Garage Door will not stay down

[gman007]

Hi All

I have a three car garage with a Double Door and a single door bay. Both bays have the Genie ProMax garage door openers.

The single door has no issues. But ever since last weekend where here in MI the temps reached around 95F the double door will go all the way down and hit the ground and then come back up. These are my observations.
1- This happens only when the temp inside the garage is 85 F or more (so for example this morning when the temps were in 70s the door had no issues)
2- When the issue happens it seems the arm traveling on the rail will go way past the magnetic sensor (which is supposed to detect the arm and stop it at that point).
3- The only way I can keep the door down is to wait until it is few inches of the ground and then press the button, at that point the door still has some momentum to travel just enough to touch ground. In fact in the attached photos where I have manually stopped the door at the bottom, you can see the arm is already past the sensor. Notice passed the arm (towards the door) you can see grease marks on the railing from when the door travels way past the sensor and applies so much force on the ground that the force sensor then sends back up.

The "stop" sensor on this unit was changed by a qualified technician using OEM part from Genie last year (last year apparently the sensor wires were hanging down and got caught by the chain and tore up etc). So my first thought was the the sensor is acting up.

I called the same company that replaced the sensor last year and since it had been less than 1 year they replaced the sensor again but unfortunately the day (last Wed) the tech came, the temps were under 80 F and so we had no way to reproduce the issue and hence no way to tell if this fixed anything or not. To be honest beyond changing the sensor the tech seems to be lost and had no other ideas as to what else could cause this.

Well yesterday the door stared acting up and we the temps were over 85 F. I have a feeling now it might not be the sensor but whatever in the unit itself that supposed to process the signals from the sensor (but this is my guess).

I did find a youtube video

and the guy has the exact same issues but he had a chamberlain unit and inside his unit the wires to travel limit switch were faulty. I opened my unit and did a visual inspection for loose wires etc and really did not see anything out of ordinary.

So I am getting to the point taking a good size hit to wallet and having the whole unit changed and get this stupidity done with.

Any advise and help is greatly appreciated.

 

[firebirdparts]

Just as a fun experiment, I would suggest lengthening the attachment to the door so that when the door is closed, the attachment link is nowhere near vertical. Make it a lot longer. You'll have to adjust the stop point. At that condition, You'll have a bunch of leverage to push the door closed, and you don't have that now. It'll be physically impossible for the closer to go "too far", and you don't have now.

I pay careful attention to that on my own openers, but I've never had one with optical stop points. Mine are mechanical.

 

[Browneye]

There is an adjustment for the stop location and the pressure it takes to stop. Those adjustments will keep it where you want it. It's all in the manual. Or as they say, RTFM.

 

[tapered-pin]

There is an adjustment for the stop location and the pressure it takes to stop. Those adjustments will keep it where you want it. It's all in the manual. Or as they say, RTFM.

THIS...

something in the garage door or the garage wall has expanded with the heat (humidity?) and effectively made your garage door opening "too small".

the door is trying to shut but is bottoming out before reaching the preset stop location.

 

[wayne55]

What Browneye said. I would just reset the stop location and then the force adjustment. Sometimes they have to be adjusted seasonally.

 

[66Caprice]

Have you cleaned the electronic eye at the bottom of the door? I have had dust and dirt build up to wear it wouldn't read the infra red beam. Also the sun hit's just right it will inter fear with the beam too.

 

[gman007]

Have you cleaned the electronic eye at the bottom of the door? I have had dust and dirt build up to wear it wouldn't read the infra red beam. Also the sun hit's just right it will inter fear with the beam too.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had already cleaned these up to no avail.

 

[gman007]

firebirdparts,Browneye , and wayne55

thank you all for great suggestions. I had played with the force adjustment to no avail.

As I tried to explain the arm seems to ignore were the "limit" sensor is and keeps going way passed it to a point that I was afraid the arm would go all the way to the end of the railing but before this happens the railing is so lifted up in the air (as the arm becomes nearly at right angle to the railing) that the force sensor kicks in and backup the door.

In fact as an experiment I pushed the limit sensor two inches back (away from the door) which in principle should make the door stop two inches off the ground and the arm kept traveling passed the sensor again until again the force sensor kicked in and pushed the door back up.

PS
in the youtube video the guy is taking about travel limit switch and adjustment. I have to check my unit again (I am not home right now) as I only saw the force control and played with it and do not recall a second adjustment knob but may be I missed it.

Are you guys referring to the force limit or the so called "travel limit"?

PS PS
if it turns out that there is a "travel adjustment" then what would be role of this adjustment vs what is controlled by the two limit sensors (one is close to the unit to stop the arm hitting the unit in the door's up position and one is near the door to stop the door from going down too far and that is the one that the arm seems to ignore)

 

[ChaseDE]

I very rarely use my second door, only when mowing grass. It does this, closes then opens a second later. So I close it with the button, walk over and wait for it to hit the ground and hold it down by the handle and it stays.

Terrible workaround I know, but i don't feel like fixing it.

 

[wayne55]

Older openers usually had a travel limit screw and a force adjustment screw. My fairly new Chamberlain just has buttons to push for setting limit and the force is supposed to be automatically controlled.

 

[gman007]

Older openers usually had a travel limit screw and a force adjustment screw. My fairly new Chamberlain just has buttons to push for setting limit and the force is supposed to be automatically controlled.

Wayne Thanks for the info. My unit is 16 years old (was installed when the house was built). Once I get home I will check the manual and the unit and see if there is a travel limit in addition to force limit control on the unit.

 

[gman007]

Well, I am happy and pissed off at the same time! I am happy because I figured out the issue and fixed it. I am pissed off that freaking so called certified tech could make such an idiotic mistake.

As I stated earlier the limit sensor for his unit was changed by a tech under warranty.

After examining every possibility and short of the actual circuit board having an issue I was pretty sure the issue was something to do with the sensor. Now since the sensor was recently changed, That left the wires connecting the sensor to the unit as a possible suspect.

But if you tugged on the wires where they were connected to the unit terminal they looked secured. Never the less I removed the screw for the door down limit terminal and saw that most of what was under the screw was in fact the wire insulation and the actual wire made no context with terminal and I suppose when it was cooler it made enough contact for the sensor to work. So I reconnected the wire and now the door goes down and stays down like a champ!

So I guess the moral of the story is that in this day and age if you want something to be done right, you have to do it yourself.

On second reflection I do not think the tech is an idiot or incompetent. Rather he is probably under time pressure to move from job to job and always rushed! And that is the sad part where quality of work becomes a casualty of ever rushed society.

Thank you all for your advise and recommendations, one can always depend on fellow GJ members for help!

 

[gnpenning]

That's around the vintage that genie was having board issues.

Don't lengthen the stop as someone suggested. No need to and the risk for damages is not worth it.

Do a careful check of all electric connections. Make sure the eyes stay lit and don't go out or flash.

Pull the release and test with out the door. Also open the door manual and check door operation first.

The travel stops are micro switches and easy to check. If you want with the door still discounted move the stop towards the opener and test. Try adjusting down force as well.

 

[Dirtydan69]

Glad you found it. Yep the tech probably makes 15 an hour and his boss gets 90.

 

[Browneye]

"...in this day and age if you want something to be done right, you have to do it yourself."

^^This.

I cringe when I take my cars in...so I rarely do. People say, "You change your own oil on a Mercedes?" Yup. LOL

 

[gman007]

Glad you found it. Yep the tech probably makes 15 an hour and his boss gets 90.

Thanks!

 

[gman007]

That's around the vintage that genie was having board issues.

Don't lengthen the stop as someone suggested. No need to and the risk for damages is not worth it.

Do a careful check of all electric connections. Make sure the eyes stay lit and don't go out or flash.

Pull the release and test with out the door. Also open the door manual and check door operation first.

The travel stops are micro switches and easy to check. If you want with the door still discounted move the stop towards the opener and test. Try adjusting down force as well.

Thank you for the great suggestions and advice. As it turns out the issue was with bad sensor wire connection to the unit terminal.

 

[gman007]

"...in this day and age if you want something to be done right, you have to do it yourself."

^^This.

I cringe when I take my cars in...so I rarely do. People say, "You change your own oil on a Mercedes?" Yup. LOL

Nothing wrong with that, nobody will take care of your car as well as you will .

 

[gnpenning]

Glad you found it. As you know you made a good choice in your starting point

 

[gman007]

Glad you found it. As you know you made a good choice in your starting point

Cheers

 

[tapered-pin]

Thank you for the great suggestions and advice. As it turns out the issue was with bad sensor wire connection to the unit terminal.

interesting.. most I've seen wont even move if the sensor isn't installed properly.

 

[nadogail]

Genie Tech Support 1(800)-843-4084
has talked me through several problems.

 

[gman007]

Genie Tech Support 1(800)-843-4084
has talked me through several problems.

I did talk to Genie Tech Support before I discovered the cause of the issue myself. They said that it must be the sensor board and were going to happily send me a new sensor board for tune of $170 and were even generous enough to also include instructions on how to install it myself.

They did say that the sensor board might or might not fix the issue so they alternatively suggested that I change the entire unit which was again awfully nice of them .

 

[gnpenning]

I did talk to Genie Tech Support before I discovered the cause of the issue myself. They said that it must be the sensor board and were going to happily send me a new sensor board for tune of $170 and were even generous enough to also include instructions on how to install it myself.

They did say that the sensor board might or might not fix the issue so they alternatively suggested that I change the entire unit which was again awfully nice of them .

I think I have some boards left. If you ever need one I'm sure I can beat that price.....