Garage Door sensor blinded by sunlight

[chesspupil]

Garage Door sensor blinded by sunlight

In the afternoon it is a nightmare. The setting sun from about 2pm till 7pm is so bright that the garage door sensor loses its signal from the other side. (which would indicate the way is clear) Raising three boards each two foot high and three ft long along the ground to block the sunlight usually does the trick... but what a pain! Then it is a two person operation... hold up the boards, position, reposition... hit the garage door switch a dozen+ times!!!!

I am not looking to relocate the sensors and lose the safety feature as I have seen proposed in other threads nor have a PERMANENT HOTWIRE either.

One thought does come to mind that I have not seen is the possibility of some sort of dead-man switch located up high to make sure its an adult that (while pressed) assumes that someone is watching the clearance of the door while it closes.

A second thought is painting the concrete floor a flat black...my wife hates the idea of a black stripe as much as the door closing issue. The idea being that the light is not so much reflected into the sensor. (I've even tried plastic cones over both sensors like a dog-anti-scratch-collar) I'm not sure if its direct or indirect sunlight that causing the problem for me.

Has anyone tried either of these options?

Please provide a workable safe solution...

 

[32krazy!]

a cardboard hood taped to the sensor facing the sun?

 

[Dustball]

Swap the positions of the transmitter and receiver.

 

[Kevin54]

a cardboard hood taped to the sensor facing the sun?

^^^^This^^^^ You can use a toilet paper tube.

 

[bigpokie]

May dad had the same problem. He just slid a 4 or 5" long piece of conduit over the one that gave him the problem. No more problem and not really draws your eye to it either

 

[Torque1st]

I have used a toilet paper tube with a shot of flat black spray paint inside on the receiver end.

Swapping sensors can sometimes introduce a 'morning' problem but it is a viable alternative. Usually keeping the receiver out of direct sunlight is the trick. I have seen a sender overpowered by the sun also.

 

[pentavolvo]

On most if you hold the button the whole time door will close

 

[Chukster]

Yeah, have this problem with mine in the mornings, a couple times the year, spring & fall. Try the conduit/toilet paper tube, or swapping sides in the door.

Usually rears its ugly head for me, the morning I'm in a hurry.

 

[Matt M PA]

When I had that problem, I used a short piece of PVC...fixed.

 

[S1nned]

As already mentioned, holding the button down the whole time the door is moving, usually allows the door to close
Liftmaster makes a sun shade for the sensors, which might be more elegant that a tp tube:
Part number 41B873 on this page, 10.00.
http://liftmaster.garage-door-opener-parts.com/safety_sensors.asp

 

[chesspupil]

thank you all for the ideas... I tried the TP thing with old plastic flower pots in a 3" ID opening, like you might imagine the top part of a cone, slipped over, will try the PVC, or swap the sensors, but I do think the sender is in the light...

In the morning the sun is on the opposite side of the house.

Did I read somewhere that I can tell sender from receiver by where the RED LED is? Does this require any wiring switch on the top of the unit?

Thanks

 

[pmiranda]

3" is too big... TP core is just about perfect, but really anything much bigger ID than the sensor OD is letting in extra light... assuming the aim is dead on from the sender. Easy way to tell which is the receiver is to block the beam when it's otherwise working right. The receiver will be the one that blinks.

It's possible that sunlight can reflect off the inside of the sender and overwhelm the signal. A short flat-black tube on each unit should do the trick.

 

[LEVE]

In the past I had a south facing garage. When this problem occurred, I made a plywood boxes in which could mount the sensors. The plywood boxes wwer then affixed to the rail. The box was lined with black anti-static foam that I'd scabbed from electronics projects. The sensors were mounted at the back the box, far from the front. The box acted as a light tube and provided protection for the sensors. The foam was great in absorbing or scattering ambient light that entering the box. The beam was unaffected. It worked for me.

 

[imnutz]

Easy - swap them side to side as Dustball said, no change in wiring

 

[drooartz]

I've been annoyed by this same thing for the last 7 years. Just went out and spent 5 minutes swapping the sensors side-to-side as suggested here.

Worked!

 

[jbnar]

I was reading the forum and I can bet that you know why. In late afternoon the garage door safety sensor becomes blinded by the sun. I read all the fixes and then I had a thought. Thoughhts don't come often to me so I had to run out to the garage and give it a try. My idea was to see if I could diffuse the sunligh but not inop the sensor. I thought a piece of transparent plastic or some like item might break up the sun's rays but not block out the sendor operation. Yes I know that I'm getting redundant here. I acutally thought about putting a sun glasses lense over the sensor.

While looking for a baggie or something to tape over the sensor I came across transparent packing tape. Just to give it a quick try I cut a piece and put it across the sensor and hit the close button. No help. The door stopped as usual after about six inches of travel. Not to give up too quickly I cut a second piece (both are about two inches square) and put it over the first. Voila, it works. The doon went down with no problem. I know that the sicky side will pick up dust and will probably not work after a day or so but for now I'm happy.

If it does I think I'm just going to stick a baggie over the sensor that is in the sunlight and see if that works. Anything to difuse the sun rays may work. It's worked for the last fifteen minutes so time will tell.

 

[vwracer]

I swapped mine to solve the problem.

 

[1949 caddyman]

Swap sides works.

 

[Dcampbell98xj]

Swapping the sensors fixes it 98 percent of the time. The rest of the time there was a short in one of the wires somewhere. Could be a staple that just pinches it a little bit causing a voltage drop.

 

[Goodspike]

This is a high search result on Google, so I thought I'd post my fix. I found this earlier and tried everything suggested. Nothing worked, including the cardboard tube idea, although I didn't try the switching the sensor idea since the receiver was already on the proper side of the garage.

What did work was simply moving the receiver sensor. It was mounted to the rail of the garage door, so I detached it and moved it onto the wall about one foot inside. The original mounting bracket worked perfectly. I left the transmitter device in the original position. Anyway, that provided enough shielding for the receiver and the time to take the tools to the work area probably exceeded the time it took to make the fix..

Edit: By one foot inside I mean one foot on the same wall as the garage door. So the sensor still trips when something is close to the door.

 

[upndown]

I have never had switching the sensors not work! Long term solution.

 

[bmwe0692]

( The rest of the time there was a short in one of the wires somewhere. Could be a staple that just pinches it a little bit causing a voltage drop.)

I used a nail and positioned it under a piece 3/4" square cardboard. In center of cardboard and straddling the nail, staple a 5/8 long staple into the door frame. Slide wire under cardboard and lightly tap staple to hold the wire in position. I started at both the sender and receiver and went back to the opener, stapling as I went. Coiled the extra and then taped it to a rafter.
T.J.

 

[WVBrady]

I never understood the lyrics until now:

http://www.metrolyrics.com/blinded-by-the-light-lyrics-manfred-mann.html

 

[cowboyjosh]

Sell the house and buy a new one that faces a different direction

 

[smedly]

 

[encantofred]

swapping mine fixed it as well

tom

 

[kbs2244]

I use the TP tube.
A sensor at each end.
But then my senors are in the rafters.

 

[upndown]

How are you getting sunlight in your rafters?

 

[Jazzman442]

I live in Florida and the sun is really bright. I had the same issues. Swap the sensors. Have the Transmitter going into the Sun and the receiver the other way. I had to Doors with this issue.

 

[Thuy]

jbnar: Your idea is brilliant! I use 2 pieces of translucent scotch tape instead on the light sensors, it works! Might have to change when dirty hopefully not too often

 

[harydnld]

Greetings to all you garage door "enthusiasts". I am a Christian minister - amateur handyman with additional caregiving duties. There's nothing like having a long "to do" list, hitting the garage door button, hopping in the van, backing out, hitting the visor button, watching the door come down about three feet, watch the door the door go back up, put the van in park, put on the emergency brake, get out, walk to the back of the garage, hold down the button till the door closes, go out the side door, climb back in, release brake, put in reverse and restart your day. I live in Albuquerue NM with our garage facing the full-setting and blazing sun. The sun is so strong here that if you leave your car parked year-round without wax, you'll be missing your clearcoat. All that to say this: The trophy goes to goodspike. With all due respect to everybody's generous suggestions, his idea of just simply mounting the receiver a foot back on the wall has relieved a problem that's enough to make your bite yourself on the arm. God bless you goodspike and all you guys who try to treat your neighbor as yourself with all your helpful suggestions.

 

[pgreenwood]

Sorry I'm so late to this party. I have the same problem. A well-known door opener manufacturer has provided a shady solution. You can buy your own for about $10 plus shipping. I've reverse-engineered it, cut my own out of black cardboard and installed it. My template is attached "Right" and "Left" is not a big deal. I just thought having both versions was more elegant. I'll let you know how it works out. 'looks like tape over the lens is a favorite solution, or I may try goodspike's.

 

[Herba]

This is my first post on this site. I had the same problem with my garage door as described by others but nothing worked. I found a simple solution - I cleaned the sensor lens with Windex and the problem went away.