitmore5350 The bulbs were purchased within the past 6 months. I have tried numerous LED bulbs the past few years. All have had the same problem. Those spiral fluorescents had the same problem. If I put an incandescent bulb in, it works properly. This has been 100% repeatable. The LEDs were ACE, FEIT, and some Walmart brand Jewenwils or Sewenwils (can't read the strange logo script.)
LED bulbs in my Chamberlain opener kill the remote range. The door will open with the remote, but that turns on the light and then the remote will not close the door. I tried a number of LED bulbs and finally went back to incandescent.
I’ve been using LED bulbs for quite some time with decent luck. However I saw video by Silver Cymbol (great channel, BTW) where he discusses that some LED bulbs are not meant to be inside anything enclosed. I’d recommend watching his video on that. Might be related? 🤷🏻♂️ Regarding the laser, they don’t seem to sell my model anymore. Mine used the garage opener as the means of turning on/off, just like my light. But, they seem to sell something similar except they have built in motion sensors. So if you have a spare outlet in your ceiling, you can just plug straight into that. I’ve not tested this one, but it has rather high rating on Amazon. amzn.to/426nCtv Hope that helps!
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using an EMT box. The ‘internet’ is apparently not aware that most electrical circuits are in steel boxes and conduit. Sure plastic is the most common form these days. But a simple two wire light socket is perfectly safe. Unless the wire is in bad condition and is just poked through a hole haphazardly.
Appreciate you saying that. The internet seems to be overrun with armchair electricians ready to tell you that everything you do is a horrible idea. I felt like I had built my original one safely.
So the one I have was designed to be used as I’ve done it. Seems all of the newer ones have a motion sensor built in as well. If you search Amazon, you will see a ton of them. Mine is basically 2 flat lasers that are about 6” wide beam. I set them like a crosshair. So when we park I use one to guide left/right and the other so we know how far to pull in. It’s perfect parking every time!
Also, the wattage limits on your GDO are almost certainly for heat from an incandescent bulb, not actual wattage. I bet the internal wiring on the GDO can support 10A power. in any case, with LED bulbs we probably don't have to worry about it. The relay that turns the light on and off is probably the weakest link in the chain.
The problem is that many “ regular “ LED bulbs can interfere with the remote function of the garage door opener. Some LED bulbs are marketed specifically for garage door openers but the typically aren’t any brighter that the recommended incandescent bulb, although they may last longer and consume less electricity.
You could buh a 2 prong connector and eliminate the bunch of cord zip tied there. cutting to length and and installing that connector on that custom length
What makes this permanent? I plug lamps in the same way and they aren’t permanent. Had I somehow hard wired this into the garage door opener or directly into an electrical outlet box, then I’d agree that this is permanent. But with the way I’ve done it, not permanent.
@ Unless you are going to unplug the lights when leave the garage, and when the lights are not in use then you are using the cord as permanent wiring method. Also you have affixed the extension cord to the structure. Read the code!
So what's the purpose of this light ? it has a built in on/off switch . Who is gonna constantly unplug and plug it back in if it has that switch ? Nobody.
The problem with a metal box is that if the hot contacts the metal, the metal box conducts 120 VAC and if you touch the metal box and you are grounded, you can get a shock. It is necessary to always ground a metal box for your protection.
Yep, and don't cross the streams or it will cause total protonic reversal in which all life as you know it would be stopped instantly and every atom in your body destroyed. Just to clarify a little. There are new technologies that provide protection against shock and fire. Those two new technologies are ground fault GFCI and arc fault AFCI. What ground fault does is to detect when power is conducting to ground. It does this by measuring the current (amps) on the hot wire (black) and comparing to the current on the neutral wire (white). If the difference is more than approximately 5 milli-amps it trips the breaker. According to google, the all knowing wizard, it takes about 50 to 150 milli-amps to kill you. So, this protects you from getting electrocuted. The bare wire, that should be connected to the metal box, allows a path for the current to ground in the case where the hot wire touches the metal box, which would trip the GFCI breaker. That path would also be a less resistance path than your body and protect you if you are not using a GFCI breaker. In most cases the grounded metal box would probably trip the breaker anyway because it would be a short to ground and the amps drawn on the breaker would exceed it rated amperage. In the current electrical code GFCI is required in garages. Arc fault is a new tech where the breaker is looking for changes in the waveform of electricity on the line that indicate arcing (sparking between wires like between the hot and neutral or hot and ground), which can cause fires. The normal waveform on the line is a 60 HZ wave. So the arc fault breaker looks for feedback on the line that is not 60 HZ. Unfortunately there are a lot of devices that feedback non-60 HZ signals as interference. LED bulbs, electric motors, turning on/off light switches, computer equipment, plus more can feedback non-60 HZ signals. These are considered safe arcs and should not trip AFCI breakers. Dangerous arcs where say the hot and neutral wires are sparking between temp, generating enough heat to start a fire, should product a waveform that is considered dangerous by the breaker should trip it. This tech is new and AFCI breakers sometimes have difficulty detecting safe arcs from dangerous arcs. For those people with newer houses or who have upgraded to AFCI breakers, you may have experienced nuisance trips of AFCI breakers when using certain devices. The tech is not perfect but is getting better. Newer AFCI breakers are getting better and newer devices are better about not feeding back waveforms that will trip AFCI breakers. AFCI is currently not required in garages. However if you recently replaced breakers or have new construction you may notice that most breakers now are a combo of AFCI/GFCI. Hope this helps explain things without putting anyone to sleep. And I do like your idea of powering a brighter light off the garage door opener. Just want people to do it safely!
Too much information. It’s a basic two wire zip cord (lamp cord, same as every household lamp sold anywhere in America) circuit. Polarity isn’t an issue. Grounding isn’t an issue. Just don’t let a frayed strand of wire dangle.
Please NOTE: some garage door openers can be affected by interference from the wrong type of light bulb that will stop the remote from working!! It’s quite an ordeal to find the right bulb to get back to normal operation.
It’s just because if one of the wires pulled loose, the metal box could become live. A 3-prong extension with the ground going to the box would solve it, if a live wire touched the now grounded box, it would trip the circuit. A plastic box with a 2-prong extension is also fine, the box cannot become live.
Makes perfect sense. I don’t know that a ground gets passed via that light socket plug adapter. That adapter likely has the 3rd prong there just for show…..I think. My new setup is all plastic so I should be in good shape.
Agreed, a bulb to plug adaptor can’t have a ground. The only concern with the plastic bulb fixture is if the wires touched and were to arc, is the surface it is screwed to non-combustible. Electric code exists to safely handle what happens if things fail.
Now look up relays. You can have the opener switch on a relay which in turn switches a real light circuit. After you get the relay down, you can add a second relay switched by a motion detector and the second relay switches the same light circuit as the first relay. Now you have nice garage lights that turn on either with the garage door, or by movement in the garage. I really like mine.
@@mikebond6328 You think a single bulb in a plug in socket, powered by a source limited to maybe 60watt to 100w is in any way related to the amount of light needed to properly illuminate even a single car garage much less a double? The relay could be wired to switch on the same lights as the wall switch, which most people have in their garage unless they are lighting it with a single plug-in bulb.
I see someone already mentioned the problem I am fixing to mention, some(usually older) openers could only take incandescent bulbs. That is because they used a scr to power the bulb, not a relay, and the scr changed ac to dc.
@@DadDoingStuff Yes, that would work, and even be better for the bulb, as it would not experience vibration from the door opener, so the bulb may last a lot longer. Just things an old pro would know, lol.
If only I had an older opener with a lamp inside 😢😢 But alas my Chamberlain has LED’s of which I cannot bypass to feed my World’s Greatest Garage lighting 😢
Every LED device I have tried in my garage door opener like this, has caused enough interference that I couldnt close the garage door with the remote until the light timed out.
I’ve heard that happening with a few folks with LED bulbs. It makes me wonder, if you move the LED bulb further away (in my case it’s the opposite direction, so it’s away from being between the car and the GDO) if that might help? So this hack might actually solve that problem. Maybe. Mine never had a problem with LEDs so I’ve no way to test that theory. But you my friend could!
I had that issue with any LED bulb that has that plastic base on the bottom. Whatever electronics are in there is what is causing the interference. Get the bulbs that don't have that base and they should work. Those are usually the ones that are trying to copy the look of an Edison bulb, with a noticeable "filament"
Why is there Cat5e network wire ran to your opener for the control button and safety beam? I would clean that up next with the appropriate type of wire so it looks more professional. I mean, it works, but overkill for the type of wire.
@@BR549_o7 The funny thing is, regular 2 conductor general purpose low voltage wire can be less expensive than 8 conductor Cat5. But Cat5 becomes a "catch all" to inexperienced installers because it's more readily available.
@@DadDoingStuff I'll have to admit, I was really roasting the original installer. I did low voltage work in homes for 20 years, installing telephone, television, network, speaker, and alarm wiring. There is always the correct wire for the job. Cat5 would only be used for network, telephone (more as a "future proof" measure because telephone can be ran with Cat3), and there are some whole house speaker systems that use Cat5 for the keypads. But for something like this, just standard 22/2 wire would be appropriate. Electricians loved to use Cat5 for anything low voltage - doorbells were a favorite. It mainly kept them from having to stock another type of wire on their vans although Cat5 was usually more expensive. The best was when we would come across an electrician who would wire up the telephones in the house on Cat5 and not understand the color codes. Blue/White is supposed to be Line 1, orange/white Line 2. They would untwist all the conductors and connect any color to any terminal on the phone jack, losing any benefit from using a twisted pair wire to prevent cross talk. And half the jacks wouldn't work because they would switch up the colors halfway through. We were always called in by the homeowner to clean up their mess!
Many garage door openers suggest NOT to use LED lights with garage door openers as they may interfere with the remote signals. There are Ew Toob videos that show this happening.
I have heard that for some folks. Not been an issue with mine as I was using a LED bulb in the opener already. It does make me wonder….maybe re-locating the socket farther away like I did would actually help resolve the interference? I moved my socket away from the driveway and more towards the garage interior. So maybe that could help resolve it. I don’t know….but it kinda makes sense given the signal would be going to/from the driveway direction.
This is a fact. I had issues with mine when I tried using regular LED bulbs. However, Genie makes bulbs that don’t interfere with the signal and they do work. As for extra light in the garage I installed 2 shop lights that tie into the ceiling fixture with an adapter. They throw a lot of light but are on the light switch on the wall. The 2 bulbs in my opener provide enough basic light automatically to get in and out of the vehicle. If more light is needed we just use the shop light switch. That said I’ve considered this videos solution in the past but just never needed that much light automatically. I’m glad to see that is an option that does work.
@@jimb8601 same here, I use CFL bulbs which Chamberlin recommends instead of LED. I also replaced the garage light with one of those "pedal" looking LED bulbs along with a 4 foot LED shop light over the work bench.
Well Mr Corgi, I don’t have fixtures in my ceiling. I use flush mounted LEDs. I also already have a motion sensor built into GDO button on the wall. Lastly, I don’t want my regular lights on a sensor. I like them to stay on when I’m doing stuff in the back of my garage. For me, that’s why.
I enjoyed your video, in spite of ignoramus arm chair electricians chiming in with their b.s. I am going to wire mine 'zactly like this and enjoy more light, because yes, the single LED bulb in my opener doesn't do shit for light. Why dint I think of this?
Don't know how a brain can conjure up images of this being permanent in any way, shape, or form. It's not romex wire. Your floor lamp isn't mounted on a metal box or otherwise. The video is very credible so the wahh, wahh can stop. There are 4 foot long LED lights available on Amazon having the same cord and plug attachment with switch. Ready to plug into any outlet. The beauty is their weight is minimal, they have easy to screw in holders and can be plugged in end to end with different length wire from light to light. with this method your standard bulb screw in base can afford to power 2 40w LED strips. Lights up a garage bay the way they should be lit. Work nice in a basement too. Closets too. Wahh wahh!
And, ask yourself, before the government got involved? What did dad, grandad, do? Ask yourself, how many relatives where electrocuted in YOUR life. Ask yourself, did you wake up in the morning and say, " I wonder who's life I can screw up today? " Do you work for the government? There is NO music, like OLD music, up until your head banger scrap came around, now its old to? But, my point, Hank Williams had a song years ago, and I wonder, What did he see, what did he know? It was called, " Mind Your Own Business! " Point made! Great idea. I am going to run out and buy me a light, a metal box, and a screw in socket. Today.
Vibration from the opener operation will quickly wear through the cord insulation zip-tied to metal brackets. Prepare for a short circuit, hopefully when you are home to put out the resulting fire.
I had a strip style light zip tied up there in the same way for over a year. Didn't even remotely put a scuff on the cord, much less wear through it. Could it wear through? I guess anything is possible. But quickly?
Lame. Just add a motion activated LED strip light. Way brighter. Plug it in the same place you plug the opener in. That way you also have light when you walk into your garage,
I already have a power cord reel plugged into the extra outlet and my particular opener already has a motion detector built into the button on the wall right by door. So I do have light when I walk into my garage. Maybe with those details my setup is less lame. Either way, thanks for watching.
Yep. A dark garage is much better! We love poorly lighted spaces!!! I switched mine to an LED like the video shows years ago and I have to clean it annually. Ughhhh....
Heard some folks have gotten interference with LED bulbs. Not sure if that’s related to a specific type or not. So far has not been a problem with mine at all. Might even be better having the LED farther away from the opener? 🤷🏻♂️ Interestingly my opener has a rating for fluorescent bulbs of only 25w. Not sure why that is the case. Maybe heat.
It was exactly the reverse for me. I fought with the remote for a couple of months before I heard about issues with using CFL bulbs. After switching out the CFL's with LEDs, I have not had a single battle since.
It is true that some LED's do interfere with the opener signal, although it appears to be opener specific. Mine doesn't appear to care, but my brothers worked poorly until he got door opener specific LED's which probably have a better noise shielding. CFL's will also interfere with remote signals, so they are obviously not a solution in most cases, beside being basically functionally obsolete.
"I'm a professional" lmfao!! Nice job on the existing wiring, power cords wrapped with the low voltage (24 gauge cat5 isn't really appropriate for that application) opener cords, nothing secured... But again, "I'm a professional"...
I didn't install the cat5 for the opener sensors. That was the builder. Never had a problem with and still don't. Works perfectly fine. Thx for watching!
the way it is , is just fine. Do you know how much current is running through those door opener button / door sensors CAT 5 wires? I doubt you do, or else you would not be making stupid comments like this.... A 9 volt battery prob gives you more of a jolt when putting it on your tongue than those CAT 5 wires have running through them.
If it were data running over the cat5/cat6, then yes, bundling power together (like with zip ties) will cause interference in the data lines, so always want to keep them separate. But for this application, they aren't passing any data so I'm definitely not concerned about that.
@@DadDoingStuffdoes your garage not have any actual light sockets in the ceiling? If so I get this but I have 4 that are on a light switch so this doesn't make sense to me.. IF this is the only source of light you have then this method totally makes sense but I've yet to have lived anywhere that the garage ONLY had lightning from the garage door opener..
Great idea! My garage is pretty dark (no windows on the large door) and I like to see well when I CLEAN my car. Two of those screw-in, lower power/higher intensity LED light contraptions would do the job better than having to hang a four foot fluorescent fixture.
Could you do a video on your mentioned laser light that replaces a tennis ball ! Please ?
I second this ask! Great video!
Keep it simple, I like that. I made a Laser device similar to yours by taking a cheap laser module and 3D printing a gimbal mount for it but I haven't mounted it yet as I was looking at using a limit switch to activate it and hadn't thought about using the light socket. Thanks for the idea.
Sounds like a rad project! 🤘
In a way I am sad you gave into the haters, but I'm also glad you made an update video because this is even easier than the previous design. Thanks!
Yeah I’m sad too. I do my best to keep up with comments but I got way to overwhelmed with people saying the same thing over and over. This made my life easier and it’s honestly what I was looking for anyway. Thanks for watching (again)!
Did this with a socket extension screwed into the opener, then attached the bendable light to a part of the opener with a zip tie. Works like a charm.
Yeah that would work great!
Nice timing for this video. I added this project to my "Garage Projects" list.
Rad! This is a super easy one!
Good video. I just removed the plastic cover. Amazon sells a socket extender with a directional hinge in it. I simply put that in, pointing down, along with a LED lamp similar to yours.
That's a great idea!
Props for using network cable to run the sensors and button. That stuff is great to repurpose.
That's the wiring the builder used when the house was built. Not normal "garage opener" 2-wire, but it works.
I’m commenting the same thing. To be honest I have some opener work to do this spring and an old unused box of CAT 5 wire. I’m going to convert the wires. It’s better protected than the supplied wires AND there’s four pairs just in case.
@@DadDoingStuff surprised builder used that CAT 5 or CAT 6 wire when parallel twin copper wire is so much cheaper. CAT 5 is for data. Sure it works, but is overkill in price.
Probably why houses cost so much!! LOL
Can NOT believe I have never thought of that before, Thx.
If I had a dime every time I said that!! 🤣
I did something like this several years back. I choose a 5000 lumen 4' LED shop light, which draws under 100 Watts, much less than the rating on the opener. Really lights up the garage. You can also get 9000+ lumen 8' shop lights that draw under 100 Watts.
As to your solution of attaching directly to the ceiling, I would need to check the NEC but I believe that is a code violation. You should first install a box, then attach the fixture to the box. That would prevent the hot wire from coming into contact with anything it should not touch. Since there is no ground on that cord use a plastic box. Perhaps a licensed electrician can comment on this.
Don't want to sound negative, your idea of having an external light is great, just want everyone to do it safely and prevent shocks or worse, fires. I had a bad experience with a dishwasher repair man recently. My dishwasher would not run and was tripping the AFCI/GFCI breaker. The repair man insisted that it was the AFCI/GFCI breaker. I had already switched that breaker twice to make sure it was not the breaker. He wanted me to remove the AFCI/GFCI breaker and just use an old non AFCI/GFCI breaker. Well, turned out it was a bad wire that was melting the terminal block at the back of the dishwasher. If I had switched to the old breaker it would NOT have tripped and I would have had a fire in my kitchen. Doing some research online I found that terminal block was a known problem and a number of houses were totally lost to fire because of that badly designed terminal block.
Bottom line, following the electrical code may seem like a hassle but it is there for a reason to save getting shocked or causing fires.
Appreciate your feedback and that dishwasher example. Something similar happened to my neighbors furnace a few year ago where it was melted inside the box on the furnace. Scary. That’s the main reason I ditched the metal box for mine.
That is a brilliant idea! Sunco lighting has some great 5K 4' wraparound lights that would really light up your garage. Subbed.
Thx dude! Appreciate the comment. A 4’ light would really light stuff up!
This is great. An alternative and simpler hack is to install a motion sensor switch on the wall switch controlling the home lighting in the garage. When I open the garage door from my car the motion sensor senses the door opening and turns on all the garage lights. It’s a cheap easy hack. There is one downside, if you spend a lot of time in the garage, the timer on the motion sensor will eventually turn off the house lights.
Definitely an option. I didn’t do that because of the timer and I spend a lot of time in the back of my garage.
Such a great video this is so helpful and informative for me I'm definitely gonna look into this when we buy a house ! And people just need something to b****h about or they aren't happy I'll never understand it but that's how it seems! It's sad honestly! But you did a great job and I appreciate your video! I definitely will subscribe now
Thx Vinny! Appreciate the kind words!
I did this years ago as well, except I used two 4 ft LED shop lights. Had to try a couple of different brands as some will interfere with the wireless signal and door won't close when the lights are on.
I’ve heard that happening. Wonder if the placements of the shop lights comes into play?
Great idea, I will be doing the metal box.
Maybe I'm missing something but I have a separate dedicated light switch for my garage sockets..
The opener light is dim but it's minimal lighting for when opening the door..
Are you using this as your only light source? They're often on a timer so unless this is your only source of light I get it but I have 4 sockets in my garage.. i actually installed an adapter to run a bulb but have outlets on the side that I ran a 4ft led light overhead of my work bench. My other 3 lights i do have those fan out lights.
Again for my setup it doesn't make sense but if this is the only source (which is usually isn't in a garage) then it makes sense..
Also for that light weight socket you dont need to be into a rafter, some drywalli anchors would be more than enough to support the weight..
Not missing anything. I have regular lights on switches. This setup really does two things in our garage. First, way better light when we get in/out of the car. Second is that our opener button has a motion sensor built in. That triggers as soon as we step into the garage from the house. So when we go in/out to get to the garage fridge and freezer, it lights up and we don’t have to touch the wall switches at all. And then it just turns off a few min later. So works pretty nicely for our use case.
And yes….drywall anchors are more than sufficient.
Omg what a great idea thanks for sharing
You could create electrical interference problems. My neighbor did something very similar which caused erratic non working issues from his car opener. Removed it and all was fine.
For my garage opener I have 2 100w equivalent LED bulbs. I found only Philips brand to be interference free. My neighbor copied me and said it works too.
I have had a few people mention LED interference, which I admit I had never heard of before of. Seems totally possible, but has not been an issue on mine to date.
@@curtisi4403 if you can find an old incandescent bulb, they don’t flash on and off 15 times per second and causing interference
@@10forthebigguy753 But they cause 10 other issues, including poor lightning, excessive heat, the filaments don't like vibration and tend of fail prematurely just to name a few...
The metal box is only an issue if the wiring wears through insulation and makes contact, or if the light socket base cracks and lets the wiring or contacts touch the metal box, then that bix becomes energized. That is why code requires metal boxes and fixtures be grounded. The solid white light was plastic base so didnt require grounding.
That makes sense to me. Thx for the info!
I would have used the metal box with the short wire. I do things to suit myself not the internet people, make it easy on yourself. Good Job !
Thanks Stanley! I appreciate your comment.
Great idea! The only downside I can see is it changes the UL or SA ratings of the opener. I don't think that's an issue though because you de-rated their maximum 100 watt bulb recommendation, so you should be good to go. You also used UL or SA approved devices. Your wiring is properly anchored as well. Thanks for the tip👍!
Thanks! Appreciate the comment!
This could obviously be done 100 different ways. But I would personally start with just putting in a 28W LED bulb on each end of the opener, which puts out like 2600 lumens each, fits behind the cover, and will give you around 5200 lumens of brightness.
Can get those for about $15 each, no wiring, adapter or anything else required.
If you wanted more light, just buy a 4 foot LED shop light with a built in cord, and the adapter, mount it to the ceiling and plug it in. No home made light socket adapter contraption required, and you can get one for like $17 at Wally World which is 5500 Lumens called Hyper Tough. As a bonus, you can daisy chain up to 4 of those if you like the garage to be brighter than the surface of the sun, and you can spread them out to light up different areas of the garage.
Just an FYI...
👆This is the approach.
The “60W” limitation on light sockets is from the world of incandescent bulbs, where the heat produced would be hot enough to soften or even melt the plastic socket. A porcelain socket base solves the problem the best, allowing for very high wattage bulbs.
I am not sure how much heat a 28W LED will produce - I suspect it might be too much for the plastic socket. But those “60W equivalent” LED bulbs run at something like 9W of actual power, so there will definitely be some sort of brighter LED bulb that could be used that won’t overheat the socket.
You could absolutely do all of those options. Like you said, hundreds of ways, just depends on what works best for your garage.
Very good video. I had the same issue with my garage door light, too weak. But I just put one of those 3 wing led lights in the ceiling light of the garage. It doesn’t light up when the door opens of course but I have enough light from the opener to get inside the house from the car. Nonetheless good video and yes garage door opener lights are crappy.
Yeah that totally works too. Some folks suggested putting a motion sensor switch in place of the normal wall switch. That probably works ok as well. Thx for watching!
Nice, informative video. Would you mind adding information about the laser parking light (modern day tennis ball)?
I still use a tennis ball! My wife swears by it.
@1959mikel Tennis ball will never fail!
Hi William. They no longer sell the exact one I have which uses the motion sensor on the garage door opener in order to activate. But they do have these newer ones which have a motion sensor built in. So long as you can plug it in to an outlet it should do the trick. This one seems to be one of the highest rated ones on Amazon. Just line up the laser to a spot on your dashboard and you are set! amzn.to/4acwf7U Hope that helps!
I’ve been thinking about doing this for a few years, but using a flexible gooseneck plug instead of the wire.
Another dude said he used the clamp on painters lamps for like 10 years. Just clamped them to the metal supports their hold up the opener. Should work just fine!
If you honestly know what you're doing (and it seems you do), just ignore the internet. Everyone's going to find fault with anything someone does, especially with electricity. Like you said you're essentially wiring a lamp... and guess what most lamp sockets are made out of... yes, METAL!
Sound advice my friend! Appreciate the comment!
Awesome idea thanks! On a side note, do you know how to make the light come on when someone trips the laser safety sensor? Mine used to but not anymore 🤷🏻♂️
Could be a number of things, depending on the model. Do those sensors still work to prevent the door from closing on something/someone?
@@DadDoingStuffYa they work correctly… but I used to be able to leave the garage door open and the lights would turn on whenever someone walked in. A repair guy had to fix something on it a while back and it doesn’t do that anymore… you have to find the wall switch to turn them on
I’d love to integrate the GDO to turn on (and off) my normal ceiling garage lights. They’re LED, so low current draw. I wonder if I could install a Lutron remote-capable switch and have the GDO activate it through the bulb socket…
I did have another viewer mention that you could use a relay to have it activate your wall switch lights. I'm sure our internet police would have a field day with that, but it sounds like a cool project.
Why not just replace the light switch with a motion sensor? Then the light turns on after you enter the garage, and then turns off after you leave, and most of them have a manual override.
That way your garage will light up with just a bright standard LED bulb in the opener, and then gets brighter when your motion sensor picks up you walking around or entering or exiting the garage....
If you were gonna have it activate your normal wall switch lights, yes. I think in that case a wall motion switch would be a pretty easy route. I have those in my laundry/pantry/and kid's bathrooms. Most of the places they tend to leave the lights on!
A person if so desired could just take the crappie cover off of the garage door opener and install one or two if the opener has two LED 75 watt DAYLIGHT Bulbs which would give plenty of light and would come on every time the garage door was opened or closed and most openers have a button on the wall mount to turn the lights on and off.
Agreed, would work as well.
Good tip for folks who do not have ceiling lights in addition to the garage door opener.
We have both and still like the extra light. Our wall button has a motion sensor that kicks the light on when we step into the garage. So for us it’s kinda dual purpose and we use the wall switches way less. Plus the kids don’t leave the garage lights on all the time!
Mine has two light bulbs and I moved both of them out onto the ceiling using this method.
That's sweet. Probably gives you great light!
Do door openers have a limit on the current you can draw through them?
Yes. Should be printed right on the opener next to the light bulb socket. Ours has a rating for regular bulbs and for fluorescent bulbs.
They do because often they have a solid state relay instead of a mechanical relay to turn the lights on and off. You also have to factor in the power draw of the opener motor and electronics in addition to the lights, which is why there is a limit.
Dude! Where did you find the sweet Space X booster louvre light fixture?? 🤷🏻♂️
🤣🤣🤣
The screw base lamp sockets are typically rated for a 60-100W incandescent lamp. That equivalent of 14 screw base LED "60 W" lamps. You could light your garage lie an OR using the method shown -BUT why use the openers' switched socket?
This isn’t my primary garage light. But it doesn’t trigger from the motion sensor built into the wall button. So every time we step in the garage it turns on. We use that to grab stuff from the fridge and such. So 90% of the time we don’t use the main lights with wall switches. Those are mostly for when I’m doing projects out there.
I use a plug adapter and a 4' led fixture.
That works perfectly!
I did this years ago, lights just hang on a clip. LED lights were getting messed up with vibration. Haven't changed bulbs in a decade. Btw an LED 100watt bulb uses only 23 watts so one of your comments at the beginning about using high wattage bulbs is confusing.
Sorry about the confusion on the wattage. Yeah I've had a few viewers do the clip-on light method, which should totally work except for getting vibrated every time the opener runs. Two of the advantages to moving the socket further away would be: Less Vibration, and also less LED interference with the RF between the opener and the remote. I guess some LED's can interfere with that. Thanks for watching and the comment!
5:48 If your opener was unplugged how come the new light came on when you plugged it in?
At 0:50 he said he was not going to unplug his opener because he is a professional. He did advise everyone to unplug it though. Good point, Truth 👍.
Yeah what he said. 😉
I like it. Tell me about your laser, is it to stop your car in the correct spot?
Yup, that’s exactly what it’s for. Kinda like this one, which has its own motion sensor built in. amzn.to/4hbihoS
Do you have constant power going to your garage door opener? My light only turns on when the garage door is opened then about after 5 minutes the light turns off.
That's what mine does too. The opener button on the wall (on our model) also has a motion sensor, so as soon as you step into the garage from the house, the light will turn on for about 5 min.
@@DadDoingStuff oh ok, I don't have the motion sensor. Great video!
@@reyreymtz I wired a motion detection module and added multiple lights all over the garage. Currently 6 LED lights distributed and plenty of light and turn off when you leave after 4/5 minutes. Wife would always leave the light in the garage constantly. That light switch now only controls a 4watt bulb (night light)
I like your first version better. With that version you could add another fixture with the same bulb and still be within the 100 watts. You could always use plastic boxes to appease all the RUclips comment section warriors as well.
You aren’t wrong! The metal sure got the internet police all up in arms!
I just put a bright, three LED bulb fixture into the regular overhead socket and if I need to have more light, I just flip a switch. The ONLY negative is there is no auto shut off, but so what?
Totally awesome -- thank you - I will do the same --
Happy to help!
Did you run out of CAT5 cable
Haha…..builders. 🤷🏻♂️
Well. 1) It's your garage. 2) Many good and bad comments. 3) Why do you want the opener light so bright? I just use ours to navigate the garage to the switch for the regular lights. If you don't have regular lights, how is a 2-minute light going to help? 4) I like the laser idea - thanks. 5) What's with all those pulleys?!
Many openers have a button which turns the lights on until you turn them off or the door is operated.
1) yes. Everyone should do what’s best for their garage. 2) Internet haters are inevitable, but lots of compliments so that’s nice. 3) ours stays on about 5 min. Our particular opener has a motion sensor built into the wall button. So anytime we step into the garage, this light kicks on for 5 min. It happens to also be right in front of our garage fridge/freezer. 90% of the time this is the only light we use as we are just popping out to grab something out of the fridge. Kinda ties back to point 1, it works really well for our garage. 4) yeah laser parking assist kicks butt! 5) We have a roof tent that is pretty heavy. I built that system so we can store it up by the ceiling, then lower it onto the racks on my truck. When we are done camping I just detach and crank it back up. Works pretty awesome. I should probably do a video on that sometime. 6) Thanks for watching!
Just add a motion light
Kinda what I did. My opener wall button has a motion sensor built in. So it triggers any time we walk into the garage.
Why don't LED bulbs work in my Chamberlain garage door opener? It seems only incandescent bulbs work properly. The LEDs flicker and then go out quickly. Also, would you provide a link for those laser parking lights PLEASE. THANK YOU!!
I'm guessing your LED bulb is an early model. I haven't found any LED bulb not working in an opener.
@@leewhitmore5350 The bulbs were purchased within the past 6 months. I have tried numerous LED bulbs the past few years. All have had the same problem. Those spiral fluorescents had the same problem. If I put an incandescent bulb in, it works properly. This has been 100% repeatable. The LEDs were ACE, FEIT, and some Walmart brand Jewenwils or Sewenwils (can't read the strange logo script.)
Someone explains it in the comments.
LED bulbs in my Chamberlain opener kill the remote range. The door will open with the remote, but that turns on the light and then the remote will not close the door. I tried a number of LED bulbs and finally went back to incandescent.
I’ve been using LED bulbs for quite some time with decent luck. However I saw video by Silver Cymbol (great channel, BTW) where he discusses that some LED bulbs are not meant to be inside anything enclosed. I’d recommend watching his video on that. Might be related? 🤷🏻♂️
Regarding the laser, they don’t seem to sell my model anymore. Mine used the garage opener as the means of turning on/off, just like my light. But, they seem to sell something similar except they have built in motion sensors. So if you have a spare outlet in your ceiling, you can just plug straight into that. I’ve not tested this one, but it has rather high rating on Amazon. amzn.to/426nCtv Hope that helps!
I’m glad to see all the Internet police are here
Yes…here they come. 😂
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using an EMT box.
The ‘internet’ is apparently not aware that most electrical circuits are in steel boxes and conduit.
Sure plastic is the most common form these days. But a simple two wire light socket is perfectly safe.
Unless the wire is in bad condition and is just poked through a hole haphazardly.
Appreciate you saying that. The internet seems to be overrun with armchair electricians ready to tell you that everything you do is a horrible idea. I felt like I had built my original one safely.
Nice project. I will try it. Thanks. Can you also tell me about that Laser parking assist you have?
So the one I have was designed to be used as I’ve done it. Seems all of the newer ones have a motion sensor built in as well. If you search Amazon, you will see a ton of them. Mine is basically 2 flat lasers that are about 6” wide beam. I set them like a crosshair. So when we park I use one to guide left/right and the other so we know how far to pull in. It’s perfect parking every time!
@@DadDoingStuff Thanks.
Also, the wattage limits on your GDO are almost certainly for heat from an incandescent bulb, not actual wattage. I bet the internal wiring on the GDO can support 10A power. in any case, with LED bulbs we probably don't have to worry about it. The relay that turns the light on and off is probably the weakest link in the chain.
Yeah LED should be fine with 10A. I notice most smart plugs are also 10A.
The problem is that many “ regular “ LED bulbs can interfere with the remote function of the garage door opener. Some LED bulbs are marketed specifically for garage door openers but the typically aren’t any brighter that the recommended incandescent bulb, although they may last longer and consume less electricity.
You could buh a 2 prong connector and eliminate the bunch of cord zip tied there. cutting to length and and installing that connector on that custom length
You could 💯 do that! And it would look better. I just didn’t want to take a bunch of RUclips DIY folks down that electrical path….
@ i see! Good idea!
Extension cords cannot be used as permanent wiring method. See NEC Article 400.12, flexible cords and flexible cables, uses not permitted.
What makes this permanent? I plug lamps in the same way and they aren’t permanent. Had I somehow hard wired this into the garage door opener or directly into an electrical outlet box, then I’d agree that this is permanent. But with the way I’ve done it, not permanent.
@ Unless you are going to unplug the lights when leave the garage, and when the lights are not in use then you are using the cord as permanent wiring method. Also you have affixed the extension cord to the structure. Read the code!
So what's the purpose of this light ? it has a built in on/off switch . Who is gonna constantly unplug and plug it back in if it has that switch ? Nobody.
Seems no more "affixed" than if I had stapled Christmas lights to my eaves and plugged them in. We'll have to agree to disagree.
@@seanote1906 So when I leave the room I have to unplug my table lamp?
The link's light socket now "Currently unavailable"
Damn that happened quick! These look like the same type of fixture. amzn.to/3PpvcI2 I’ll update the description. Thx!
The problem with a metal box is that if the hot contacts the metal, the metal box conducts 120 VAC and if you touch the metal box and you are grounded, you can get a shock. It is necessary to always ground a metal box for your protection.
Appreciate the comment and the info!!
Don’t touch the metal box. Got it.
Yep, and don't cross the streams or it will cause total protonic reversal in which all life as you know it would be stopped instantly and every atom in your body destroyed.
Just to clarify a little. There are new technologies that provide protection against shock and fire. Those two new technologies are ground fault GFCI and arc fault AFCI. What ground fault does is to detect when power is conducting to ground. It does this by measuring the current (amps) on the hot wire (black) and comparing to the current on the neutral wire (white). If the difference is more than approximately 5 milli-amps it trips the breaker. According to google, the all knowing wizard, it takes about 50 to 150 milli-amps to kill you. So, this protects you from getting electrocuted. The bare wire, that should be connected to the metal box, allows a path for the current to ground in the case where the hot wire touches the metal box, which would trip the GFCI breaker. That path would also be a less resistance path than your body and protect you if you are not using a GFCI breaker. In most cases the grounded metal box would probably trip the breaker anyway because it would be a short to ground and the amps drawn on the breaker would exceed it rated amperage. In the current electrical code GFCI is required in garages.
Arc fault is a new tech where the breaker is looking for changes in the waveform of electricity on the line that indicate arcing (sparking between wires like between the hot and neutral or hot and ground), which can cause fires. The normal waveform on the line is a 60 HZ wave. So the arc fault breaker looks for feedback on the line that is not 60 HZ. Unfortunately there are a lot of devices that feedback non-60 HZ signals as interference. LED bulbs, electric motors, turning on/off light switches, computer equipment, plus more can feedback non-60 HZ signals. These are considered safe arcs and should not trip AFCI breakers. Dangerous arcs where say the hot and neutral wires are sparking between temp, generating enough heat to start a fire, should product a waveform that is considered dangerous by the breaker should trip it. This tech is new and AFCI breakers sometimes have difficulty detecting safe arcs from dangerous arcs. For those people with newer houses or who have upgraded to AFCI breakers, you may have experienced nuisance trips of AFCI breakers when using certain devices. The tech is not perfect but is getting better. Newer AFCI breakers are getting better and newer devices are better about not feeding back waveforms that will trip AFCI breakers. AFCI is currently not required in garages. However if you recently replaced breakers or have new construction you may notice that most breakers now are a combo of AFCI/GFCI.
Hope this helps explain things without putting anyone to sleep. And I do like your idea of powering a brighter light off the garage door opener. Just want people to do it safely!
VERY useful info dude!!
Too much information. It’s a basic two wire zip cord (lamp cord, same as every household lamp sold anywhere in America) circuit. Polarity isn’t an issue. Grounding isn’t an issue. Just don’t let a frayed strand of wire dangle.
Cool idea. I happen to have a crappy garage light and one of those led lamps I'm not using.
Use what you got!
Please NOTE: some garage door openers can be affected by interference from the wrong type of light bulb that will stop the remote from working!!
It’s quite an ordeal to find the right bulb to get back to normal operation.
The metal box was a much better idea. Having bare wires mounted against the ceiling is a worse idea I think.
Agree the box gave more room, but they still aren’t touching the ceiling with this socket.
It’s just because if one of the wires pulled loose, the metal box could become live.
A 3-prong extension with the ground going to the box would solve it, if a live wire touched the now grounded box, it would trip the circuit.
A plastic box with a 2-prong extension is also fine, the box cannot become live.
Makes perfect sense. I don’t know that a ground gets passed via that light socket plug adapter. That adapter likely has the 3rd prong there just for show…..I think. My new setup is all plastic so I should be in good shape.
Agreed, a bulb to plug adaptor can’t have a ground.
The only concern with the plastic bulb fixture is if the wires touched and were to arc, is the surface it is screwed to non-combustible.
Electric code exists to safely handle what happens if things fail.
Now look up relays. You can have the opener switch on a relay which in turn switches a real light circuit. After you get the relay down, you can add a second relay switched by a motion detector and the second relay switches the same light circuit as the first relay. Now you have nice garage lights that turn on either with the garage door, or by movement in the garage.
I really like mine.
Interesting idea! I like it.
How is this not a “real” light circuit?
@@mikebond6328 You think a single bulb in a plug in socket, powered by a source limited to maybe 60watt to 100w is in any way related to the amount of light needed to properly illuminate even a single car garage much less a double? The relay could be wired to switch on the same lights as the wall switch, which most people have in their garage unless they are lighting it with a single plug-in bulb.
I see someone already mentioned the problem I am fixing to mention, some(usually older) openers could only take incandescent bulbs. That is because they used a scr to power the bulb, not a relay, and the scr changed ac to dc.
Good call out. I suppose you could still at least re-locate the bulb location and just use an incandescent bulb.
@@DadDoingStuff Yes, that would work, and even be better for the bulb, as it would not experience vibration from the door opener, so the bulb may last a lot longer. Just things an old pro would know, lol.
I need a portable elevator for my wheelchair to install
If you were my neighbor, I'd come do it for you.
Can I do this? I'm 80 years old and gave up ladders at age 65.
I’d recommend have a friend or family member come do it. Better to stay safe!
no, you can't do it.
No
I like it. Subscribed.
Thanks Mike!! Appreciate you!
If only I had an older opener with a lamp inside 😢😢
But alas my Chamberlain has LED’s of which I cannot bypass to feed my World’s Greatest Garage lighting 😢
So it has built in LEDs? How well do they work?
I like the large Feit LED lights, from 5,000 to 20,000 lumens, and they really light up the garage, and don’t use much electricity.
Heck yes!
Every LED device I have tried in my garage door opener like this, has caused enough interference that I couldnt close the garage door with the remote until the light timed out.
I’ve heard that happening with a few folks with LED bulbs. It makes me wonder, if you move the LED bulb further away (in my case it’s the opposite direction, so it’s away from being between the car and the GDO) if that might help? So this hack might actually solve that problem. Maybe. Mine never had a problem with LEDs so I’ve no way to test that theory. But you my friend could!
I had that issue with any LED bulb that has that plastic base on the bottom. Whatever electronics are in there is what is causing the interference. Get the bulbs that don't have that base and they should work. Those are usually the ones that are trying to copy the look of an Edison bulb, with a noticeable "filament"
Why is there Cat5e network wire ran to your opener for the control button and safety beam? I would clean that up next with the appropriate type of wire so it looks more professional. I mean, it works, but overkill for the type of wire.
Because you use what's on the shelf.
That's what the builder used....I didn't install it. It's low-voltage so I guess it gets the job done.
@@neilbrinker9225 good answer. The mexicans who built the house just needed wire, so the first thing they saw, they used.
@@BR549_o7 The funny thing is, regular 2 conductor general purpose low voltage wire can be less expensive than 8 conductor Cat5. But Cat5 becomes a "catch all" to inexperienced installers because it's more readily available.
@@DadDoingStuff I'll have to admit, I was really roasting the original installer. I did low voltage work in homes for 20 years, installing telephone, television, network, speaker, and alarm wiring. There is always the correct wire for the job. Cat5 would only be used for network, telephone (more as a "future proof" measure because telephone can be ran with Cat3), and there are some whole house speaker systems that use Cat5 for the keypads. But for something like this, just standard 22/2 wire would be appropriate. Electricians loved to use Cat5 for anything low voltage - doorbells were a favorite. It mainly kept them from having to stock another type of wire on their vans although Cat5 was usually more expensive.
The best was when we would come across an electrician who would wire up the telephones in the house on Cat5 and not understand the color codes. Blue/White is supposed to be Line 1, orange/white Line 2. They would untwist all the conductors and connect any color to any terminal on the phone jack, losing any benefit from using a twisted pair wire to prevent cross talk. And half the jacks wouldn't work because they would switch up the colors halfway through. We were always called in by the homeowner to clean up their mess!
Many garage door openers suggest NOT to use LED lights with garage door openers as they may interfere with the remote signals. There are Ew Toob videos that show this happening.
I just found that out. If you have to push the remote 20 times to close it. It needs a old-school incandescent lightbulb.
I have heard that for some folks. Not been an issue with mine as I was using a LED bulb in the opener already. It does make me wonder….maybe re-locating the socket farther away like I did would actually help resolve the interference? I moved my socket away from the driveway and more towards the garage interior. So maybe that could help resolve it. I don’t know….but it kinda makes sense given the signal would be going to/from the driveway direction.
This is a fact. I had issues with mine when I tried using regular LED bulbs. However, Genie makes bulbs that don’t interfere with the signal and they do work.
As for extra light in the garage I installed 2 shop lights that tie into the ceiling fixture with an adapter. They throw a lot of light but are on the light switch on the wall. The 2 bulbs in my opener provide enough basic light automatically to get in and out of the vehicle. If more light is needed we just use the shop light switch.
That said I’ve considered this videos solution in the past but just never needed that much light automatically. I’m glad to see that is an option that does work.
@@10forthebigguy753 CFL bulbs work too.
@@jimb8601 same here, I use CFL bulbs which Chamberlin recommends instead of LED. I also replaced the garage light with one of those "pedal" looking LED bulbs along with a 4 foot LED shop light over the work bench.
Oy Vey! Why not use the LED winged light in your garage ceiling light fixture(s) and use a sensor?
Well Mr Corgi, I don’t have fixtures in my ceiling. I use flush mounted LEDs. I also already have a motion sensor built into GDO button on the wall. Lastly, I don’t want my regular lights on a sensor. I like them to stay on when I’m doing stuff in the back of my garage. For me, that’s why.
I enjoyed your video, in spite of ignoramus arm chair electricians chiming in with their b.s. I am going to wire mine 'zactly like this and enjoy more light, because yes, the single LED bulb in my opener doesn't do shit for light. Why dint I think of this?
LOL! Ah the internet police.....good times. Thanks so much for watching!
Thumbs up, I like.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
😁😁😁😁😁😁😅😅😅😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thx dude!
I’m a professional, so don’ … BZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT
Now THAT would have been a more entertaining video for sure!
@@DadDoingStuff 🤣
Don't know how a brain can conjure up images of this being permanent in any way, shape, or form. It's not romex wire. Your floor lamp isn't mounted on a metal box or otherwise. The video is very credible so the wahh, wahh can stop. There are 4 foot long LED lights available on Amazon having the same cord and plug attachment with switch. Ready to plug into any outlet. The beauty is their weight is minimal, they have easy to screw in holders and can be plugged in end to end with different length wire from light to light. with this method your standard bulb screw in base can afford to power 2 40w LED strips. Lights up a garage bay the way they should be lit. Work nice in a basement too. Closets too. Wahh wahh!
Thanks for the comment dude! Internet haters gonna hate. Regardless, this works pretty well with a huge variety of light options.
Why redo it if you’re an expert?
Oh I’m not an expert. Just a professional. 😉
@ I’m sorry, I thought you said you were an expert. My bad.
And, ask yourself, before the government got involved?
What did dad, grandad, do?
Ask yourself, how many relatives where electrocuted in YOUR life.
Ask yourself, did you wake up in the morning and say, " I wonder who's life I can screw up today? "
Do you work for the government?
There is NO music, like OLD music, up until your head banger scrap came around, now its old to?
But, my point, Hank Williams had a song years ago, and I wonder,
What did he see, what did he know?
It was called, " Mind Your Own Business! "
Point made!
Great idea.
I am going to run out and buy me a light, a metal box, and a screw in socket.
Today.
LOL! My new favorite comment!
Vibration from the opener operation will quickly wear through the cord insulation zip-tied to metal brackets.
Prepare for a short circuit, hopefully when you are home to put out the resulting fire.
I had a strip style light zip tied up there in the same way for over a year. Didn't even remotely put a scuff on the cord, much less wear through it. Could it wear through? I guess anything is possible. But quickly?
I've done this already, and used double insulated cable and hang from that stupid plastic bezel. No wiring to vibrate.
Really! Far sketchier in most homes, probably yours too.
Lame. Just add a motion activated LED strip light. Way brighter. Plug it in the same place you plug the opener in. That way you also have light when you walk into your garage,
I already have a power cord reel plugged into the extra outlet and my particular opener already has a motion detector built into the button on the wall right by door. So I do have light when I walk into my garage. Maybe with those details my setup is less lame. Either way, thanks for watching.
Just something else to clean when the spiders find a new home, and cover it with cobwebs.
Shit you are right. I’m taking it all down.
Yep. A dark garage is much better! We love poorly lighted spaces!!! I switched mine to an LED like the video shows years ago and I have to clean it annually. Ughhhh....
Annually? OMG, we'll have to start a support group to make it though.
OK, it's a garage. if you don't want the difused light. 30 second free fix. Pop the stupid covers off! Done!
Well shit Reggie. Now I have to make a new video.
LED lights interfere with remote signals. Best light is compact fluorescent.
Heard some folks have gotten interference with LED bulbs. Not sure if that’s related to a specific type or not. So far has not been a problem with mine at all. Might even be better having the LED farther away from the opener? 🤷🏻♂️ Interestingly my opener has a rating for fluorescent bulbs of only 25w. Not sure why that is the case. Maybe heat.
It was exactly the reverse for me. I fought with the remote for a couple of months before I heard about issues with using CFL bulbs. After switching out the CFL's with LEDs, I have not had a single battle since.
Very interesting. That is totally opposite from most comments. Glad you got it figured out!
@@DadDoingStuff Makes me wonder if I just got lucky.
It is true that some LED's do interfere with the opener signal, although it appears to be opener specific. Mine doesn't appear to care, but my brothers worked poorly until he got door opener specific LED's which probably have a better noise shielding.
CFL's will also interfere with remote signals, so they are obviously not a solution in most cases, beside being basically functionally obsolete.
4:08 bamm, so I now have an illegal installation again.
4:08? Usually I break the law within the first 4 minutes. I'll try harder next time.
You’re dangerous.
Haha, if you only knew!
I don’t like it. It’s not clean.
Agreed. Blends in perfectly with my garage.
"I'm a professional" lmfao!! Nice job on the existing wiring, power cords wrapped with the low voltage (24 gauge cat5 isn't really appropriate for that application) opener cords, nothing secured... But again, "I'm a professional"...
I didn't install the cat5 for the opener sensors. That was the builder. Never had a problem with and still don't. Works perfectly fine. Thx for watching!
the way it is , is just fine. Do you know how much current is running through those door opener button / door sensors CAT 5 wires? I doubt you do, or else you would not be making stupid comments like this.... A 9 volt battery prob gives you more of a jolt when putting it on your tongue than those CAT 5 wires have running through them.
If it were data running over the cat5/cat6, then yes, bundling power together (like with zip ties) will cause interference in the data lines, so always want to keep them separate. But for this application, they aren't passing any data so I'm definitely not concerned about that.
A lot of work for a lousy fix. Do it right and forget this nonsense.
What is right? Extra light is always needed in a garage.
Work? 😂
Not tracking your comment. Do what right? Build a garage door opener with better light?
LOL…. Yeah this wasn’t what I’d consider “work”.
@@DadDoingStuffdoes your garage not have any actual light sockets in the ceiling? If so I get this but I have 4 that are on a light switch so this doesn't make sense to me..
IF this is the only source of light you have then this method totally makes sense but I've yet to have lived anywhere that the garage ONLY had lightning from the garage door opener..