garage door opener issue

[steve63]

I have the regular Genie 1/2 horse opener with the safety "eyes" at the base of the track. the door works fine but certain times of the morning when the sun is beaming into the garage the door opener will lift 2 feet then shut off
and will not operate more than 1 or 2 inches at a time. After this happened several times I put cardboard to shield the sun from shining on the "eyes"
which I thought was causing the problem but it had no effect on the door and it still won't work right. Now if you wait until the sun moves out of the garage it begins to work again. I never had this issue except for the last couple of years. I don't want to bypass the eyes. Has anyone else had this happen to them? I have never had an issue like this except for an alarm that kept going off and the cause turned out to be a spyder making a web in front of an electric eye at night Thanks

 

[Ironcrow]

You could try switching the sensors left for right to the other side of the door. Another idea is to attach and aim them down a short PVC pipe instead of a cardboard shield.

 

[kbs2244]

Reverse the sensors.
By that I mean switch the sides of the door they are on.

 

[elett]

just a thought; could it be sensing to much closing force thinking their is somthing under the door. try adjusting the down closing torque

 

[mishkaya]

Don't forget to make sure the springs are properly adjusted on the door. They do change over time and could need to be adjusted as well. I have run into this issue once...

 

[longboy515]

I'm having the same problem, and I'm 100% sure it's sunshine causing it. If I reversed the sensors, wouldn't the problem persist? I'm not understanding what that would do, other than let the sun affect the other sensor.

This only happens in the morning hours, when the sun shines perfectly onto the sensors. I don't want to remove or bypass the sensors-

 

[nehog]

Most openers the sensor is only used for closing, not opening. That is, you can open even if the sensor is blocked. As well, the sensors are supposed to be pulse activated so as to 'ignore' ambient light, but it is possible that bright sunlight does overload it to the extent it fails.

Those saying switch the left and right sensors (swap them) are giving some good advice--that's my first thought, but there may be more to the problem than that.

 

[Ironcrow]

I'm having the same problem, and I'm 100% sure it's sunshine causing it. If I reversed the sensors, wouldn't the problem persist? I'm not understanding what that would do, other than let the sun affect the other sensor.

One side is a sender, the other a target. Sunlight might saturate the target sensor and confuse the system. If you swap the positions, the sunlight will then be shining into the source side which does not effect it.

 

[longboy515]

Thanks Ironcrow, that makes sense. I guess I figured they both were senders and receivers. I'll see if I get time to swap them and see what happens.

I'm sick of standing outside the garage with the remote in one hand, and holding my hat at a certain angle to get the sun blocked.

 

[Ironcrow]

Thanks Ironcrow, that makes sense. I guess I figured they both were senders and receivers.

They could make it that way I guess, but it would seem unnecessarily expensive and complicated. Let us know if swapping sides works.

 

[rwhite692]

Check to see if the transmitter and receiver are well aligned to each other. If the alignment is a bit off, that little bit of sunlight and the resulting "scatter" may be enough to make them act flaky.

 

[gabeancounter]

Yep, In the manual it tells you about which sensor to put on which side concerning the sunlight. Been about 8-10 years that I bought those from Sam's club but I do recall that being in the instructions. Good luck.

 

[longboy515]

Perfect, thanks. I bought the house about 3 years ago with the opener already installed. I'll see if I can find any details in the paperwork. If not, I'll probably swap 'em anyway just to see if it changes things.

 

[Teken]

If you look closely and if the sensor is properly aligned you will notice that the strength of the LED will be well lit and not flickering. I also suspect that if you reverse the position of the sensor all will be well. This does not address if the sensor is properly aligned and positioned.

 

[A29]

not meaning to hijack this thread but can the sensors be removed somehow?

 

[evintho]

I'm sick of standing outside the garage with the remote in one hand, and holding my hat at a certain angle to get the sun blocked.

I just installed a new Craftsman opener and I have to do the exact same thing! Very annoying!! I'm gonna try bypassing the sensors altogether.

 

[Ironcrow]

not meaning to hijack this thread but can the sensors be removed somehow?

The easiest thing to do is remount them up out of the way someplace, separated by 3 inches, pointing right at each other.

 

[D KRAGER]

The easiest thing to do is remount them up out of the way someplace, separated by 3 inches, pointing right at each other.

I have done this..... I put them up in the attic, but I had to mount them about 2' apart. I had them at about 4", but then they quit working, so I moved them out to around 2' and no problems since.

Blah Blah yes I know they are a safety feature..... There are no small children running around..... You don't see those safety eyes on commercial doors......

 

[jwhcars]

I have the same problem with sun light affecting the closing of the door. I just have to get around to checking the alignment and adjusting them so the sun light does not affect them. They worked fine for 9 years without the sun light affecting them.
I installed a new opener 2 months ago and did not install the new sensors so maybe they will work better.

 

[kbs2244]

I have mine looking at each other through a toilet paper tube and stashed in the rafters.

But my sister didn’t want to do that when hers started to act up.
I found a nice spider web in one of them.

 

[steve63]

OK time for update. I swapped the sensors left to right. Did nothing, So I dissconnected them from opener and jumpered across terminals. STILL malfunctioned. I waited for sun to move (Earth to rotate) now it works
Do I need to make a sacrafice to the sun god or the garage door opener god
to resolve this?

 

[Teken]

How about some pictures first of all . . . Did you also verify that the LED on the saftey eye is well lit, and solid?

Also, have you double checked to ensure that the door is not out of balance, and that the force adjustment is correct?

 

[steve63]

I questioned everything for a week. but as soon as the sun is out of the door area it works fine, and by jumpering out the door eyes and I still have issues.
What else could be the issue? I did remove leads from the GD opener then jump them out

 

[gabeancounter]

I still think it is in the sensors. I would purchase these replacement sensors for them direct. $26
http://www.geniedoor.com/genie-infra-red-sensor-beams-only

 

[Ironcrow]

I dissconnected them from opener and jumpered across terminals. STILL malfunctioned.

You seem surprised. This is the expected result. Jumping the terminals is not going to help.

 

[steve63]

My surprise is when I removed the sensors from the garage door opener
It still failed to operate. They were unwired from the terminal board, so I don't understand what is causing the door opener from functioning?
After 2 hours it works fine when the sun is not shining in. The only other thing I can think of is electrical interference that is timed with the sun
which is reaching.

 

[PassnThru]

You need to prove to yourself once and for all that it is or is not a sunlight problem. If you can, unmount the sensors and put them right up against each other. If you can't do that, get them as close as you can and put a piece of conduit/pipe between them. If they work without the extra light, you just need to make some shields to mount on the back.

 

[Ironcrow]

My surprise is when I removed the sensors from the garage door opener
It still failed to operate. They were unwired from the terminal board, so I don't understand what is causing the door opener from functioning?
After 2 hours it works fine when the sun is not shining in. The only other thing I can think of is electrical interference that is timed with the sun
which is reaching.

Details are made up, but the theory is like this: One of the sensors is a sender, the other a receiver.

The sender does something along the lines as input from the terminal strip of 12 v DC, through the wire to the sender. The sender turns this into, say, a 12 v pulsed square wave. The receiver side picks up the signal, and sends it through the wire to the terminal, still as a pulsed signal.

So, if you short the terminal strip connections with a short piece of wire, you are sending a 12 v DC signal from one set of screws to the other. But, the receiver side is looking for a series of pulses. So, the door doesn't work.

If you just leave the wires off completely, the receiver side is still looking for a pulse and it gets nothing. So, the door doesn't work.

 

[Tom McDermott]

Details are made up, but the theory is like this: One of the sensors is a sender, the other a receiver.

The sender does something along the lines as input from the terminal strip of 12 v DC, through the wire to the sender. The sender turns this into, say, a 12 v pulsed square wave. The receiver side picks up the signal, and sends it through the wire to the terminal, still as a pulsed signal.

So, if you short the terminal strip connections with a short piece of wire, you are sending a 12 v DC signal from one set of screws to the other. But, the receiver side is looking for a series of pulses. So, the door doesn't work.

If you just leave the wires off completely, the receiver side is still looking for a pulse and it gets nothing. So, the door doesn't work.

That's how mine worked. Two wires only - sends transmit and receive pulses. Turned out that the wires in the transmit end were pinched when the factory snapped the housing together and after about 2 years one of the wires finally broke (although the insulation was still intact - tough to find). Cut off the wires and resoldered them inside the transmit unit and it fixed the problem.

Also had the main circuit board fail (up in the motor unit) and later the mechanical limit switches failed on the replacement board. About 2 years later it failed again, this time it was temperature sensitive receive unit (not sunlight sensitive).

In 7 years had 4 failures, and spent more than the unit cost in repairs.

Basically, it appeared to have used the lowest quality components possible in every aspect, manner, and portion of the design. I will never, ever buy that brand again.

Ripped it out and replaced it with a Lift-Master - no failures in many years.

-- Tom

 

[longboy515]

Perfect, thanks. I bought the house about 3 years ago with the opener already installed. I'll see if I can find any details in the paperwork. If not, I'll probably swap 'em anyway just to see if it changes things.

Just thought I'd update my issue. I found the mounting instructions for my Genie opener, which states to put the green-LED sensor in the shade and the red-LED sensor in the sunny side (which the previous owner of my house had reversed).

I swapped them yesterday and everything appears to be back to normal and fully functioning. I'm currently testing it every 30 minutes or so this morning while the sun is directly hitting the sensor on the north side of the garage, and it looks like this fixed my problem. Thanks guys!

 

[kbs2244]

Just an FYI.
You cannot remove or jumper the wire connectors on the PC board.
They have been there before you.
There is circuitry that checks for the presence of the sensors.
If you want to cheat, you have to have the sensors hooked up and pointing at each other.
It can be 3 inches apart up in the rafters, but they have to be there.

 

[lmac]

I, too, have had the "sunlight" issue. After checking this forum and reading about switching sides, I checked online for the Sears installation manual. Here is what I found:
Either can be installed on the left or right of the door as long as the sun never shines directly into the RECEIVING (green) eye lens.

Guess my husband will be switching this! Thanks so much for your answers!

 

[logical]

I still don't get the theory that it is the eye sensors...tripping them should not stop the door from going up...at least not on any I've ever owned.

i'm reaching here but does the sun warm up the old grease or something so it isn't binding as much as when cold?

 

[jafi]

After cleaning, switching and jumpering the sensors, you can pretty much rule out the sensors being the problem. I would look into heat expansion/binding issues of the door due to direct sunlight on the door.

If it only happens during a specific time of the day, pull the safety release on the door opener and try opening the door by hand before, during, and after the general time frame of the problem. That way you can feel if the door is opening harder or binding in a certain spot or not.

If it is, then an adjustment on the spring(s) or track might be in order. A garage door installer can make quick work on the adjustments needed. Those springs are a force to be respected.

 

[jstroede]

Sunlight will cause problems with photo eyes. Most manufacturers do offer a "shade" for their photo eyes to help this problem. A couple of other possible solutions is to spread the sensors farther apart in the opening to try and use the jamb to shade them. A third solution, and probably the easiest to try, is to take something like a cardboard toilet paper tube and put around the sensor.