Garage door Nader device

So a widow that lives down the street asked me to get her garage door open.

She has the laser sensors on the bottom. The ones that stop the door if the beam is broken.

The little led are supposed to be green. One is until tripped. The other, no matter what I do, is always red.

Any ideas on a cheap repair?

Are you sure they are aligned? I'm not saying relocate them to above the door 1" away from each other or anything like that. That would be irresponsible.

Mine are green on one side and yellow on the other.

An aside: there should be a manual release to operate the door until you get the sensors sorted out.

My new unit has one green and one red LED. Aligning them was easier than expected, especially since it's a 16 foot door.

I actually held them one inch apart and the door still won't open with the opener.

She can't open the door by herself without the opener, so I need to get it fixed.

Any other options for repair/bypass?

Mine has one green and one red. It has always works fine that way.

Hmmm ours at work doesn't have the sensors hooked up. Did you try unhooking them? Its either that or they need to be jumpered.

EDIT: ok i lied.... they zip tied the sensors next to each other above the opener motor.... Might be worth a try still

If she doesn't have little kids or really need the Nader device, just unscrew them, point them nose to nose and duct tape them together. Hang 'em high.

Sounds like it's not the sensor. There are other things that can go wrong. What have you tried?

The door will open with the sensors not aligned or with stuff in the way of them. The sensors do not interfere with opening the door at all, only with closing the door.

Got a name and model on that garage door opener? It'll help with the conversation and suggestions.

914Driver wrote: If she doesn't have little kids or really need the Nader device, just unscrew them, point them nose to nose and duct tape them together. Hang 'em high.

My grandfather did that once my dad and uncles were all in school. Figured they weren't stupid enough to sit under the door.

I do remember hearing stories about it coming down on cars though.

I'll get details on the unit tonight. Will also see if I can open the door by hand to eliminate variables.

I have never owned, nor messed with, an electronic garage door opener. So thanks guys.

Some theory of operation because there is more to it than I thought. An actual signal seems to travel down the same wires that power the LEDs. The actual power to the LEDs is just run in parallel.

http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/electronics/GarageElecEye.html

Dusterbd13 wrote: I actually held them one inch apart and the door still won't open with the opener. She can't open the door by herself without the opener, so I need to get it fixed. Any other options for repair/bypass?

So the door is closed, and you can't open it?

sounds like a different problem than the sensor. I had my sensor wiring torn up by a groundhog- the door would open, but not close.

Dead battery in the remote?

Nope. Won't open. And not opening with either the remote or the wall switch.

I guess I'm looking at more than the sensors then.

Ideas? Comes up about an inch and stops.

sounds like something tripping the load limiter or the maximum up switch. Either one means something in the wrong place at the switches near the drive unit or the door latch on the track is engaged.

So there are sensor in many systems to stop them from over torquing. So it will be interesting to hear if you can open the door manually. If not, could be the door springs. I've had to change mine twice.

Don't overlook the obvious. Make sure the door didn't get locked.

Many have 2 adjustment screws on the unit to set the max up/down limits, and another 2 adjusters for the max up/down force. There's usually 2 on the side(I think limit) & the other 2 on the end(force).

Though if it was working, but now it's not, there's probably something wrong that caused the problem.

Have you checked the springs?

If the springs are properly adjusted, it should be easy to open the door manually.

Even and old lady could do it.

Pull the red release handle on the opener , and see if the door opens manually. Is the spring in one piece?

Dusterbd13 wrote: Comes up about an inch and stops.

That's significant. That says the unit is indeed powering up and functioning.

I have seen doors fail to open because of sensor errors. They would go up a bit further as I recall, and then drop back down. Your description of the sensors seems to indicate a problem with the one. I have "fixed" some before by simply disconnecting the sensor lead and reconnecting. If you ID the unit, we can all go find the manual for it on-line and better answer this particular question.

Silly things, like the door being locked, as well thoroughly worn wheels creating tremendously high drag can also create a situation where the load sensor on the main motor gets tripped. Look at both tracks, from bottom to top, to make sure there are no entertaining failures, like a carabiner or broken wheel or such.