Just this week our Stanley garage door opener (age unknown) has developed a problem. When trying to get the door to raise (via wall button or remote) the door goes up about a 1.5 feet and stops. If I pull up on the handle and apply just a little force as I activate the remote it raises without a problem.
I was unable to find any obstructions. I tried oiling all the moving parts on the door without success.
On the unit itself there are three controls: Up, Down, and Sensitivity. The up and down controls only determine how high or low the door goes. I did try messing with them and eventually set them back to previous settings. I've decreased the sensitivity as low as it will go to no avail.
Disconnect the door from the motor and see if it moves up and down easily or if it binds at some point(s). Binding may indicate a dirty track or broken wheels.
If the door moves freely, run the motor with the door still disconnected. Does it seem to change speed at any point(s)? Did you lube the track/screw/chain? If not, do so.
If all else fails, the motor may be about to fail.
Let me add two things. The door should, when disconnected from the motor, lift about half way and stay without any help. If it wants to come back down, the springs need to be adjusted.
You may also have a clutch adjustment on the motor that may be too light. Don't over tighten it as that is a safety hazard and may damage the door as well.
If the door works fine by hand you want to turn the sensitivity higher. If you have to set it to max & it still doesn't work the board is probably bad but replacement parts are hard to find. You should not use the door on a regular basis w/ it set to max. If the door hits anything it will do severe damage before reversing if it does at all.
Thanks for the replies. I lubed the pole the door mechanism slides on and that fixed it (that was the only thing I didn't think to do in the first place). I will turn the sensitivity back to where it was ASAP.
Thanks aga>If the door works fine by hand you want to turn the sensitivity
Not a good idea for a Stanley chain drive, which is meant to run its pole and trolley 100% dry. If this is whatg you have, clean off every trace of the lubricant because eventually dust will accumulate and cause binding. Don't just wipe it off but by also wash it with a degreaser that's safe for all plastics, such as alcohol or some electronic parts cleaner sprays, although the polyester used for the trolley tube should have no problems with brake parts cleaner. And do be sure to clean the inside of the trolley tube.
I'd check the balance of the door and lubricate any pivot points (1-piece doors) or the axles of any rollers.
If your Stanley has a 1" or larger diameter force adjustment knob on the bottom, it may be a good idea to remove the cover (unplug AC first) and inspect the black gearbox housing because it's made of brittle polyester, and this is important since the safety force mechanism uses a microswitch mounted on this housing, and if the housing cracks there you'll have no safety mechanism left, except for the time-out circuit.
They are? The only custom part is the microprocessor, but any rolling code chip may need to be programmed before use (I'm not familiar with them). But those parts rarely fail, and old Stanleys with the large force adjustment knob and the safety clutch don't use computer chips anyway, just 100% generic parts, like 4000-series CMOS chips for the logic (I have a schematic somewhere for a 20-year-old Stanley board). The main problems are cracked solder joints caused by motor vibration, certain undersized resistors in the voltage regulator burning out (later Stanleys went to an 7808 regulator), relay contacts going bad (I'm sure you've tried the relay swap trick), and relay driver transistors and coil diodes blowing from back EMF. I don't know about the motor start capacitor.
Many times in these postings one must make educated judgments on the small amount of information given and my assessment could very well be incorrect but it is based on 25+ years of experience and I have expanded on my reasoning below. However, anyone certainly has the right to disagree w/ my opinion and I certainly respect anyones opinion and stiill to this day learn things from other people's points of view.
The poster stated that he did not know the age of the opener and most openers (in the US anyways) eliminated the spring loaded clutch & went to counter revolution boards to reverse the opener & the sensitivity adjustment is a pod or pods on the main board. By his description (set to low)it sounded to me like he was adjusting a pod and not adjusting a spring.
It does not sound like a relay problem since they will not normally "drop out" on their own once the motor starts to run. Usually when they are bad they won't pull in at all or the contacts fuse together and the operator will not run at all in at least one direction. Actually garage door opener boards fail all the time & in some areas the number one cause is lightning. Surges will normally fry parts on boards but static charges usually will not leave a trace.
The capacitor is probably a 220 VAC w/ a MFD rating of somewhere in the 35 to 55 range (don't remember the exact numbers) but it simply gives the motor enough power to start and a bad one will not normally cause a motor to stop once it has started either.
While someone w/ electronics knowledge could very well repair the board themselves they most likely would not be able to have someone else repair it for less money than a new board (Stanley boards are no longer made & are difficult to find for many models).
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