Weird Garage Door Issue....any insight appreciated. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Weird Garage Door Issue....any insight appreciated.

M

mimico_polak

Well-known member
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Well another issue with the place seems to have popped up recently and it's starting to get annoying! So the garage door opener was installed last summer and recently have had a weird issue where the door won't close during certain daylight hours. No issue at night/morning/dark, but when it's light out (at a certain time only) the damn door won't close.

It starts and then stops as if though there's something blocking the path (there's not). Sometimes will go halfway, sometimes 1/3 of the way, and sometimes 2-3" before it stops and goes back.

I checked/cleaned the sensors and both lights are on properly, they were a little flickery on the green light but once I dusted them off and cleaned the glass eyes no issues with light flicker on either sensor.

No obstructions on the track...

Any thoughts?
Could it be that the light is screwing with the sensors? I read online that maybe switching their positions might be an option, but don't want to take it apart if I don't need to. Thanks!
 
Could the sensor(s) have been bumped a little out of alignment? Are the tracks clean and clear? Mine tends to bind occasionally on the track, and I've been known to put stuff close to the sensors, bump them, and put them slightly out of alignment where they work most of the time, but not always.
 
Is the receiver position such that it may be "seeing" the sun at sunset (or sunrise), for example. If so, repositioning them might help, a shrub in your garden to block the line-of-sight between the sun and the sensor might help. You might also try making a "sun shield" for the sensor using a small length of tube to make it more directional...
 
Thanks guys. Checked the sensors yesterday, and cleaned them off just to be sure...on and off...on and off...then it works. Possibly a cloud was passing by. I will try the sunshade method tonight when I get home because it's ridiculous when my wife can't close it and gets frustrated...then I hear about it! I thought about it being bumped but I aligned them to make sure the lights are on for both sensors.

Is there a way to see how 'on target' the beam is?
 
mimico_polak said:
Thanks guys. Checked the sensors yesterday, and cleaned them off just to be sure...on and off...on and off...then it works. Possibly a cloud was passing by. I will try the sunshade method tonight when I get home because it's ridiculous when my wife can't close it and gets frustrated...then I hear about it! I thought about it being bumped but I aligned them to make sure the lights are on for both sensors.

Is there a way to see how 'on target' the beam is?
Click to expand...

check youtube

just wipe the lenses off with rubbing alcohol
They are IR beams therefore bright light messes with the IR beam plus dirt on the lens weakens the the IR beams.
 
one is a emiter and one is a detector, you can switch them so the detector is out of the sun on the other side. The IR is fairly directional so any small pc of cardboard duck taped in place should do the job.

next time buy a house on the other side of the street
 
@mimico_polak just because it is working now, does not mean that the issue will not arise again. Now I hope it doesn't but here is what happened to me:
Wife calls me - garage door won't close- uses manual close. I come home after work- reconnect and door is fine. Next morning wife calls me - door won't close etc. After the 3rd day I looked into it more...it seems that the way the sun was coming down in the morning caught the sensors at a weird angle and the beam could not hit the receiver. They sell shields for this purpose, but I made mine out of a cereal box. Never had an issue since. I will edit with a picture in a bit.

Sent from the Purple Zone
 
Blackfin said:
Is the receiver position such that it may be "seeing" the sun at sunset (or sunrise), for example. If so, repositioning them might help, a shrub in your garden to block the line-of-sight between the sun and the sensor might help. You might also try making a "sun shield" for the sensor using a small length of tube to make it more directional...
Click to expand...

I was thinking this too. Just tape a piece of cardboard to the outside side, to shade the sensors. If it works, leave in place or go for something more elegant.
 
My bad, didn't realize that @blackfin said basically the same thing

Sent from the Purple Zone
 
Thanks for the tips all! I McGyver'd a cardboard sunshield...but no sun currently. Will see if it helps and then make something a bit more permanent...hopefully the sun comes soon.
 
I recall when installing a Genie garage door opener the manual said something about th sensor with the green LED be put on the side with the least sun exposure, so like others have mentioned, the sensor is more than likely being "blinded" by the sunlight . If the cardboard hack works, switch them.
 
@ninjanewbie - thought of that as well but couldn't figure out which one was which. But checking it yesterday the green LED light is on the side with less sun anyway. Hopefully weather will improve and can test the hack soon.
 
mimico_polak said:
Well another issue with the place seems to have popped up recently and it's starting to get annoying! So the garage door opener was installed last summer and recently have had a weird issue where the door won't close during certain daylight hours. No issue at night/morning/dark, but when it's light out (at a certain time only) the damn door won't close.

It starts and then stops as if though there's something blocking the path (there's not). Sometimes will go halfway, sometimes 1/3 of the way, and sometimes 2-3" before it stops and goes back.

I checked/cleaned the sensors and both lights are on properly, they were a little flickery on the green light but once I dusted them off and cleaned the glass eyes no issues with light flicker on either sensor.

No obstructions on the track...

Any thoughts?
Could it be that the light is screwing with the sensors? I read online that maybe switching their positions might be an option, but don't want to take it apart if I don't need to. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Had an issue with the button getting stuck. The button looked like it was popped back up and no issues and then... BAM! Door stops. The problem was the button was a large white plastic button which had been hit hard multiple times. This cause the button to sag down and engage the trigger to turn the garage door opener off and on at random. Replaced the button and all was good.

At the time this was only happening with one garage door out of the three. Tried a different button and no issues for a week.

As for the sensors being the issue. Maybe check and see how they're mounted. If the sensors are mounted onto the tracks and the tracks are loose and vibrate to much. Maybe this could cause the sensors to fail?
 
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