Garage door opener troubleshooting

[turbofiat124]

I installed a Wayne Dalton garage door opener for the garage door in my basement and so far it's been trouble free up until now. Much less trouble free than the Horman garage door openings I have in my garage which gets out of sync every now and then.

I bought this from Lowes back in 2002 or 2003. It's called the ClassicDrive.

I called Wayne Dalton and their tech support sucks. They forwarded me to one of their distributors. Needless to say I'm not paying $75 for a service charge if it's something I can do myself.

The problem is the garage door opens on it's own! My wife says she makes sure the garage door is closed before she opens the door to the den. But I find the garage door open all the time but only after she closes it. So I don't know if it's actually opening on it's own or what.

With me it sometimes I have to close it 3 times before the door stays down.

I have not figured out if it's the sensors or the sensor that detects something underneath it or the infrared sensors.

I cleaned the sensors and this did not work. So I turned the sensitivity to "low" which did nothing. So I turned it to "high" and cycled the garage door about five times and the door never reopened.

So far anyway.

 

[mechanic mark]

Remove the cover & inspect circuit board, make sure settings on remote & circuit board are the same. A power surge or lightning strike can disable circuit board.

 

[turbofiat124]

Remove the cover & inspect circuit board, make sure settings on remote & circuit board are the same. A power surge or lightning strike can disable circuit board.

Well I know for a fact it was not lightening because we have been in a drought this year and the last thunderstorm we got was back in July and this problem seemed to crop up within the last month of two.

With have had a few "brief" power outages here lately. When I mean "outage" I mean the power will go off for a split second then come back on. One time this destroyed the hard drive in my parent's computer. Apparently when the power kicked off then kicked back on within one second, the hard drive was still spinning and somehow it ruined it. But if the power goes out long enough, the computer won't try to restart itself.

Of course Appalachian power is not going to pay for damages done to appliances due to the power going off for split second.

I hope not turning the sensitively knob all the way up does not over ride the safety device. But so far it seemed to fix the problem.

 

[motoman]

Not sure if you have mentioned an external mount "keypad" or not, but I have just had a failure of an outside-mounted keypad. It has also lasted since 2004, but I guess moisture or usage finally killed it. The designers cleverly design these keypads so one must destroy them to look at the contact pads. I did this and did not see anything obvious. Replacement of the keypads are typically $20 which so far I have declined. I miss the convenience of the keypad. The other key pad is still working. I have had so called "phantom" openings but do not know what caused them. If you have car-mounted external clickers you probably know how easy it is to accidentally "click" and open a door. I make sure these clickers are placed where they cannot be banged around , including indoor storage in drawers. I take out the batteries if not in use.

 

[Pumper54]

Do you have any body living near you that has a garage door opener like your? I have heard of multiple people living near each other who's garage doors cause interference with the other doors. You might try changing the code between the remotes and the opener.
Tom

 

[7394]

Drought here as well. The Wayne Dalton doors have a rotating code, I have one & it says that in the paperwork, I did have to turn mine up a bit as well, but to test it I stand in the middle of doorway (away from the beam) & upon closing it I can stop it with me grabbing it, so that part is ok. Mine is 17 years old with the cables on each end that wind up on top while opening.

 

[BlazNT]

Having to replace many garage door springs has given me a little insight into problems like yours. I would almost bet the spring will have to be replaced in less than a year. This is exactly the problem I had with 3 different garage doors before the spring broke and had to be replaced. They all snapped in half with in 6 to 8 months from the adjustment of the down force adjustment.

 

[turbofiat124]

Not sure if you have mentioned an external mount "keypad" or not, but I have just had a failure of an outside-mounted keypad. It has also lasted since 2004, but I guess moisture or usage finally killed it. The designers cleverly design these keypads so one must destroy them to look at the contact pads. I did this and did not see anything obvious. Replacement of the keypads are typically $20 which so far I have declined. I miss the convenience of the keypad. The other key pad is still working. I have had so called "phantom" openings but do not know what caused them. If you have car-mounted external clickers you probably know how easy it is to accidentally "click" and open a door. I make sure these clickers are placed where they cannot be banged around , including indoor storage in drawers. I take out the batteries if not in use.

I don't have an external keypad. The wired opener is just a button inside. Just like the remotes for my garage door in my detached garage, the car practically has to be 1 foot from the door before it get's signal.

My guess is the "pressure" sensor that detects something underneath the door is causing it to open. Perhaps over time the door has "settled" and it's putting more pressure on the pressure switch.

I'm not sure if I buy into these phantom openings my wife is talking about. Simply because she doesn't have a job (outside the house) so some days she doesn't leave the house so when I come home, the garage door is always shut.

It's only after she has been somewhere that I find the garage door open. So far turning the sensitivity knob to maximum seems to have fixed them problem.

 

[7394]

FWIW: If your door is not balanced properly by the springs, it could cause the need for additional down force.

Test: Pull the rope to unlatch the door, manually raise the garage door 1/2 way up by hand. The door should stay in place if properly balanced.

If one spring does not have the same amount of tension (read winds) it will cause the door to have more pressure on one side.

If your knob is set to MAX down force, you do not have the safety reverse feature working any longer. Be careful.

 

[winebrenn]

He bought himself a house in the country and often stayed overnight there.