Energy Saver bulbs - putting out infrared?

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davidcole

6041 posts

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#175225 22-Jun-2015 12:27

Recently I was playing with my ir receiver (USB Uirt) and couldn't get it to go properly as it kept getting keypresses from somewhere.

Also I'd notice that it's flashing quite a bit - which means it's receiving.

Yesterday I turned on the downlights at home and noticed that it started flashing a lot....until about 5 - 10 mins later when I guess the lights had warmed up. Has anyone ever seen this before?

Seems the lights are putting out something the ir receiver is picking up while it's warming up..Not sure I'm keen on that.

I haven't looked at the exact model of what the lights are, they're an older screw in type where they would have been incandescent...and have been changed to that coil style evergy saver something like this http://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/lighting/light_bulbs/philips_light_bulb_warm_white_42_watt_227858/ and you can see the spiral coil inside it.

Previously known as psycik

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robcreid

243 posts

Master Geek

#1329238 22-Jun-2015 13:08

I've seen this before with florescent lights as well.
I did support for a while in an office where the developers all had multiple set-to-boxes and a TV on their desks.
We had problems with both unexpected IR signals and remotes not working correctly.

Our solution was usually just making small cardboard shields that blocked signals from above.

Hiamie

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1329245 22-Jun-2015 13:18

I think you may be right.

In my case I was using an IR extender to able to remotely operate the MYSKY PVR from another room. Every so often I wasn't able to operate the MYSKY from my lounge where the MYSKY is located, but the problem always went away after a couple of minutes. Took me ages and ages to work out why!. For a long time I thought the MYSKY had an intermittent fault - I had already proved the MYSKY remote was OK by substitution.

Long story short, the issue was that if someone turned on the light in the room with the extender, the extender relayed garbage to the MYSKY, and I wasn't able to overcome the garbage being relayed to the MYSKY even using the remote in the MYSKY (lounge) room. Glad I didn't send the MYSKY back to SKYTV for replacement, but I hadn't noticed that the problem operating the MYSKY was being caused by someone else turning on a light in a different room!!!!!!

I tried several different brands of energy saver bulbs in the room with the extender, they they all did the same thing. Once they had warmed up, problem went away. So, now I just live with the problem... if someone uses the light in the remote extender's room, then I can't use the MYSKY remote in the lounge, so then I just wait for a couple of minutes, or if desperate, get out of my chair, and walk over to the MYSKY with it's remote in my hand and providing I am really close to the MYSKY, then I am able to overcome the garbage being relayed from the extender's room over the IR extender.

davidcole

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#1329253 22-Jun-2015 13:28

Hiamie: I think you may be right.

In my case I was using an IR extender to able to remotely operate the MYSKY PVR from another room. Every so often I wasn't able to operate the MYSKY from my lounge where the MYSKY is located, but the problem always went away after a couple of minutes. Took me ages and ages to work out why!. For a long time I thought the MYSKY had an intermittent fault - I had already proved the MYSKY remote was OK by substitution.

Long story short, the issue was that if someone turned on the light in the room with the extender, the extender relayed garbage to the MYSKY, and I wasn't able to overcome the garbage being relayed to the MYSKY even using the remote in the MYSKY (lounge) room. Glad I didn't send the MYSKY back to SKYTV for replacement, but I hadn't noticed that the problem operating the MYSKY was being caused by someone else turning on a light in a different room!!!!!!

I tried several different brands of energy saver bulbs in the room with the extender, they they all did the same thing. Once they had warmed up, problem went away. So, now I just live with the problem... if someone uses the light in the remote extender's room, then I can't use the MYSKY remote in the lounge, so then I just wait for a couple of minutes, or if desperate, get out of my chair, and walk over to the MYSKY with it's remote in my hand and providing I am really close to the MYSKY, then I am able to overcome the garbage being relayed from the extender's room over the IR extender.

yeah I spoke to the lightbulb man here and he said yep, it's definitely a thing. Mostly when they're warming up. Said the LED versions should be better (approx $40 for a 240v LED)

Niel

3267 posts

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#1329427 22-Jun-2015 18:14

This is useful. You will not have the issue with LEDs, because white LEDs are actually pure UV radiating a fluorescent sheet which then converts the energy to white (except the old LED bulbs made up of traditional 5mm LEDs).
http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=439694

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andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1329428 22-Jun-2015 18:17

Hmmm, I wonder if this is why my home theater randomly went to nearly max volume a few months back.

n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1329430 22-Jun-2015 18:28

davidcole:
Hiamie: I think you may be right.

<snip>
I tried several different brands of energy saver bulbs in the room with the extender, they they all did the same thing. Once they had warmed up, problem went away. So, now I just live with the problem... if someone uses the light in the remote extender's room, then I can't use the MYSKY remote in the lounge, so then I just wait for a couple of minutes, or if desperate, get out of my chair, and walk over to the MYSKY with it's remote in my hand and providing I am really close to the MYSKY, then I am able to overcome the garbage being relayed from the extender's room over the IR extender.

yeah I spoke to the lightbulb man here and he said yep, it's definitely a thing. Mostly when they're warming up. Said the LED versions should be better (approx $40 for a 240v LED)

Should be able to get LED bulb for less than $20. Small price to pay and probably save energy too :-)

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