Garage door

[westray]

Hey guys Im having some problems with my garage door sensors. The problem is when you raise the door up and try to put it down it wont go down unless you hold the button down til its all the way closed. You can walk over to the sensor and give it a little tap and then everything works fine.

Here is what i have done so far....

-Checked all the wires and found no shorts or cut wires.(sensors also)
-Replaced all the batteries in the remotes

Any help would be great......Im at a lose what i can do. The door is a little over 2yrs old and it just started acting up the past month.

Thanks

 

[Chris Stapley]

With a tap maybe you're lining up the sensor eyes that may be slightly out of alignment from left to right? Do your sensors have a red eye and a green eye on them? If the red one blinks this indicates misalignment. I have seen garage doors act funny when a light source messes up the beam between the two also, did you put a new window in the garage lately or move a mirror or something that may reflect?

 

[pattenp]

Sensors do go bad. I had a set that needed replacing only after a couple of years. I believe the function of holding down the button to close the door is overriding the sensor. So most likely you do have a bad sensor.

 

[westray]

With a tap maybe you're lining up the sensor eyes that may be slightly out of alignment from left to right? Do your sensors have a red eye and a green eye on them? If the red one blinks this indicates misalignment. I have seen garage doors act funny when a light source messes up the beam between the two also, did you put a new window in the garage lately or move a mirror or something that may reflect?

I will take a look at the eyes of the sensors and make sure i have a red eye and green eye. I havent put any new windows or anything. So i dont think its a reflection.

Sensors do go bad. I had a set that needed replacing only after a couple of years. I believe the function of holding down the button to close the door is overriding the sensor. So most likely you do have a bad sensor.

It could be a bad sensor but it only does this problem every now and again. And they seem to be working fine when the the door doesnt act up.

Is there anyway to test to see if the sensors are bad?

 

[dirttracker18]

Oh no, here we go again.

Going to grab some popcorn and enjoy the show

 

[pattenp]

I believe the sensor is causing the door to act up. I don't know of a way to directly test the sensor to see if it's bad. I know when mine went bad it was intermitent. Not knowing where you live I'd say go to a place such as Lowes, Home Depot or Sears and buy a replacement set. The sensors are not that expensive so if that doesn't solve the problem take them back for a refund.

 

[nehog]

I believe the sensor is causing the door to act up. I don't know of a way to directly test the sensor to see if it's bad...

Start by making sure that both have the LEDs lit. If not check alignment. If both LEDs are not on, then they are not working.

 

[pattenp]

Start by making sure that both have the LEDs lit. If not check alignment. If both LEDs are not on, then they are not working.

The LEDs can be lit and the sensors still be defective. The sensors I replaced had the LEDs lit but the door would occasionally reopen within moments of pushing the button to close. Once I replaced the sensors the problem went away.

 

[PassnThru]

If it started acting up when the weather got cooler then you may need to increase your downforce. I have a door that did the same thing. Check the movement of the door disconnected from the opener and fix any sticky spots. If it's a screw drive then the grease may be getting cold and increasing resistance. Slowly increase the downforce until it shuts on it's own without holding the button down. Once you get to that point, also do the 2X4 test under the closing door to make sure the pressure isn't too high.

 

[StevePgh]

If all you need to do is a light tap on the sensors (not enough movement to realign the beams), you may have the same issue I had with my (relatively old) Craftsman opener. The way the wires attach to the sensor is through two pins on the sensor and a molex connector on the wire - like the way old floppy disk drive power cables connect in a computer. It is a very loose fit, plus with the dissimilar metals of the contacts in the molex connector and the pins on the sensor combined with age, moisture, vibrations, and temp variances, it was amazing it conducted even sometimes.

One way to fix it is to unsolder the pins on the sensor board and solder the wires directly to it. If you want to get fancy, go to Radio Shack and pick up other connectors that are more reliable. I saw one brand's sensor at a friend's house where they had screw terminals (Kinda like Radio Shack 274-656) that looked secure and immune to the wire contact problems.

 

[westray]

Thanks guys for all the help! I went home last night and took a look at the sensors and the problem was in the alignment. One of the sensors was just plain lose and on the bracket and would move around just enough to not align with the other sensor.

I fixed that and it works great now.

After winter im going to take time and move the sensor higher up on the wall and right together so i wont have any trouble of this happening again.