Proper Procedure Of Aligning Garage Door Sensors
Is your garage door not functioning properly? Do you have to get out of the comfort of your vehicle each time you get home to manually open it? You should now get to work learning how to position garage door sensors by getting dirty. The sensors on garage doors are what make them work. Your front door is closed by one of them (the emitter) signaling the other (the recipient). The receiver won't receive the signals from the emitter and your door won't shut if neither of them are in alignment.
Tools Needed
- Electricity-Resistant Gloves
- Screwdriver
- String
- Level
Step 1: Disconnect Power Supply To The Garage
- Your sensors' electricity source should be turned off. You can do that by either turning off their switch (if the sensors are physically plugged into a wall outlet) or tripping the fuse of your complete garage from your home’s breaker box.
- As you tinker with the wires, be sure to wear gloves that are resistant to electricity. It's possible that you aren't handling live cables. However, we always advise against taking any chances when it comes to your personal safety.
Step 2: Unscrew The Screws Holding The Sensors
- Open the fasteners holding the mounting brackets for your garage door sensors. You can accomplish this by placing the tool inside the screws and rotating it anticlockwise.
- You only need to loosen the screws, keep that in mind. You don't have to pull them all the way out. This is because the mounting brackets will need to be slid up and down in the following steps, which won't be feasible without the screws.
Step 3: Slide The Garage Door Sensors Downward
- Slide the garage door sensor downward with your naked hands after loosening the screws and making sure the mounting brackets can move up and down easily.
- Never try to relocate the sensor with a spanner. It may also interfere with the sensor's operation and leave a mark on the sensor's surface. While the sensors are still inside their mounting supports, slide them as low as you can.
Step 4: Attach The String And Tie The Knots
- Attach one end of a rope to one sensor and its mounting bracket after sliding them as low as you can. Since this step greatly affects the success (or failure) of the entire operation, tie the knot as tightly as you can.
- Before tying the knot so that the string goes as straight as possible, pass the untied string end across the opening of your garage and roll it around the middle of the opposing sensor.
Step 5: Check The Level Of The String
- Make sure the string is going level across the garage doorway by placing a level below it. The level would need to be physically pressed against the string and held there for a short period of time.
- Continue to the following stage if the string's line is level. If not, you should calibrate one or both sensors (by sliding their mounting brackets). Adjust as necessary until the level indicates that the two sensors are in alignment.
Step 6: Tighten The Screws
- Start tightening the fasteners once the level indicates that both sensors are at the same level. Fasten them up to the point where you can see that the garage door sensors won't budge from their new location, despite your best efforts.
- Use the level once more to confirm that the sensors are aligned after you have tightened the fasteners. Since they might have become misaligned as you tightened the fasteners.
- Get assistance if you don't like to pass the garage doorway numerous times (first to level both sensors, then to tighten their screws). You would be able to quickly complete the full task in this manner.
Step 7: Turn The Power On & Test The Sensors
- Remove the strings, re-energize your carport, and test the sensors after making sure that both sensors are level. By now, they must be functioning properly.
How Do Garage Door Sensors Work?
- As we mentioned at the start of this article, there are two sensors on your garage door. One of them is referred to as the emitter because they both send the signals. The other which is on the receiving end is termed receiver. However, it is not necessary to know which of the two instruments is the receiver or emitter to understand how they operate.
- Both of these devices have infrared lighting. Since this light is outside of the visible range, it is invisible to the unaided eye. The receiver receives this light from the emitter and starts the process of shutting your garage door.
- Since the infrared light will be moving between the two boxes in a straight line, any obstructions that block its path will cause the detector to stop functioning. The door will then be blocked in its present location by the receiver, keeping anything beneath it from being crushed.
Why My Garage Door Sensors Aren’t Working?
The following are some possible causes of your garage door sensor malfunction.
- The sensor has too much dirt collected on it.
- Damaged by contact are its connection wires.
- The sensors have been in full sunlight for too long.
- The sensors have been harmed by the door's excessive movements.
- The sensors' alignment is wrong, and the door opener's and the sensors' wiring is inefficient.
How To Tell If The Garage Door Sensors Are Misaligned?
Only in extreme circumstances do misaligned door sensors cease to function entirely. Prior to that, based on your model, it might be exhibiting these symptoms to alert you that everything with your garage door sensors is not as it should be:
- Up Arrow Flashing Four Times, Down Arrow Flashing 6 Times
If you have a Security+ 2.0 garage door opener, the up arrow will illuminate four times, then the down arrow will flash six times to let you know that something is blocking the beam between the sensors or that the sensors are out of alignment. - LCD Display Showing Error Code
When the sensors are misaligned or something is blocking the beam, your Security+ 2.0 garage door opener would display "Error code 4-6 sensor momentarily obstructed" if it had an LCD monitor. - Learn Button Flashing Every Few Seconds
Some garage door openers have a learn button that begins blinking "once every 2.5 seconds" or "four times every 10 seconds" to let the user know when the garage door sensors are out of alignment or blocked. - Door Closing Prematurely
The door will continue to shut no matter what or who is underneath it if the sensors are out of alignment or something is blocking the path of their beam.