Perplexing garage door opener problem

[58Yeoman]

I've also posted this on another forum.

My shop has two overhead doors, one double and one single. The double has been acting up lately by not coming down unless I hold the button on the wall. The opener has been on that door since we bought the place in '08. The single door has an opener that was in the house garage since 2000. I replaced the one in the house garage with a belt drive for more quiet operation. That one still works fine. I had fiddled with the double opener a bit, and figured that it was a good time to replace the noisy opener on "my" side of the house garage with a belt drive, then take the couple year old opener to the shop and replace the double opener.

Before I removed the double opener, I checked everything out to be sure there wasn't a easily fixed problem with the door. It's all lubricated and moves easily by hand. The opener will operate fine w/o the door attached. ??? Stumped here. Replaced the opener anyway, and of course, the 'new' opener acts the same way. ??? Electric eye problem? I replaced the sensor eyes with the new ones from the opener in the house garage (those are only a couple years old, so I didn't replace the ones in that garage). Still same problem. This thing is driving me crazy. It was late in the day and I was tired, so I took the two sensors that I had replace, and taped them together and left them hanging on the opener. The door works fine this way, but there is no reversing the door if something gets in the way. Almost squished the cat on her way out the door.

I had checked all mounting bolts on the door and lubed the springs above the door and all hinges and rollers. The new sensors are mounted on the new brackets, all sensor wiring is new, and they are aligned (both lights on and bright). I'm really not crazy about the mounting brackets for the sensors, so maybe today I will try making brackets that are attached to the wall instead of the door rails. This problem has me stumped. It has to be door related, as two different openers act the same, but the door opens and closes very easily by hand (insulated steel door).

I'll keep all posted if I find the problem today. Wish me luck.

 

[highland_hunter]

Flip the electric eyes. I would not have believed it if I hadn't just had a similar issue. Two doors side by side, one operated perfectly, other started closing only about 25% of the time the rest was either hold the button or disengage close the door and then operate the opener to closed position which worked fine. Had someone recommend flipping the eyes and have not had an issue since.

 

[58Yeoman]

Flip the electric eyes. I would not have believed it if I hadn't just had a similar issue. Two doors side by side, one operated perfectly, other started closing only about 25% of the time the rest was either hold the button or disengage close the door and then operate the opener to closed position which worked fine. Had someone recommend flipping the eyes and have not had an issue since.

Thanks for that tidbit, highland. I have one more trick up my sleeve to try after lunch. This is what I posted on the other site.

Work done this am. Recheck all the nuts and bolts; tight. Raised door manually; good. Operated door opener by itself; good. Tried different mounts for the sensors; no difference. Reinstalled new sensor brackets, and bolted them to the track; no difference.

Here is one thing I noticed while operating the door while on a ladder, using the buttons on the motor. The green receiver led light flickers when the door tries to go down, and it looks like that may be a problem. I will try readjusting the lights again after lunch. If that doesn't work, I may try mounting the green receiving sensor to the wall instead of the track, so it doesn't vibrate when the door is in operation.

The original sensors did the same thing as the new ones. Funny thing is the tracks are rock solid, but what do I know? Oh yeah, and I checked the new wiring, no stabs or nicks. I know there can be a possibility that the sensors can be bad. It's happened before with new stuff.

 

[steaks&anvils]

Does it do this in the dark? Are any of the sensor eyes in direct sunlight?

 

[Worsedog]

I've also posted this on another forum.

My shop has two overhead doors, one double and one single. The double has been acting up lately by not coming down unless I hold the button on the wall. The opener has been on that door since we bought the place in '08. The single door has an opener that was in the house garage since 2000. I replaced the one in the house garage with a belt drive for more quiet operation. That one still works fine. I had fiddled with the double opener a bit, and figured that it was a good time to replace the noisy opener on "my" side of the house garage with a belt drive, then take the couple year old opener to the shop and replace the double opener.

Before I removed the double opener, I checked everything out to be sure there wasn't a easily fixed problem with the door. It's all lubricated and moves easily by hand. The opener will operate fine w/o the door attached. ??? Stumped here. Replaced the opener anyway, and of course, the 'new' opener acts the same way. ??? Electric eye problem? I replaced the sensor eyes with the new ones from the opener in the house garage (those are only a couple years old, so I didn't replace the ones in that garage). Still same problem. This thing is driving me crazy. It was late in the day and I was tired, so I took the two sensors that I had replace, and taped them together and left them hanging on the opener. The door works fine this way, but there is no reversing the door if something gets in the way. Almost squished the cat on her way out the door.

I had checked all mounting bolts on the door and lubed the springs above the door and all hinges and rollers. The new sensors are mounted on the new brackets, all sensor wiring is new, and they are aligned (both lights on and bright). I'm really not crazy about the mounting brackets for the sensors, so maybe today I will try making brackets that are attached to the wall instead of the door rails. This problem has me stumped. It has to be door related, as two different openers act the same, but the door opens and closes very easily by hand (insulated steel door).

I'll keep all posted if I find the problem today. Wish me luck.

You just answered your question. It's a sensor issue. Some are sensitive to ambient light washing out the sensor light. Have you tried swapping them side to side?

 

[Crabman]

Same issue with our daughter's house in Orlando last year. She was pregnant (our first grandchild, a girl, arrived 9/25/21).

I found the sensors at an Ace across town. Covid still big then.

Bought them, installed them, problem gone for good.

Good luck with a fix!

 

[58Yeoman]

Here's one for the books. If I removed the receiving sensor and held it outside the bracket (towards the inside of the shop) and aimed it at the other one, the door would work. I'm guessing that the lens isn't adjusted right in the housing. I spliced in the old one, and the door works fine, and the led doesn't blink when the door is going down.

I couldn't swap the sensors, as the sun hits the one that sends the signal. I'm done for the day, and thanks for the support.

 

[highland_hunter]

Yep, you would have more than likely ended up with the same results flipping the sensors. You have one that is sensitive to the ambient light which was causing your issue.

I had multiple shops try and resolve, one which went as far as swapping the control board in the opener. Finally had one recommend flipping the sensors and problem fixed.

Best of luck!

 

[pmiranda]

If it's not an aim/sensor issue, and you're seeing the status light on the sensor flickering, it could be a bad connection. We had trouble when we moved into this house until I figured out that the wiring they ran in the sheetrock had a nail through it so I ran new sensor wiring and all was great.

 

[58Yeoman]

Yep, you would have more than likely ended up with the same results flipping the sensors. You have one that is sensitive to the ambient light which was causing your issue.

I had multiple shops try and resolve, one which went as far as swapping the control board in the opener. Finally had one recommend flipping the sensors and problem fixed.

Best of luck!

Your suggestion was the next fix I was going to try, although putting the receiving sensor on the other side would've put it in the sunlight. Don't know how that would work, as directions say the sun can affect them. I will keep that in mind. Thanks.

 

[58Yeoman]

If it's not an aim/sensor issue, and you're seeing the status light on the sensor flickering, it could be a bad connection. We had trouble when we moved into this house until I figured out that the wiring they ran in the sheetrock had a nail through it so I ran new sensor wiring and all was great.

Wiring was not hard stapled and was not stabbed or crushed. The old sensor in its place fixed the problem. Thanks for your input.

 

[Meursault74]

Toilet paper roll fix. I noticed my brother had them on his sensors and asked him about it.

Here's a video I found just incase someone else has sensor issues with the sun and looks at this thread

 

[CraigStu]

I was going to suggest fabbing something to shield the sun but the toilet paper roll fix is brilliant. I don't have a problem so I sure hope to remember it in case I do later on.

 

[Rc_Guy]

Same issue with our daughter's house in Orlando last year. She was pregnant (our first grandchild, a girl, arrived 9/25/21).

I found the sensors at an Ace across town. Covid still big then.

Bought them, installed them, problem gone for good.

Good luck with a fix!

you do know that 9/25/21 has not been here yet don't you?

Toilet paper roll fix. I noticed my brother had them on his sensors and asked him about it.

Here's a video I found just incase someone else has sensor issues with the sun and looks at this thread

I didn't know there was a video for this, I did the same fix on the doors at our work shop about 6 years ago.

 

[Crabman]

you do know that 9/25/21 has not been here yet don't you?

lol, typing too fast, "last year" hopefully guided you to 9/25/20, which is correct

She has a couple of teeth now, and recently ate her first pork rib!

Grandpa's girl!

 

[nadogail]

I have used black ABS pipe as blinders on garage door opener eyes. It looks more professional than a toilet paper roll.

 

[Meursault74]

I have used black ABS pipe as blinders on garage door opener eyes. It looks more professional than a toilet paper roll.

I agree that would be a better long term solution. I assume the toilet paper roll was suggested as everyone will have them available at some point, it costs nothing extra and is easy to cut.

 

[Slednut]

Check the electrical outlet in the ceiling, I had the same problem and it ended up being the prongs on the garage door opener cord were so loose in the outlet that the opener wouldn't work under load.