Garage Door Opener Problem
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Sunset
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When I watched a guy remove existing single car garage door & rails, then install new ones, plus hook up the existing garage door opener, I was impressed as it took him 2 hours.
ElizabethT
Full time employment: Posting here.
This exact thing just happened to us, same unit, 1993 manufacturing date on unit, so 28 years old. Garage technician thought it was the sensors, tested them but couldnt find anything wrong. We elected to replace, figuring 28 years was a good run.
rk911
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mine did that just last week. turned out the sensors at the floor were mis-aligned. simple fix for me.
Chuckanut
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My problem with that is once a person gets into my garage and closes the garage door they could have hours to find a way to break into my house with nobody being able to see anything suspicious.
rk911
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consider adding a Ring, SimpliSafe or similar wifi or ethernet camera watching that door 24/7.
MC Rider
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Yes he sprayed the stuff liberally on the chain, the big spring above the door, and the tracks and rollers on both sides. Also attached it the the underside of the roof, rather than the lower down boards running from wall to wall that mainly help keep the opposite walls together. They are kind of flexible. He said mounting to those like the old one was allows a lot of movement. I was glad I decided to not DIY it.
MRG
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Mine does that when it's cold. Unit is 11 years old. This year I'm just applying liberal amounts of lube everywhere. When this stops working I'll call the dude.
This is exactly what happened to me with my garage door. I don't know the name of the part I had to replace but it had to do with the door knowing how far to travel to get to the ground. Mine, like yours, had lost its mind and wouldn't go all the way down unless I held the button. I think it was the pattern of lights blinking that pointed me to the issue/part when I read the support documentation for the opener (2015). I ordered the part from either ebay or Amazon or one of those parts websites, installed it on a very hot FL day, adjusted the travel, and she's been good to go for probably 2 years (pre-pandemic, anyway). It was really fun to troubleshoot it, find the part, and then actually install it and have it work again!
Sounds like a good temporary work around to me...Sure sounds like a sensor not working properly or to much slack in the chain/belt, but I'm not an expert on GDO's
EDIT: In thinking about this I just realized that one of my GDO's (I have three) acted much the same as the OP's a few months ago.... It would open okay but not close properly... (reversed itself)... I would try it several times and it would finally close all the way... It did this for about a week and then "just started" to work okay so I forgot about it... (I practice the "Don't fix it if it's not broken" maintenance program)
I fought this same intermittent issue for a couple of years until I finally figured out it was a particular Sun angle on the sensors. So when the combination of my commute time and sun angle was just right, the door would not close. I learned to stop the car or stand in such a way to block the sun and all was fine.
Car-Guy
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I doubt that was my problem since my sensors are up in the rafters.
... I decided a long time ago that "for me" the "GDO safety sensors" are more trouble than they are worth so I hang mine in the rafters near the opener about 1 foot apart facing each other... Not recommended to put the senors in the rafters for most folks, especially with small kids or if pets or around.
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Telly
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We don't need no stinkin' safety sensors! I wonder if I have the oldest GDO in daily use here!
1982 Genie screw drive, before safety sensors. I replaced the receiver many years ago with a universal receiver, because the remotes wore out and found that they went obsolete, not even universal remotes would cover. Found out that the remotes were no longer available because the original frequency range used was no longer used by GDOs. So bought a new receiver and remotes on the new frequency. It was a cheap fix.
Also long ago, when I had just finished replacing torsion springs for the first time, I had the cover of the GDO off, stepladder under it, was running door up and down checking everything. While by the door, the motor capacitor blew with a big BANG! and smoke poured out! Woohoo! Replaced blown cap, all okay. About a year ago I remembered that it had been a long time, so I bought a replacement cap to have as a spare.
I made a simple modification to it shortly after we bought this house. I always unplug the GDO if I'm going to have a vehicle part in, part out of garage for a while, don't want any accidents. I quickly found out that with the door UP, if you unplug the GDO, then later plug it in and then press to CLOSE the door, the motor runs the other way instead, and runs the carriage up with a bang into a bump on the die-cast motor housing that seems to be made for this. Didn't like that, seems it would eventually crack it. I silicone-caulked a rubber shock absorber bumper (the type that go over a shock's piston shaft) onto the bump, and filled the rubber bumper's hole with caulk too. Works great, never fell off. Now its a cushioned stop and is gentle.
I wonder if I have the oldest GDO in daily use here!1982 Genie screw drive, before safety sensors. I replaced the receiver many years ago with a universal receiver, because the remotes wore out and found that they went obsolete, not even universal remotes would cover. Found out that the remotes were no longer available because the original frequency range used was no longer used by GDOs. So bought a new receiver and remotes on the new frequency. It was a cheap fix.
Also long ago, when I had just finished replacing torsion springs for the first time, I had the cover of the GDO off, stepladder under it, was running door up and down checking everything. While by the door, the motor capacitor blew with a big BANG! and smoke poured out! Woohoo! Replaced blown cap, all okay. About a year ago I remembered that it had been a long time, so I bought a replacement cap to have as a spare.
I made a simple modification to it shortly after we bought this house. I always unplug the GDO if I'm going to have a vehicle part in, part out of garage for a while, don't want any accidents. I quickly found out that with the door UP, if you unplug the GDO, then later plug it in and then press to CLOSE the door, the motor runs the other way instead, and runs the carriage up with a bang into a bump on the die-cast motor housing that seems to be made for this. Didn't like that, seems it would eventually crack it. I silicone-caulked a rubber shock absorber bumper (the type that go over a shock's piston shaft) onto the bump, and filled the rubber bumper's hole with caulk too. Works great, never fell off. Now its a cushioned stop and is gentle.
Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I also turn off our garage door opener when I have the vehicles part-way in the garage, ours is on a light switch so it's easy to switch on/off.
Seems to work normally when it comes back on.
Seems to work normally when it comes back on.
RetiredAt55.5
Full time employment: Posting here.
I have a 1 inch by 6 foot piece of wood that I put in the garage door track whenever I park like this, so if the door tries to close it'll hit that first and reverse.
Alternatively, one could use locking vise grips on the track.
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I just slide the garbage can (or any convenient thing) in front of the light sensor safety beam. It won't even start going down if that beam is blocked. Or move the car so that the tires block the beam.
-ERD50
I am a retired custom home builder, if this was my house I would call a trusted garage door company and have them install a new opener. You could buy one from Lowe’s which I recommended that my in-laws do and it even has Wi-Fi and was bought and installed for under $500.
RetiredAt55
Confused about dryer sheets
I had the exact same problem on my GDO. I found the following thread which suggested replacement of a capacitor. I replaced it and it's worked great since. Easy fix and costs very little. If you can solder/desolder, it's a trivial fix.
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2381746/garage-door-remote-opens-but-wont-shut-door
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2381746/garage-door-remote-opens-but-wont-shut-door
OP
OP
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I just read through that entire thread. Thanks for posting the link.
It appears my problem is not the same as in the thread. The problem in the thread is that the remote controls would open but would not subsequently close the garage door. The wall mounted button would work every time with just one touch--door opening or door closing.
There were two reasons in the thread you posted for this happening.
1. The user had installed an LED light bulb in the GDO. Once the door is opened via the remote (as when someone comes home in their vehicle) the light comes on and stays on for about 5 minutes, then automatically shuts off. The electronics in the LED light bulb base interfere with the radio signal from the remote telling the GDO to close. As long as the LED light is on, the remote control signal telling the GDO to close the door is blocked. Once the light turns off the remote control will work to close the garage door. Some posters said that they could get the remotes to lower the garage door when the lights were on by holding the remote control within a foot or so of the GDO main unit.
2. The capacitor is part of the timing circuit that keeps the GDO light on for 5 minutes until it automatically shuts off the light. The capacitor is old and no longer in specs. Something about the capacitor being old and defective is not allowing the signal from the remotes to be received by the GDO main unit. One poster in the thread said that he had incandescent lights and the remotes would work only after the timing circuit turned off the lights. Once the lights were off the remotes would work fine. This poster replaced the capacitor and now the remotes work regardless of the lights being on or off.
While I am handy with a soldering gun, in fact, have replaced swollen caps on circuit boards many times, I don't think the capacitor is the issue because my wall control unit will not lower the door unless I hold the button down. Everyone in the thread you posted said the wall control unit worked as normal, only the remote (wireless) controls had problems closing the garage door.
Just for fun, I went out and unscrewed both light bulbs and tried closing the garage door. It didn't work. I still had to hold down the button on the wall unit to close the door. I suppose I COULD try replacing the capacitor to see if makes a difference, but a.) I don't have much fun working in 20 degree weather, standing on a step ladder and craning my neck upwards in order to take out the circuit board to get at the capacitor, and b.) I've already made the decision to get a new door and GDO.
My Hail Mary plan: I've asked the buyer on Ebay if he will swap out the sending eye sensor he sent me for another identical unit he has listed. He has two more units listed on Ebay.
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OP
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Understandably, the Ebay seller was reluctant to have me return the sending unit since he pretests them before shipping. I've been working with the seller to figure out what was wrong with my GDO. We tried a few things (to no avail) and his final suggestion was to remove both sensors from the garage door railings and attach their wires directly to the back of the GDO connections, point the sensors at each other and try operating the garage door. The idea is to eliminate the wiring running from the sensors up the wall, across the ceiling, and into the GDO motor unit.
Sounds like a plan, but how do I point the sensors at each other then operate the wall mounted button? Innovation in the form of an empty toilet paper roll! I stuffed each end of the empty toilet paper roll over the sensor "eyes". In this way they were pointing directly at each other at about a 3" spacing. (see photo)
Satisfied with my cleverness I operated the wall button. Nope, the door still wouldn't close without holding the button down. Finally, in exasperation, my only remaining move was to replace the new receiving sensor eye with the OLD receiving sensor eye. SUCCESS!!
<dumbfounded>
