Liftmaster 3800

[Nosman]

I'm normally a very patient guy, but this thing is a *************. I bought it almost 2 years ago, and haven't been able to get it to once open the ******** door properly. I have done exactly as the instructions say when it comes to setting the limits, yet it always exceeds the upper limit. The problem is, it takes 5 f'in minutes just to get it open the door at all! Now that I've ranted, anyone else have any tricks to programming this thing right, or anyone else with the same types of problems.
Oh yeah, the sensor eyes are aligned correctly, and I don't have the cable monitor hooked up right now, because the last time I tried this it didn't work, so I figured I'd leave it disconnected to simplify things.

Thanks, Rick.

 

[10.5 outlaw]

I have two of them and they work great.Don't know what you could be doing wrong.the thing i found with mine is you have to do exactly what the instructions said.

 

[larry4406]

I have 3 that were professionally installed - no complaints. Two 9x9 doors and one 18x9

 

[kenners]

I have two, each on a 10X10 uninsulated door. I installed both and have no problems with either. I do have the cable monitor attached.

 

[pattenp]

I'm having one professionally installed on Monday. I'll pay close attention to the programming and see if there is anything special you need to do. I'll ask about setting the limits to see if there is anything tricky about it and post back my findings.

 

[Nosman]

Thanks guys, this thing has me at the end of my rope! I have been going through the manual again today for a couple of hours trying to figure it out, it just appears to want to do something different each time.
One thing I did try that seems odd, I checked continuity on my cable tension switch, and I get an open circuit regardless of whether the switch is activated or not. I wasn't sure whether the unit was looking for open or closed to trigger the cable tension stop so I tried both, with and without a jumper, makes no difference. The unit will sometimes flash 9 times, even with the terminals jumped or open.

 

[ovilla]

You need to adjust the door force!

Nosman - You need to follow the manual for adjusting the opening height and then setting the close. Then, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, flip to the next section in which you allow the 3800 to learn how much force it needs to properly open and close your door. Until you adjust the force, you will find that your door opening/closing will be very erratic at best. It's not that your remotes aren't working, it's most likely that the opener is not dialed in for the amount of force it needs to open/close your door.

I just recently had new doors (with glass windows) installed and had re-installed my 3800. The first thing I thought was, hey it's still the same size door so I bet I don't even have to do anything here other than just re-install everything - WRONG!! I went to open the door and it opened about 6" and stopped. Then it closed and wouldn't open the full 7' that I needed it to. I then just went through the manual and reprogrammed the door open and close limits and then the auto force and it's worked perfectly ever since.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Chris Adams]

You are getting good advice there.
I just installed one, first one I ever saw. I did the instructions step by step and no problems. I love it.

Did you verify that you can open and close the door easily by hand?

 

[nova65ss]

I'm normally a very patient guy, but this thing is a *************. I bought it almost 2 years ago, and haven't been able to get it to once open the ******** door properly. I have done exactly as the instructions say when it comes to setting the limits, yet it always exceeds the upper limit. The problem is, it takes 5 f'in minutes just to get it open the door at all! Now that I've ranted, anyone else have any tricks to programming this thing right, or anyone else with the same types of problems.
Oh yeah, the sensor eyes are aligned correctly, and I don't have the cable monitor hooked up right now, because the last time I tried this it didn't work, so I figured I'd leave it disconnected to simplify things.

Thanks, Rick.

If the cable monitor is not hooked up you will never get it to work properly. You can not program the limits without the monitor working properly.

 

[StumpXJ]

You need to adjust the door force!

Nosman - You need to follow the manual for adjusting the opening height and then setting the close. Then, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, flip to the next section in which you allow the 3800 to learn how much force it needs to properly open and close your door. Until you adjust the force, you will find that your door opening/closing will be very erratic at best. It's not that your remotes aren't working, it's most likely that the opener is not dialed in for the amount of force it needs to open/close your door.

I just recently had new doors (with glass windows) installed and had re-installed my 3800. The first thing I thought was, hey it's still the same size door so I bet I don't even have to do anything here other than just re-install everything - WRONG!! I went to open the door and it opened about 6" and stopped. Then it closed and wouldn't open the full 7' that I needed it to. I then just went through the manual and reprogrammed the door open and close limits and then the auto force and it's worked perfectly ever since.

Best of luck to you!

I also had to set the force limits first, then go back and set the travel limits. I was beating my head in the wall until I did that, then it worked like a champ and has been ever since. From the factory, the force limits were not high enough to allow me to set the travel limits.

~James

 

[Nosman]

If the cable monitor is not hooked up you will never get it to work properly. You can not program the limits without the monitor working properly.

I jumpered the monitor terminals so the unit doesn't care whether it is hooked up or not. I will try the force limits first if I can actually get it to react the way the instructions suggest it should.

 

[Daves75]

. The unit will sometimes flash 9 times, even with the terminals jumped or open.[/QUOTE]

9-Flashes = the cable tension monitor,

as for the limits have you checked the collar that connects the opener to the torsion spring tube. this needs to be tight, if it slips it can cause you to loose your limit setting/s.

 

[nova65ss]

I jumpered the monitor terminals so the unit doesn't care whether it is hooked up or not. I will try the force limits first if I can actually get it to react the way the instructions suggest it should.

That does not work, you must get the monitor working properly or you are wasting your time.

 

[pattenp]

I got the highlift track along with the Liftmaster 3800 installed today. There was no mystery to the programming of the open and close limits. The installer said it is as simple as the instruction say. He said the only time they run into problem with setting the limits or more so the door not opening and closing correctly is mostly due to the door not running smoothly in the tracks or the door is not balanced correctly. He said the main thing on balance is to have the door stay put at halfway open with it not wanting to raise or lower on its own.

 

[Nosman]

That does not work, you must get the monitor working properly or you are wasting your time.

It appears as though the monitor is simply a microswitch, the door acts the same with the microswitch in either position. What more could there be to it?

 

[pattenp]

Nosmas, it just possible that you have a defective unit. I'm sure even Liftmaster does not have a perfect tract record with having no defects. The unit has a 5 year warrenty, lifetime on the motor, so contact them. Their number is 1-800-528-9131.

 

[jgira12]

Nosmas, it just possible that you have a defective unit. I'm sure even Liftmaster does not have a perfect tract record with having no defects. The unit has a 5 year warrenty, lifetime on the motor, so contact them. Their number is 1-800-528-9131.

Yup, mine came with a bum wall programmer....they sent me a good one right away.

 

[Nosman]

I'm definitely open to the possibility of a bad unit, but rather than just assuming that, I'd thought I'd get a few ideas to see if there's anything I hadn't tried. That's the one problem with an opener that has such a good reputation, there's not much troubleshooting info.

 

[nova65ss]

You have already mentioned that the light flashes nine times that is a troubleshooting code for the tension monitor.

page 25 of the manual has all of the troubleshooting codes

http://www.liftmaster.com/consumerweb/pdfdocs/114A3268.pdf