Garage door reverses frequently

[trader-of-some-jacks]

Our garage door has started reversing on the down cycle.

It does this sporadically. It can give us fits not going down, then the next 25 times we need to lower it, it goes down great, then it'll give us fits trying to get it down, and so on.

The electric eyes are aligned properly (an led glows steadily if they're aligned, and blinks if they're not). I wiped away a good amount of dust and pollen from the lenses and around them, so they're clean.

The door seems to go fine when I raise or lower it manually. If I go fast or slow, I can move it all the way along the track with one hand quite easily, never encountering any resistance or kinks.

So what else should I try?

[Ralph Mowery]

I had the same problem and even though the led was lit the door would still go about halfway down and then back up. This was mostly during the daytime and not at night. I did a careful reaiming of the electric eyes and the door operates normally now. Try moving the eyes slightly.

[trader-of-some-jacks]

Who knows? Like you, this problem occurs for me just in the daytime. I bent the frame on one electric eye so it was way off, then realigned, and the door went down perfectly. Let's hope that's all it was.

[Harry K]

One possibility: Check to see if the sun is shining on the reciever unit when it happens. You may have to shield the unit or even exchange the two.

[Sandy K.]

I had a similar problem with our Sears opener. I think it was due to some binding on th etracks due to heat expansion. I found a small screw used to adjust the force that it moves with in the back of the unit. One-half turn made a world of difference.

Sandy K.

[William W. Plummer]

My old Genie openers will reverse if too much friction is encountered. It's trying to avoid squashing kids and pets but can't tell them from dirty tracks.

[Walter R.]

Read the manual and adjust the downward force slightly.

[Joseph Meehan]

It could be a force issue. First disconnect it from the opener and see if it moves freely all the way up and down and will hold a position half way open. If not you need the counter balance system (springs) adjusted. Don't try that without knowing what you are doing or have 911 on your speed dial.

You may also need to adjust the sensitivity - force sensor/clutch.

[Backlash]

Was it possible that the downward movement of the door was flexing the track and moving the eye(s) slightly out of alignment during operation? Does the eye touch or mount to the track?

RJ

[meirman]

In alt.home.repair on Wed, 25 May 2005 13:11:02 GMT trader-of-some-jacks posted:

It may be difficult to tell if there is resistance. You need to come at if from the other direction and measure how much resistance is needed to make the door reverse direction.

Get 6 children of various sizes. Arrange them from smallest to largest. Starting with the largest, see how small the child has to be to NOT cause the door to reverse. Note how far each child is pushed towards the floor. Then post again.

Meirman

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