Garage Door Opener Cycling Up & Down On Its Own ?

[Bob]

Hi,

My son just wrote me the following re his automatic garage door opener:

"We came home today and discovered test our garage seems to be opening on its own.

There's nothing sitting on the automatics in the cars and nothing stuck at or near the garage.

To stop this temporarily I switched to manual and unplugged.

But this is a temporary fix for something goofy"

Anyone have any thoughts as to what might be going on ? As always, thanks for help.

Bob

[Frank]

Have not had mine behave like this but have had something bump the optical detector and signal light get out of line and door acted goofy. Tweaking them solved problem.

[Iggy]

1st - He'll need to make sure his Threshold Sensors or Eyes are clean, clear and aligned (green light). These being less than perfect can cause similar behavior.

2nd - He can replace the batteries (if he can't test them) in the remotes. For some reason some remotes put out signals as the batteries die or get too low in power.

3rd - He can fool with the Up Force and Down Force knobs. While this can ruin the safety of the Opener, it's allowed doors to operate perfectly for many years more. He'd just mark or remember their starting position (i.e. 1-o'clock) and then twist them around a bit to grind debris out of the potentiometer switches. But, he wants to still leave them set a little higher (i.e. 2-o'clock).

4th - The Control or Circuit Board has been blown by a surge or by its own cheap Planned Obsolescence parts. Most Openers don't have decent surge protection and aren't plugged into a Surge Protector. He'll need to replace the Control or Circuit Board or just get a whole new Opener, as they can be almost the same cost.

5th - He can try changing Security Codes, to stop a neighbor's remote from triggering his door. But, if we're talking about an Opener that's 10-years old or less, this isn't an option. The "newer" Openers have self rolling codes and therefore no ability to change or set a code.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Assuming it is the newer ones with the optical safety, the reflector may have gotten out of whack and it thinks the door is going to hit something. That would cause it to go up. There is also a limit switch to tell the door when to stop and that may be out of adjustment.

Manual may have a diagnosis in the troubleshooting section.

[slate_leeper]

Possible interference from someone else's remote or even another device. I have a driveway alarm that, despite my trying different "encodings" on it, insists on going off every time one of my neighbors closes his garage door with his remote.

-dan z-

__ Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world. (Anonymous)

[Rob]

I'd start this guessing-game by pulling the cover and blowing the spider webs and dust out of the door opener, any door safety sensors and any of the wall-mounted push buttons.

Another guess would be to change the  code on the remotes and opener.

Another guess would be to remove the batteries from both remote controls to see if the door still opens on its own.

[trader_4]

It's unclear whether this is something that happens one time, occasionally after the button is pushed or if the door is "cycling" constantly up and down, never shutting.