Garage door opener safety sensor malfunction

[MackMan]

One of my garage door openers won't close remotely because the obstruction sensor at the bottom seems to think it's obstructed. nothing has bumped these to misalign or anything.

Anything I can easily do to trouble shoot this?

 

[RECox286]

It doesn't take a lot of misalignment for a sensor to

tell the opener that there is a "problem" Look at the

alignment again, very closely...

Uncle Bob

 

[DC73]

Dirty lenses, bad wire connections, or simply out of alignment are all possibilities.

Your owners manual or the manufacturer's website may have troubleshooting information.

DC

 

[Lx460]

Had a leaf blow into the path of the beam once. As stated it doesn't take much.

 

[dw1]

If not able to fix, you can get replacement sensors online, and if the door is not real old, they are hard to bypass, they go back to printed circuit board inside control unit. When you hold the button in to close, does the light on the unit flash?

 

[padronanniversary]

He other issue you might have that oissed me off was the sun at the right angle at a certain time of day would hit the sensor. I gitano frustrated with this I made a box that the sensors go into and also brackets. Now the kids can't misaligned the sensors since its rock solid mounted to the wall and the sun can't hit it at any angle

 

[toplessHO]

I tried everything to trick my Genie operators and they want that OEM beam sensor only
My solution on one that wasnt done with framing but needed door to operate was mount both senors on a 2 ft piece of 2x4 and lay it on top of operator

 

[D45]

Move the sensors up into the rafters and mount them right next to each other, so glad I did

 

[taumac]

I moved mine off the ground to height of my bumper which adds as a parking aid and also makes sure I never close on one of my cars.

I would make sure lens are clean, wires are attached and the try to realign them. You can pull a string from sensor to sensor helping to realign them.

 

[toplessHO]

mounts on mine are so cheesy that you can bump it and it will fall off the mount.
another of the roundtoits

 

[MackMan]

I moved mine off the ground to height of my bumper which adds as a parking aid and also makes sure I never close on one of my cars.

I would make sure lens are clean, wires are attached and the try to realign them. You can pull a string from sensor to sensor helping to realign them.

I like the idea of raising the sensor to bumper height... may have to do that..

If not able to fix, you can get replacement sensors online, and if the door is not real old, they are hard to bypass, they go back to printed circuit board inside control unit. When you hold the button in to close, does the light on the unit flash?

one light flashes constantly... at first it was off and on, but it's gone about a week now just flashing all the time. If I hold the wall button down it will close.

 

[kbs2244]

spider web?

 

[LB-1911]

one light flashes constantly... at first it was off and on, but it's gone about a week now just flashing all the time. If I hold the wall button down it will close.

Both the sending and receiving sensors have a small LED light to help us align and troubleshoot them.

The LED on the sending eye will glow regardless of alignment or obstruction.

The LED on the receiving eye will go out when the beam is obstructed, and it will flicker if out of alignment.

The first step is to make sure that each sensor has a steady glowing LED light.

If both lights are on, but one appears to be flickering very slightly, chances are the sensors are misaligned.

To check for misalignment, first obstruct the beam of the sensors so that they cannot see each other.

When the beam is blocked, the indicator light on one of the two sensors will temporarily go out.

This is the receiving eye.

Remove the obstruction so the light on the receiving eye comes back on.

Then loosen the wingnut on the back of this sensor.

Move the sensor around and make sure the green indicator light is bright and steady before you retighten the wingnut.

This can take a few attempts before it is back in alignment.

http://www.usdoorcontrol.com/kbase/liftmaster-main.html#5

Dirty lenses, bad wire connections, or simply out of alignment are all possibilities.

Your owners manual or the manufacturer's website may have troubleshooting information.

DC

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

Well, if you are able to look at the door threshold before you push the button to close the door, and therefore aren't likely to close the door with something parked 1/2 in and 1/2 out, simply bypass the sensor with a jumper.



JBP


.

 

[kjdhawkhill]

He other issue you might have that oissed me off was the sun at the right angle at a certain time of day would hit the sensor. I gitano frustrated with this I made a box that the sensors go into and also brackets. Now the kids can't misaligned the sensors since its rock solid mounted to the wall and the sun can't hit it at any angle

I've had the issue, when in bright sun, at the WRONG angle, with lots of snow cover…

I used a [n empty] TP roll taped around the sensor facing the sun… It worked for the two or three weeks that the sun hits at that angle.

 

[MackMan]

Both the sending and receiving sensors have a small LED light to help us align and troubleshoot them.

The LED on the sending eye will glow regardless of alignment or obstruction.

The LED on the receiving eye will go out when the beam is obstructed, and it will flicker if out of alignment.

The first step is to make sure that each sensor has a steady glowing LED light.

If both lights are on, but one appears to be flickering very slightly, chances are the sensors are misaligned.

To check for misalignment, first obstruct the beam of the sensors so that they cannot see each other.

When the beam is blocked, the indicator light on one of the two sensors will temporarily go out.

This is the receiving eye.

Remove the obstruction so the light on the receiving eye comes back on.

Then loosen the wingnut on the back of this sensor.

Move the sensor around and make sure the green indicator light is bright and steady before you retighten the wingnut.

This can take a few attempts before it is back in alignment.

http://www.usdoorcontrol.com/kbase/liftmaster-main.html#5

Apparently different for Genie... I have 2 doors with identical openers.

When we bought a week and a half ago both worked great.
The first opener one sensor has a green light the other sensor has a red light, both constant on.
the 2nd opener one sensor had a steady red light, and the other had no light... worked fine.

Now the 2nd has the red light blinking..

 

[LB-1911]

Apparently different for Genie... I have 2 doors with identical openers.

When we bought a week and a half ago both worked great.
The first opener one sensor has a green light the other sensor has a red light, both constant on.
the 2nd opener one sensor had a steady red light, and the other had no light... worked fine.

Now the 2nd has the red light blinking..

Is there a chance you pierced the sensor wiring with a staple during installation?



FAQ: Troubleshooting Genie Garage-Door Products

1:Why is the Safe-T-Beam® light blinking?

Safe-T-Beam is a government-required safety feature that must be installed in order for your Genie garage door opener to work.

A flashing Safe-T-Beam LED indicator means a malfunction has occurred.

First, be sure that the lenses are clean, and check for any possible obstructions or loose wires.

Also, make sure that lenses are mounted five to six inches from the floor on either side of the garage-door opening and that lenses are aligned facing one another.

If the LED indicator continues to flash, see your owner's manual for a list of possible causes and additional troubleshooting.

http://www.geniecompany.com/support_troubleshooting-faq.aspx


Please select your model below for manuals, warranties, and programming instructions. If you do not find what you need, please refer to the Customer Support contact information at the bottom of this page

http://www.geniecompany.com/support.aspx

 

[upndown]

What I don't understand, if you bought two new openers i'm asuming from the same place, why they have different Sensors? The only Genie sensors I can recall that only had one light were from much older units.

Here's a few things I've run across. 1st I would check all your wiring.

Sensors out of alignment

Staple in wiring

Depending on how close your doors are, I've seen the sensors interfere with each other. Disconnect the wires to the sensors that are working, see if the light on the other stops blinking. If it does then just remount one set up or down.

I doubt it's sunlight, that would only last a short time. Good luck!

 

[Bigbandguy]

Add my endorsement to the spider theory. In a recent burst of cold weather I started having trouble with the sensor on my door and spidey was hanging out on the lens... there was very little web, which is the usual tip off . I would certainly start there, especially if more than one sensor has suddenly changed behavior. A small burst of compressed air might be of help assuming the mount is solid.

 

[Dcampbell98xj]

Check to make sure nothing is hanging off of the door. Leafs love to dangle six inches off the door and make people crazy. All of the above answers usually solve the issue. I also agree that it's odd to have 2 brand new openers with different sensors. Could the sensors have gotten mixed up? 2 sending sensors on one door and he receiving sensors on another. Iv seen that happen and one door will work but not the other.