Old Stanley garage door opener

[Puddin' Man]

Re: Old Stanley garage door opener

This is a shot-in-the-dark, but I s'pose it might be worth asking about ...

About 20 years ago I installed a Stanley residential garage door opener (chain-drive, Model 2000.05, maybe

1/3 hp). It has given good service.

The unit is actuated by either a hard-wired button or a remote. There is a 40w bulb that lights when the door is actuated and stays on for perhaps 2 minutes.

I typically go in the garage, open the door with either the button or the remote, pull the car out of the garage, then attempt to close the door with the remote.

The door closes OK about 50% of the time. When it doesn't close properly, I can work the remote any number of times having no effect. But if I wait 2 min. until the light goes out, actuation with the remote works fine. A new battery in the remote has no effect on this behavior. Positioning of the antenna wire also has no effect.

So I guess this is a "weird wiring" question. Does anyone have any idea why actuating the door with the remote would be dependent on the light-timer circuit?

Thanks, Puddin'

****************************************************** *** Puddin' Man PuddingDotMan at GmailDotCom *** ******************************************************;

[curmudgeon]

You've already wasted more time than a 20 year old unit is worth!! You got your money's worth and more...time to move on!!

[Noozer]

Take out the bulb... Does that make a difference? Could be current leakage from a failing component. Might even just be RF noise drowning out the remote from a poor contact on the bulb someplace.

Does the hardwired button work when the remote doesn't?

It might not even be related to the timer... The trigger circuit might just happen to require about the same two minutes to recover from whateve causes the failure.

[Joseph Meehan]

I suggest you start by disconnecting the opener and making sure the door moves easily and smoothly and that it is balanced so it will stay up and down by itself. Frankly I think you may be on the wrong track.

In any case if the door itself is working properly, I suggest a new opener. You are past the design life.

[do_not_spam_me]

The door should close properly 100% of the time if the door and opener are in good condition. Is the door properly balanced and, when disengaged from the opener, will slowly fall when held open about 1/3 of the way but slowly rise when held open about 2/3 of the way? Are the pivot points greased or, for track doors, the roller shafts oiled? Is the opener's force sensor adjusted properly (on a yellow Stanley, probably a large knob on the bottom)? Is the rail clean (wipe off but do not lube -- Stanley chain drives run dry, except for the chain)?

If the opener always closes from the wall button but not from the remote, then it's possible that the switch on the remote has developed cracked solder joints. But if the wall button works no better than the remote, I would suspect cracked solder on the opener's circuit board (motor vibration is rough on it), a bad motor start capacitor (about

1.5" diameter, 3-5" long), or a burned motor relay. There are 3 relays

--motor up, motor down, and lamp, and the lamp relay can usually be swapped for a worn motor relay, which will still usually operate the lamp normally.

Those old Stanleys are very good, except for the lack of an electric eye safety beam, and all the electronic parts are cheap and generic (three $1 CMOS chips, the main problem area is a pair of 1/2 watt resistors that overheat -- replace with 1W resistors ). One possible problem is the gearbox housing, which is made of brittle plastic and can cause a hazard if it cracks where the safety microswitch attaches to it.

[MG]

Just another possibility. The lamp heat, is warping someting, try removing the lamp as someone already suggested.

MG

[Rich]

Your Stanley has developed a faulty receiver, All you have to do is pick up and install a radio set.

These Delta units will work just fine on that Stanley:

Rich

[Puddin' Man]

I pulled the bulb today. Made no difference. Bulb was tight in socket. Light never flickered, no evidence of poor contact.

Yes.

Oh, most anything is possible, I suppose.

Thanks, Puddin'

****************************************************** *** Puddin' Man PuddingDotMan at GmailDotCom *** ******************************************************;

[Puddin' Man]

These bases are all covered. I do maint. on it about once a year. No evidence of stickiness, etc.

When it fails to actuate from the remote while the lite burns, nothing happens. No start, no click, no -nothing-.

It does, 'tho I might have to push the button more than once ...

Should be visable on a workbench with a magnifying glass?

Hmmmmm.

It's been a true workhorse.

This sounds -very- helpful (profuse thanks!).

I gotta pull the cover and see what I can see (and check the remote). Possibly tomorrow ...

Cheers, Puddin'

****************************************************** *** Puddin' Man PuddingDotMan at GmailDotCom *** ******************************************************;

[Puddin' Man]

This is a possibility.

The receiver in the Stanley is part of one of the printed circuit boards in the unit? Are you saying that the Delta Single Radio Set ($43) will mount -and- connect per the original Stanley board?

Thanx, Puddin'

****************************************************** *** Puddin' Man PuddingDotMan at GmailDotCom *** ******************************************************;

[Rich]

The Delta unit will wire to the same terminals that the wall button is wired to. All the installation instructions are included and easy to follow.

It's a very simple fix.

Rich

[doordoc]

follow.

How do you hook a 3-wire receiver to a 2-wire push button terminal? Where does the receiver get it's power from?

Personally I think his problem is in the main logic board (receiver board loses power from main board while the light relay is energized) & not the receiver so it's probably just a matter of time before the unit dies altogether.

Doordoc

[Rich]

The power comes from a transformer which is wired to the first and third legs of the receiver, legs one and two are then wired to the push-button's terminal. Any do-it-yourselfer can add on a radio set following the simple to follow directions included in the box. Here's a diagram:

Another receiver that can be used is LiftMaster's 635LM Universal plug-in receiver could just plug it in and hard wire it directly to any garage door opener strip. That along with a 971LM transmitter also found on that page and the problem is solved.

Just because the receiver circuit is on the blink doesn't necessarily mean that the whole machine will be in the crapper soon. Shame on you for even suggesting that "DoorDoc?"

[doordoc]

But where does it say in your post or on your web page that he needs to use a separate power transformer to hook the Delta receiver to his operator? Do you automatically send a transformer with it or does he need to buy one of those also? No it's not hard if you have all of the parts.

You can shame me all you want, but if you read all of his symptons (I believe he posted some after your original post) it doesn't make logical sense to me that the receiver is the problem. The receiver works fine to open the door & will close the door after the light shuts off. Removing the bulb doesn't help so it isn't a heat problem from the bulb, so why would the receiver board only be bad when the light relay is latched? To me this says that when the light relay is latched there is a power drain on the main board & therefore it isn't supplying enough power to the receiver board for it to work. So even after your shame I will stick w/ the opinion of my original post. I only call them as I see them, but I respect your right to disagree.

Doordoc

[Rich]

Pay attention; DoorDoc the shame on you is for your statement: "...probably just a matter of time before the unit dies altogether." Not because of your diagnosis, which I completely agree with.

Yes, there is a drain on the logic board caused by the light relay. Adding a external receiver will have his unit up and running since it won't be disrupted by the logic board's power drain. Plus with routine maintenance he could probably get another twenty years out of his Stanley (slim chance but it's possible).

So in conclusion, putting the fear of his unit's imminent failure in this man's head is totally uncalled for. ;-)

[Puddin' Man]

Just curious: would the external receiver have a 10-way dipswitch set so that the 1024 possible signals would be compatible with the remote?

The weatherman sez sun. It rains. The rain is "The State Of Nature". San Francisco folks used to have no expectation of major earthquakes. The earthquake of 1906 was "The State Of Nature".

I just did a detailed inspection of the unit, pulled the receiver board, cleaned the contacts, replaced. No change.

Per do_not_spam [e-mail], it -does- have a nasty crack in the gearbox housing all along the fastener housing right by the drive shaft (fastener(screw) is gone). I probably should've done the inspection before posting, but the crack doesn't seem to be directly related to the query problem, which had me flummoxed.

Fear of imminent failure is, of course, a factor. In general, I'm in a position where I gotta "drive 'em 'till the wheels fall off", but I can't throw $40 (or whatever) at it if the drive is shot.

Should I junk it?

Much thanks for all your help ...

Cheers, Puddin'

****************************************************** *** Puddin' Man PuddingDotMan at GmailDotCom *** ******************************************************;

[do_not_spam_me]

Usually, but I've missed so many solder cracks that I usually just resolder at least all the high-stress joints, such as the switch leads, connectors, or anything heavy or hot.

Another possibility is that the stranded antenna wire in the overhead unit has cracked about 1/4" from the circuit board, due to it wicking up solder and being vibrated by the motor, but you won't see anything because the insulation will remain intact.

[doordoc]

If you are asking if your Stanley remote would be compatible w/ the new receiver(s) that was recommended the answer would be no. Therefore you would need a set w/ receiver & remote & also a power transformer (may need to purchase separately).

The drive is not shot yet, but you may be able to save it for a while longer. The reason most of these break is because the two screws that hold the motor to the housing loosen up causing the motor to jump. If the screws loosen enough or fall out it will usually break one end of the cover (and sometimes the gear body) completely off. If you plan on keeping the opener tighten the motor screws & put nuts on the end of the screws on top of the motor head to keep them tight.

Obviously only you can decide whether to put money into a 20 year old operator that none of the motor head parts (except for the motor capacitor) or circuit boards are available, but at least now you are making a more informed decision then what I believe you were before. Doordoc

[do_not_spam_me]

A garage door opener supply or repair company may have a spare gearbox housing available, but cracks in that kind of plastic can usually be fixed with epoxy, although it's far better if you reinforce any repair with fiberglass or nylon cloth. Clean off all traces of oil and grease, roughen up the plastic and use slow-cure epoxy because 5-minute epoxy doesn't cure right unless it's mixed almost exactly right. Also any places in the plastic that stick out and have screws going into them should be reinforced with metal tubing (hobby shops and real hardware stores sell brass and aluminum tubing) epoxied over them.

[Noozer]

At this point, seeing this and the other posts, I'd have to say that with the physical damage you've found and the reciever issues you're having, that you'd probably be better off replacing the unit than you would troubleshooting.