Genie garage opener intermittent

[Kevin]

I have a strange problem. I have a Genie garage door opener that works perfectly fine in the daytime. It works from the remote or the button in the garage but, when I leave to go to work in the morning at

4:00am the door won't close. It starts to close but reverses right away. It closes at night just fine so I know my wife's car isn't interferring with the sensors. It won't even close from the inside when I push the button. I have to physically hold the button down until the garage door closes all the way, then I can let the button go and walk out the back door. This is driving me crazy.

[MF]

Mine too, interestingly enough. Genie Screw drive. I look forward to answers on this one.

[jim evans]

I've had a lot of success asking Genie about my problems --

jim ___ Have a home upkeep question? Try my help page. It's sort of an alt.home.repair FAQ.

[Joseph Meehan]

I'm going to take a guess that the sun is shinning on one of the sensors. Try adding a baffle. It could also be, as noted, temperature related and something may be binding up or maybe someone used the wrong lube on it.

[John Gilmer]

This is a long shot BUT:

perhaps some HID "security lighting" is generating interferrence.

[Colbyt]

Since your problem is time driven, I don't know if this will help. Check the alignment of the safety infrared lights, the ones that shoot a beam across the door about 16" off the floor. It might be out of alignment when the weather is cool and shift just enough to work when warm. That is the only closing only intermittent problem I can think of.

[MF]

In my case, (I was the one that said me too on the problem) my light is on and solid, not blinking when this occurs. And I can't really say mine is specifically time related; just intermittent. It seems to only be at night, but in all fairness being self employed I am at home a lot, and the garage usually stays open all day.

[Doordoc]

Kevin,

Yes it is a possibility that the screw can't turn because of heavy grease but usually the door wouldn't open well either. Holding the wall button is an over-ride of the photo-cells so you can close the door, but it forces users to have the photo-cells fixed (UL-325). Obviously the photo-cells work sometimes so this may be a silly question but how bright are your headlights? I'm assuming that at 4:00 you have them on. Does the door close properly if you turn your headlights off? I have not heard of headlights doing this but have seen sunlight cause this problem. If the headlights cause the problem there is two solutions.

1) always turn off lights before closing door or 2) switch the two photo-cells (may have to move wires also depending on how they are run). One of the photo-cells is a transmitter & the other is a receiver and bright light on the receiver washes out the transmitter signal to where it can not see the beam. Therefore switching sides will almost always solve this type of problem. There are some other possibilities in the electronics, but electronic problems do not usually come & go. Some may laugh at this response but I have been in this type of business for 25+ years & find that usually it is the simple things that get you.

Doordoc

[Rich]

Check your systems reversing mechanism, see

sure the reverse mech isn't set to reverse too easily.

Also check the balance of the springs, see

you raise the door manually to about three feet from the ground and let it go it should not travel more than a couple of inches in either direction. It's possible that your spring tension is set too strong and the combination of the factors mentioned by the prior posts could be contributing to the operator's malfunction.

[Colbyt]

The problem I had was the vibration of the moving door caused the sensors to lose contact. They are not wired to stop upward movement. So there was only a problem when downward travel was involved.

Pardon the top post, done for clarity.

[Kevin]

Here is some more information that might be helpful. I don't have a screw type drive. I have the chain. So, I don't think the grease is a problem, although I will check. I had my springs changed by a garage door repair man about 2 years ago. One had broken, I had both changed because that something they won't let you do yourself. My sensors seem to have a steady beam. That's the first thing that I check. I adjusted my downward force a quarter turn with no joy. I have recently hooked up outdoor lighting and the transformer is humming at that time in the morning but, it is also on at night and the garage opener functions properly. I'll also try switching the photocells and see if this makes a difference. You're right it usually is something simple.

Thanks, I'll keep you posted.

[Doordoc]

Kevin,

You are right the grease is probably not an issue on a chain drive opener. Obviously the problem has something to do w/ the time of day (or night) in this case. I should have asked before, but how far does the door move before it reverses? If it moves exactly 4" then the problem can be in the revolution counter board system under the motor cover. If it is traveling farther it is usually from the door binding up. Does the door reverse when the very bottom of the door comes up against the door trim as the door starts to close? Sometimes the door molding will expand & shrink w/ temperature changes. If it is reversing at this point the easy solution is take an old candle (wax) & rub it on the inside edge (side door rubs against) of the trim from top to bottom on both sides. While shaving or moving the trim would solve the problem, the door will not seal as well when it is fully closed.

I'll be watching for your post back.

Doordoc

[Doordoc]

Kevin, The revolution counter is under the motor cover & is normally near the end of the motor shaft that has a plastic cup w/ notches in it. The board counts the speed of the motor (light beam pulses through the notches) & when this board detects a slow down in the motor speed it causes the door to reverse. Therefore it will move 4" before it detects a variation. Therefore the odd part is the 4:00 AM time again. I would assume you do have the motor cover on at all times, but openers sometimes will not work w/ the cover off because bright light will wash out the pulses the same as the photo-cells. However, it doesn't sound like bright light is a problem at 4:00 AM. so I think the problem has to be outside the electronics. Two other thoughts come to mind. How tight is the chain? There should be a 1/2" droop in the chain in the middle of the rail. Second, have you greased the door rollers or track that is maybe thickening up in the early morning. The rollers & track should never be greased (grease thickens & collects dirt & actually makes the door work harder) but the steel ball bearing rollers (if you have them) should be oiled (motor oil or a light machine oil, WD-40 doesn't help much since it evaporates rather quickly). This type of problem would give a garage door repairman nightmares, but it would almost have to be temperature or bright light related if it's not the chain.

Doordoc

[Doordoc]

Jim

First thing I would suspect is that there may be a short in the wiring to the photo-cell from a staple being put in too tight. I would inspect the wiring or if the wiring is buried in the wall or ceiling I would run a temporary external wire to the photo-cells to see if this solves the problem. If it was an alignment problem holding the wall button should work every time. Another possibility is that it maybe picking up interference from the other door's photo-cells. One side is a receiver & one side is a transmitter (I don't know off hand how to tell which one is which on a Genie, but could find out if necessary) & on a two door installation the transmitters on both doors should be on the center column & the receivers on the outside ends. This way both are shooting their beams away from each other, so that one receiver can't pick-up a signal from the transmitter on the other door. Hope this helps!

Doordoc

[Jimbo]

Thank you for all the advice. It is much appreciated!

I am going to replace the sensors and see what happens. I ordered a new set of sensores from:

I hope this solves the problem!

Jim

[MF]

I want to say thanks too, as i piggy-backed my problem on this conversation. Now, I am actually wanting it to act up again, so I can stop and try out some of the suggestions!

[dcleingang]

[dcleingang]

Bought in 2010, it is now 2014 and this and other variations was a intermit ent problem. I finally bought a new control board and still had same proble m. Finally figured out the opto sensing pcb sencing the plastic flag wheel on the motor shaft had to be tilted slightly and taped in place and problem went away.

[dcleingang]

Bought in 2010, it is now 2014 and this and other variations was a intermit ent problem. I finally bought a new control board and still had same proble m. Finally figured out the opto sensing pcb sencing the plastic flag wheel on the motor shaft had to be tilted slightly and taped in place and problem went away.

[dcleingang]

ittent problem. I finally bought a new control board and still had same pro blem. Finally figured out the opto sensing pcb sensing the plastic flag whe el on the motor shaft had to be tilted slightly and taped in place and prob lem went away.