garage door opener troubles

[Chris4x4Gill2]

I hope this is the right place for this question. If not, please move to the appropriate place.

I have a 3/4hp craftsman garage door opener. Recently ( about the time it got cold this winter) it started cutting out. It will do it in either direction and just stop completely. The lights go completely out, they do not blink like they do if its a sensor problem. Everything will come back on if I tap the bottom of the opener. Its acting like a loose connection inside the opener but I don't know where to start. All of the external connections are fine.

Any advice?

 

[nehog]

Yea, mine did the same thing! And your diagnosis is probably right, I found some bad solder joints on the circuit board. Took a few tries to locate the problem joints, but once found, and re-soldered, it has been good ever since.

 

[LEVE]

This will be pretty easy to find. Pull the panels on the GDO and use a plastic handled screwdriver to tap on the frame of the GDO. Then, if the problem occurs, and it's repeatable, tap lighter and see what happens. Then tap around the frame, in more than one place and see if you can narrow down the problem.

You said that all the GDO lights go out, including the sensors?

If so, then the problem is in the power supply to the board, or on the board. You can easily see where the AC line comes into the board and tap around that area.

Using a magnifying glass, look for a cold solder joint on the board, it should look dull, and perhaps have a crack around it... when vibration hits it... the crack opens up and dumps the power. This PCB should be similar to the one in your GDO:

See that transformer on the upper left of the board? You'll be looking for a cold solder joint somewhere around that transformer, on the other side of the board.

Should be a piece of cake to fix.

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Thanks for the descriptions. I was looking at replacing the board but they want $75 for a new one. Hopefully ill be able to spot a bad solder and get it back working.


ETA: I am not sure if the sensor light goes out or not, but I expect it does I will have to verify that. The wired controller's light goes out I do know.

 

[nehog]

If you are reasonably good at soldering, just resolder all the stuff on the board... You're bound to hit the right part that way!

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

good point! It's got to be one of them right?

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Well, I found a bad solder on the board, repaired it but in the process of reinstalling I broke the retaining clip on one of the wire connectors that goes to the board. Unsuccessful so far in finding a replacement so probably going to rig something up and make it work tonight.

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Reinstalled and its getting power, not cuttingoff like it was. Now I have a different problem.

It will only travel down 2-3 feet before reversing and coming back up. There ks nothing in the path of the sensors, both of them show green the entire time. The openers lights do not flash, it just goes down a little way and then straight back up.

It is acting like it mishitting the down travel stop switch, but it is not contacting the switch before it comes back up

 

[LEVE]

Take the door - load off the track and see if the GDO will travel it's full length. If so, then there may be a problem with the down-force setting.

 

[nehog]

Yep, force setting is likely too low. Also make sure the springs on the door are adjusted correctly too...

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Same thing with or without the door attached. Moves down about 2-3 feet and then comes back up

 

[41ratrod]

Mine was doing the same and the owner manual said to adjust the up force
adjustment on back of the opener. I hope you can read this it's form the owner manual.