I-Drive, do you like or Dislike yours?

[bdaz442]

I just received my new Wayne Dalton "I-Drive" Garage door opener for Torsion Springs. How hard is the installation? Rate it 1 -10 , 10 being the hardest. Anything that I should Know. Would you purchase another one Ect.
BTW. Still working on the old Shop. Pics as soon as I finishing painting the walls.

 

[dink]

My dad had one for about 5 years and he absolutely hated it....constantly coming out of calibration...constantly being worked on....did I mention he hated it?

 

[newgarage]

I installed one on my 8'x16' torsion spring type garage door 6 months ago. Very simple install. I had to calibrate the door motor about 3 times for it to actuate properly. It has worked perfectly since. The exterior key pad, plug-in light fixture, and interior control pad are all wireless operation. I personally would prefer hard-wired controls as I consider them more reliable. Wireless is simply easier for installation. It is faster and less noisy than other residential garage door openers I've seen. The main feature I liked about the system is that it's a torque drive, everything mounts on the door header.

 

[ovilla]

I never got the swing up/down mechanism to work right so I adjusted the thing so that it's permanently in the up position. It was just too damn finicky and never worked right consistently. My door would either be too slow or too fast for the mechanism to "catch" on the rounded bolt. Anyway, installation was a breeze but getting the darn thing to work right took about 4-5 hours. Once the door didn't naturally come down but the torsion bar kept on turning like if the door was travelling to close. This caused the cables to unravel on both ends and this was a royal pain to fix. I ended up manually closing the door and calling it a night. The next day I lubed up the tracks and everything worked okay after that. I must say that it was a pain in the A$$ to get everything working (installation was the easy part) but the need for reprogramming (at least 6-7 times) was the worst part. Honestly, I would have returned it back to Menards but they no longer carry the torsion spring units - just the one made for use with the WD torsion spring unit. Finally, I do like how quiet it is but if it ever acts up again, I'm going to take it down and go with something else. Returning it was not an option so I made it work. Plus, I really do need it as I'm going to put a lift in my 3rd bay and I don't want to pay the $500+ that folks are spending on other units. Oh, one thing that you WILL hate about this unit is the delay of the door operation. After you press the button on the remote, it will take a couple of seconds for the door to open. Anyway, you'll find yourself constantly watching the door to see if it worked or needs another press on the remote. The delay in the door operation is simply not needed. I've installed about 40+ Craftsman units and can have one up and working in about 30 minutes. Honestly, I hate to say this but you're probably going to regret having bought one of these units. Do let us know how things work out though. Hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[XR7G428]

I have two, they have worked flawlessly for about 8 months. It is very important that the door work properly without an opener.

 

[ovilla]

I didn't mean to be so negative in my post but just wanted to make you aware the set up was a real hassle compared to other units. Anyway, you can easily avoid that by having someone else set it up for you. I must say that I do like the speed and quietness of the door opening. However, if you don't need a torsion mounted unit, get a craftsman belt drive unit for half the price and a bit slower speed. Also, as a side note, my opener is for a 4 year old 8' wide Clopay insulated door that is perfectly balanced and can be closed/opened with one finger (not kidding).

 

[ChucksCrib]

I have 2 8x9 torsion spring doors run by I drives. I never installed garage doors before and was certainly not going to attempt putting these up. The technition from "Over head Doors" mentioned he hates installing these units and actually had to comer back for a second done to complete the job, which he says, never happens to him. We had one unit go south on us in a month and was replaced under warranty. Every once in a while the units experience phantom opening. I think we are lucky we live in a rural area.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1040

Chuck

 

[Ed and Sandra]

Last year when we were trying to figure out a means of converting our garage doors to high lifts we did a good bit of preliminary research on the internet. There we discovered the I-Drive and thought it might be the solution. We then contacted several local garage door installers about doing the work for us and, without fail, every time we mentioned the I-Drive there immediately would be rolled eyes and consistent comments made pretty much along the lines of “F’ing junk!”

We decided upon the ZAP drive and have been extremely pleased with it.

Best regards,
Ed and Sandra

http://edsandra.com/esgeneral/Garage1.htm

 

[JMURiz]

These days I'd use a LiftMaster 3800 residential Jack-shaft opener...unless you have tension springs.

 

[fxeditor]

I have to agree with Nathan. I just had a LiftMaster 3800 installed in my new garage and couldn't be happier!

Good Luck,
Michael

 

[fefarms]

I looked at the I-drive too. But if you do a careful search of Internet news groups, Garden web, etc, they have a very bad reputation for unreliability and poor product support. Perhaps the issues have been fixed by now, nearly 4 years later. Or perhaps not. But I would look at the other solutions first.

Any jackshaft operator would prefer to operate against a constant tension or the cables may jump the drums. Doors that are balanced so that you have to pull them down part way are going to be a problem. This can be overcome with plunger-style booster springs, but it is tricky to set it up.

 

[BowtieNut]

I put one up in my brand new garage with brand new professionally installed doors, and I could never get it to work right. Customer service was absolutely the worst I've experienced, so I ended up taking it back. Put up a Jenie Xcellerator and couldn't be happier. It's almost as fast, almost as quiet, and I've never had a single problem with it!!!

 

[ovilla]

They must get a lot of returns because the first thing you'll see when you open up the box is a really big sticker that says "DO NOT RETURN TO STORE!". I even had a smaller one on the unit itself. Anyway, my i-drive is on the third bay, which only get's open when it's a "Porsche Day", so it's really not getting much use. My double bay door has a craftsman screw drive that's noisy but always works.

 

[katit]

Mine working fine for 6 monthes, no problem so far and I like it.

Installed myself. No prior expierence installing any opener. ~3hr + 3 beers.
I think I can do it in under hour next time.

I read all bad reviews, etc.. and did adjust and balanced door the best I can. It's 16x8 door.

 

[hknladdr]

No problems w/ mine and it's quiet.