Garage doors are equipped with sensor safety eyes - an essential piece of safety equipment since the 1990s. These safety sensors help prevent injury and make garage doors eminently more safe than they were in previous decades. However, even subtle misalignment of garage door sensors can render them unusable. In this blog entry, the garage door opener repair experts here at Mazal Garage Door & Gates will provide detail as to the alignment of garage door safety sensors, and the important ways that they impact safe garage door operation.
Definition of garage door safety sensors
The mandatory UL325 garage door requirement of the early 1990s stipulated that garages must be outfitted with safety devices that automatically sense obstructions under the door and reverse the door’s direction. Now, garage openers are all outfitted with settings that use sensors to notice if the garage door has touched an object while closing, automatically reversing direction and opening the door. This helps to prevent injury.
Garage Door Safety Eyes
These sensors usually consist of two seperate units - a signal sending component and a signal receiving component. These sensors are positioned right across from each other, and a beam is sent from the sending component and reaches the signal receival component. If an object is in the way of the garage door, breaking the beam sent between the two sensors, the garage door will automatically reverse, and the motor will not continue closing your door.
Common Garage Door Sensor Issues
The most common reasons for garage door sensor issues include:
- Somehow the beam sent by the two garage door safety eye sensors has been knocked out of alignment.
- There’s a physical object in the way of the beam sent between the two garage door sensors.
- The garage door sensors are covered with spiderwebs, dust, or debris.
- There’s very bright sunlight or headlights interfering with the beam sent between the two safety eye sensors.
Fixing Garage Door Safety Eye Sensors
I recommend trying to repoint the sensor safety eyes at each other until they are properly aligned. Most of these sensors have lights that will indicate when they are properly aligned. Try cleaning off the sensors with a cloth. Make sure not to keep objects around your garage door as a ground rule.