Garage door key switch

[Peabody]

I have an old Sears garage door opener, and there is a small remote lock switch mounted outside the door in the door frame. When you turn the key, two wires leading from the switch to the opener are shorted together, and the door opens, or closes.

The key still turns fine in the lock, but no short is created. I've removed insulation from the wires just inside the garage, as close to the switch as I can get, and creating a short there opens the door. So the problem appears to be inside the switch.

I just want to know if there's anything I need to look out for when repairing or replacing the switch. It appears to be mounted so that if I were a bad guy trying to remove the switch and shorting the wires, pulling the switch out would leave the wires behind. But it still seems vulnerable, and I wonder if I can improve things.

Anyway, any "look outs" for me?

Thanks

[bob_villa]

Shorting is a term for an overload...you are making a low-voltage "connection". Not sure what you're asking though?

[Taxed and Spent]

Rubbish!

I would beware of burglars. Those key switches, when they work, are easy prey.

[Don Wiss]

Why do you need it? Don't you have a remote for each car?

After my father died, my mother had an extra remote. She has it in the breakfast area and can now close the garage from the floor above.

Don.

(e-mail link at home page bottom).

[Unquestionably Confused]

+1 (to Taxed & Spent's). Peabody, lose the key lock and pick up a keypad. No wires, no problems. Secure as the rolling remote in the car, easy to install!

[DerbyDad03]

I have a remote in each vehicle, but I still have a keypad near the door.

Why would I want to use the remote that's in a vehicle when I am not in the vehicle?

[bob_villa]

If an electrician tells me otherwise, I will accept it...not coming from a limey.

[Taxed and Spent]

How about a good old US of A Electrical Engineer, you sap?

[Art Todesco]

I use a wireless keypad. It runs on a 9v battery and, as I have 2 doors, can be programmed for both doors (different codes). It uses rolling codes, which makes it more secure. The battery, so far, has lasted over 7 years and still works fine. In my previous house I had a wired keypad. This one was ok, because there was a ribbon cable between the keypad and the inside part. The inside part with electronics, could not easily be accessed. If someone pried off the keypad, they would still have the know the code and would have to use it in a row/column fashion. With the OP's key switch, one could simply pry out the lock and short (notice I said short) the wires together in order to gain access. The good part is, you don't have to carry a key.

[trader_4]

Too lazy to use google again, I see. A short circuit doesn't mean there is an overload. It just means there is some direct, typically unintended connection or fault in a circuit. You could have a short on the wiring going to a low voltage, low current sensor, where it will not work, but there is no overload, for example. It's also common to say that to reset this device, you short pins 1 and 3 together while applying power, etc.

[trader_4]

Same here. I'd get rid of the key switch and replace it with a keypad too. With a keypad, you don't need to have the key. It's also more secure, though I doubt many thieves eager on burlarizing a house are going to waste time working that key switch out, assuming it's a decent one. Plenty of other ways in.

[bob haller]

exactly right. keypads are way more conveient and just as secure

[Taxed and Spent]

more secure than a key switch

[bob_villa]

If you were...you wouldn't say "rubbish". UK stuff like, "spot-on"...keep that shit over there!

[bob_villa]

...I agree, unintended...and not usually done!

[Taxed and Spent]

Are you daft, man?

[Bennett]

You don't indicate how the current switch is retained. Perhaps a solution is to get a key switch with a long threaded barrel (body) and mount it in the wall of the garage (not the door frame) and secure it with a large washer (and nut). This will keep it from being pulled out of the garage. See, e.g.,

or Not a perfect solution as a determined thief could rip the guts out of the switch but your garage is not Fort Knox.

[Diesel]

It looks like an invisible beam style sensor?

[FromTheRafters]

Diesel explained on 9/5/2016 :

Yep, one side emits a beam and the other detects it. Usually infrared.

[Unquestionably Confused]

Yes! And if you walk through the "U" while the door is in operation it reverses the door or stops it! ;)