Hi All, I had to buy a new garagedoor opener--I bought a Sears. It has an electric eye that serves as a safety device, i.e. if it is blocked the door opens.
I want to get rid of the electric eye. My only access to the garage is through the garagedoor and I want to be able to press a button to close the door and then walk through the dooropening. See the problem?
I have tried simply removing the electric eye shorting the terminals putting a high resistor across terminals putting a low resistor across terminals
I put both of the eyes (obviously, facing each other) into a piece of soft pipe insulation, bundled up the wires in case I ever wanted to mount them, and hung the whole thing on top of the opener chassis.
Put electric eye in a shoe box lined with wrinkly tinfoil, so it will send a beam, and see the beam both. Worth a try. Let me know if it works, just came to mind today.
Take it back and get an iDrive? It not only needs no eye, but has a delay function to allow you to exit before it starts closing. As I recall, this delay is adjustable.
The IDrive is only eyeless with certain doors. I believe it made the spec from UL because with certain doors it is a very soft lander as it gets near closed.
Did that suggest to you the possible importance of this safety device?
Yes. Read a newspaper article about a kid crushed by an older, eyeless garage door. Also, call your lawyer and mention the word "liability".
The eye mechanism is part of a standard which is now 10 years old. The rules are designed to protect children and pets, who may or may not belong to the owner of the house. (I assume you occasionally have visitors.) The one acceptable alternative, for new garage doors, is a sensing edge. I doubt you want to spend the money to install one, but frankly, I wonder if you're sensible enough to waste advice on.
Look, we have the same "problem" you do -- no (convenient) alternative exit from the garage. We solved it with a garage-closer button that you can easily reach from the doorway while standing outside the electric eye. It's probably standard in new installations anyway. Even so I think the garage is closed more often from the inside-the-house button.
No doubt whatever you do to disable the electric eye would be required to be fixed when you sell your house. (If the home inspection misses it, remember to call your lawyer again.) Bypassing the safety device in a new installation is, essentially, a violation of federal law.
"Elimination of photo eyes - When idrive? is used with a pinch resistant door, photo eyes are not required by federal law. This is because idrive? technology literally changes the entire door into a reversing mechanism so that no matter what part of the door is obstructed, it will reverse. It is too easy for photo eyes to become misaligned or damaged, thus rendering their safety feature useless, even though the door will still operate without them. That can be dangerous."
Did you see any electric eyes available as an option for this opener? None are included and none seem to be available. If they are, where do you get them and how do you hook them up?
According to the pdf torsion spring models come with photo eyes and Wayne Dalton told me a few months ago before I decided to replace the old door that the torsion model was more expensive because it came with the photo eyes.
I'm not Art-- but I was curious about the eyes & wondered if they were just a redundancy---
From
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"A second major benefit to the Quantum opener is the wireless photo eyes "
It looks like the photoeyes are designed to save idjits from putting their fingers in a closing garage door. As soon as all the idiots have been removed from earth, I'm pretty sure my insurance company will let me disable my photo-eyes.
I also have to take issue with this bit on Wayne-Dalton's site-
That just isn't [always] true. The photo eyes are a pain for the very reason that makes them safe-- my [Genie] door *won't* operate if they are misaligned, dirty [or have a few snowflakes on them], in bright sun, or if the wires have become compromised. There is a way to bypass them, but it takes a very conscious effort & requires moving one or both 'boxes'.
Makes me wonder who is in charge of writing the copy on their website since some of it doesn't make much sense.
The Idrive was originally created to work only on Wayne Dalton doors that have torque master spring assemblies & they now have another version for doors with standard torsion springs.
Wayne Dalton has always stated that the Idrive did not need photo-cells since they didn't drive the door into the floor since it was turning the door shaft. However I have never seen what a person (especially a child) is suppose to do with the full weight of the door on top of them. While it is not driving the door to the floor it is still turning the shaft even though the door has stopped. So once the cables go slack whatever is underneath the door is bearing the full weight of the door. Therefore, in my opinion there should always be a photo-cell on any opener regardless of how it closes the door. If photo-cells are not standard or available as an option, I would use a different type or brand of opener. Also the safety of innocent children should always be the concern & not whether an insurance company will allow something or not even though it was said w/ "tongue in cheek".
The pinch resistant doors are being created to keep people from pinching their fingers between the sections when closing the door by hand since some people don't give any thought to grabbing the top of the section & pulling downward. However, I don't see why someone would be grabbing the door in this manner while also using the opener so Wayne Dalton's stated reason for the photo-eyes does not seem logical (although some people will do illogical things).
You are correct about mis-aligned or damaged eyes. Since UL-325 has been incorporated if the eyes are not working properly the only way to close the door w/ the opener is to maintain constant pressure on the wall button. Optional photo-eyes on openers made before UL-325 may not stop the door from working when the eyes malfunction. The built-in reverse mechanism on openers do not always stop the opener from working when they quit working & that is why UL-325 added the fail-safe photo-eyes.
I also agree that the WD site explanation of why it doesn't need photoeyes is confusing. In watching it work on a WD door with their special spring, it seems to me that the reason it may not need the photo eyes is because it becomes more gentle as it gets closer to the ground and has nothing to do with pinching. But that is just my opinion.
I've never had a bit of trouble with my Genie. Yes, the sun comes right into the door, and yes, spiders regularly have webs right there near the floor, and sawdust floating around collects on those webs right in the photocell instalation path. But mine are on top of the motor head, pointing at each other.
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