A garage door sensors installation is a necessary part of your automatic garage door opener plus critical to home safety. Often, you click on your remote’s opener and the door doesn’t completely open or close. Chances are garage door sensors that have detected an object or person in its way.
It is fundamental for preventing damage to the door, the opener, and the thing or person in the path of the entryway. Regrettably, regardless of how well these garage door safety sensors work, there could be issues or failures since it’s a machine. And can leave you frustrated when you can’t close your entryway or worse for the safety problems I will discuss below.
What are garage door sensors?
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Garage door sensors are situated in the bottom corners of your door, typically connected to the rail. On one side there will be a receiver and on the other side a sending unit. They communicate using infrared lights. The sending unit operates as a flashlight, and the receiving sensor works like an electronic eyeball.
The sensors make an invisible (to people) and intangible (you can’t contact or feel it) tripwire that will advise the motor to stop if there is an obstruction. When this occurs, the door will reverse and the main lights will turn on and off a few times as a warning that something is in the way of the door. The door can open, but won’t close when something is blocking the sensors from seeing one another.
Common garage door sensors issues
The most common issue is nearby storage, or nearby things obstructing the sensor. Nearly everyone has a few items stored or left unintentionally next to the track, in the corner of the garage. You know the typical offenders – shovels, brooms, ladder, football or soccer ball, and possibly your bicycle.
All these things can block a sensor and although they may not impede the door shutting, it can stop the door if the receiving sensor can’t see the sending unit. Fixing this is straightforward, keep everything about 6 inches away from the garage door.
Misalignment issues
The following issue to look for is a misalignment of the garage door safety sensors. This means the two sensors are not aiming at one another effectively. This happens more easily than you may think. If you have a trash bin close to the door you may accidentally hit a sensor with it when taking out the trash. When you have a little garage or full of things, it’s straightforward to accidentally kick or knock one of the sensors when walking by. Sometimes a child or a pet will play with a sensor and move it. Other times, they simply loosen after some time and gravity pull them down.
No matter the reason why they moved, ensure the garage door sensors are pointing directly at one another. Every sensor has a little LED light. The sending unit will always be lit, yet the receiving sensor will stay lit if it can see the sending unit. Thus, if you see one light on and the other off, you have an issue! Loosen the sensor, and aim it as well as you can to ensure connectivity. It should be parallel to the floor and pointed directly at the sensor on the other side of the door. Ensure that once you have it aimed well you tighten it. You would prefer not to realign it again!
Water, dirt, and spider webs Oh My!
Another thing to remember is spider webs. They typically can’t obstruct the sensor, but trash or leaves blowing around can get trapped in the spider webs, and these will block your sensor! Therefore, always keep the bottom weather seal, the floor and the tracks away from dirt, foliage, and spider webs.
Like most electronics, water isn’t good for garage door sensors. If you have water leaks, or you wash your vehicle close to the garage with the door open, ensure to keep the hose pointed the other way! Also, if your sensors appear to be aligned and nothing seems in the path, investigate the wires going off to the sensors. Occasionally, the wires can get corroded and can make them malfunction as well.
Conclusion
For all of the advantages, garage doors give homeowners garages can be hazardous if the sensors don’t work correctly. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are around 30,000 injuries a year caused garage doors. Yes, I understand many of these incidents rely on the individuals. However, to exacerbate the situation, many of these injuries were to children.
While many garage door sensors are standard, you can likewise get a garage door sensors installation done by professionals. Ensure to have a garage door sensors installation worked by experts since they’re sensitive, and when installed incorrectly may cause malfunctions with catastrophic events.