How to tell if garage door sensor is bad.
Garage door photo eye not working.
If the photo eye senses an obstruction it stops the door from closing and potentially prevents damage or injury to a vehicle.
The purpose of a photo eye sensor is to detect if anything is blocking the path of the garage door.
The photo eye of an automatic opening garage door is a safety feature.
The photo eye sensors on garage doors are located about six inches above the ground one on either side of the garage door.
Fortunately this isn t a difficult problem to fix.
Use the inside tube from an empty roll of toilet paper holiday wrapping paper plastic.
The primary behavior of malfunctioning photo eyes is a door that will open successfully but will not close or a door that closes part of the way before reversing.
In the majority of cases a photo eye sensor will be installed on the garage door sensor.
Get your garage door closed on sunny days by making an electric eye hood.
How to shut a garage door when the sun is shining on the electronic eyes.
Garage door photo eye troubleshooting.
The way they function is quite simple.
You may also find that the door auto reverses and opens every time you try and shut it.
If anything interrupts the beam so that the two sensors are not in contact the sensor.
Well on any garage door installed after 1993 that s no longer possible thanks to two tiny photo eyes on either side of the garage entrance.
An infrared light runs between two photo eyes.
How do garage door photo eyes work.
It s not always clear if a garage door sensor is bad but there are a few common signs that indicate you have a malfunction.
These photo eyes transmit an invisible beam between each other that detects if anything is in the garage door s path when it closes.
Photo eye sensors detect objects as well as people.
How garage door sensors work.
Let s start with the most obvious sign your garage door doesn t close properly.