Door opener safety beam doesn't work!

[slowTA]

Today I noticed that the safety beam on my opener doesn't stop the door from closing when you break the beam. It's a craftsman 139.54920. I can hold my hand directly over one of the sensors and it only stops the door every other time or so.

This is also the door that seems to not remember the close position exactly and takes tension off the door allowing a noticeable draft.

Does anyone know something about this opener? The trouble shooting section of the owners manual is kinda helpless on this one.

 

[AndyL]

That's a newer whisper drive in the Chamberlain world. Interesting that it's not working.

Try swapping photoeyes side for side, I wonder if the Sunlights just catching the receiver right to keep it thinking it's seeing the other side.

If that's not it - likely logic board time.

 

[slowTA]

Interesting, I first noticed it when it was really foggy.

 

[JoeMcGov]

I put my "seeing eyes" on the overhead floor joist next to the garage door opener motor. 1" apart just staring each other down. That was 24 years ago. Never a problem from them in that wonderful location.

 

[slowTA]

I put my "seeing eyes" on the overhead floor joist next to the garage door opener motor. 1" apart just staring each other down. That was 24 years ago. Never a problem from them in that wonderful location.

Unlike you I want to keep my safety features working.

 

[Selo]

JoeMcGov probably doesn't have little children running about at times.

Selo

 

[slow84lx]

Check the tiny wires from the sensors where they go into the opener. Likely one is pulling out and has a loose connection.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

I jumper my eyes out at the terminal strip on the rear of the operator.

I am the only one in and out of my garage, and besides, I had overhead doors for decades which didn't come with "safety sensors" and I never saw anyone trapped under a closed door.




.

 

[slowTA]

So what part of my first post makes anyone think I want to bypass the safety beam?

For the record I have a 1 year old and want to use the beam to stop the door from closing when I either change my mind or when the timer tells the door to close after I forgot to hold it open.

For those who actually have constructive comments to share, the beam works when I cover one sensor but not the other. I'll have to check again to see which is the 'send' and which is the 'receive' end of the beam.

Covering one sensor, no matter the lighting situation (day or night), will do nothing to stop the door from closing.

 

[jimindm]

There is a lot on you tube about diagnosing craftsman garage door openers.

I just sort of went through this on mine. It would not shut, unless I held the wall button down.

If you need the sensors, mine were interchangeable with chamberlain. Home depot had them on the shelf.

If I recall both lights on the sensors have to be on. Mine were not. You do not say your are are are not. It maybe a board or something, but I found great youtubes for mine in diagnosing it.

 

[pgreenwood]

On mine (Chamberlain? Liftmaster?), the "sender" has an amber light; the "receiver" has a green light. The amber light is always on. The green light is on when properly aimed and nothing is breaking the beam. There are a number of other threads and ideas on this subject on this forum. Search "shade".

 

[csi123]

If swapping them doesn't work just buy a new pair. They are quite cheap and easy to replace.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Before you go swapping out sensors, did you look to see if perhaps the eyes on both the transmitting sensor and receiving sensor are dirty?

Sometimes, simply cleaning the sensor eyes can cure the issue.

Also, make sure the two sensors are the same height as each other, and make sure they are pointing at each other. Sometimes the sensors can get bumped and pushed slightly out of alignment so they won't work all the time.

Jim

 

[newbinga]

Photo beams work by the beam being broken and the signal not coming back. If the eyes are dirty, wires broken, etc it should stop the gate.

It's all fun until someone's kid gets pinned under a door. They have those in place for a reason.



Sent from my iPad using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[niget2002]

Never had a kid get pinned, but the all seeing eye has kept many bicycles, roller skates, and various other items from being squished.

First time mine stopped working, it was a spider that built a really nice web inside one of them. Second time was because somehow someone crunched one and I had to replace it (read that as "I dropped something heavy off a shelf")

 

[pima67]

On a relatively new door, I had a sensor that was defective. Every once in a while the door wouldn't close and the light would flash. If I tapped one of the sensors with a finger, the door would close normally. I checked the wiring but could not find any problem. Finally got tired of that routine so bought a set of new sensors and installed them. No problem since (10 yrs at least)

 

[bdbecker]

Have you looked at the sensor wires to see if they maybe got pinched or damaged? Maybe the casing got damaged and it's sending the "all clear" signal to the opener, allowing it to run even when the photo eye is blocked?