For some reason, my sectional garage door will only open a small gap the first time I try. Once I put something in the way of the electronic eye beam, it will lift it all the way. I used silicon lubricant on the wheels and hinges but it still happens. Any suggestions?
Disconnect the door opener mechanism and lift it by hand to see if it sticks. Look for loose wire at the eyebeam, staple thru or chaffing on the wires to the eyebeam. Door movement shaking the eyebeam sensors? Do sensors have lights on them if so do they blink or act weird?
What happens the second time you try to open it without anything in front of the photo-cells? The photo-cells are not supposed to effect the door from opening at all (even if they are disconnected.
As the other poster suggested use the door by hand to determine if the door is causing the problem (as in sticking or too heavy) or if it is probably in the opener.
OOPS....wasn't clear. See, when I push the button, the door open only about one section...when I push again, it starts to close, so putting something in the way makes it automatically open.
Ok, so the eyes work just as they are supposed to. As an educated guess I would suspect that you have a 3-piece rail on your opener & it stops when the carriage (part on rail that attaches to the door arm)gets to the 1st splice. If it is a screw drive check to see if the screw splice collar isn't broken or dislodged or if it is a chain drive bend the tabs on the corners of the carriage slightly upwards (check to make sure the carriage will still release properly) so they will clear the splice smoothly.
I missed your original post. Not sure what your problem was, however if the door seems heavy at the bottom, and very light at the top, almost flying up on it's own then your springs are wrong. If the door just seems difficult to open for the first couple feet of lift, it's either binding on the tracks or frame & either the tracks or the strapping will need to be adjusted, or your springs need a tension adjustment.
Based on the other reply you received about the sensors...it sounds like you could have asked why you door reverses on the way down with the opener. This could be a number of things. Rope hanging from door, support strut etc. breaks the beam on the way down. Tracks need adjustment, or the door is causing the tracks to move so that the sensors fall out of alignment. Sensitivity setting on your opener's close force set too low. Just a couple of things for you to check.
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