Garage door electric eye issue

Oh-Fudge · 01-24-2013, 08:08 PM

Mike, thanks very much for the info. I guess I'll have to break down and get a new unit. I see you can buy the motor units w/o buying all of the rails and chains and stuff. If circuit boards cost 80-90, then the whole motor unit only costs a little more than that! I don't see the need to replace all the rails and stuff if it's in good shape. It just bugs me that I had just replaced the cheapassed plastic gears a couple of years ago and expected to get several more years of life out of the old junker. Oh well, that's what I get for trying to fix something.

firehawkmph · 01-24-2013, 11:05 PM

Of,
I haven't priced a motor head by itself, but don't judge the price of one based on the price of a circuit board. I'm sure the cb doesn't cost them anywhere near that. But when selling replacement parts, they want to make money. You might be better off buying a whole unit complete. The LM's I get have a one piece rail assy that's about 10' long, not the 3 or 4 piecers like you get in the box stores. The same pricing theory holds true with garage doors. 80% of the cost of a door is in the sections. The new rails, torsion spring assy, and hardware cost very little. The only time I don't replace rails is when somebody drives through a door that's only a few years old and they have only damaged the sections.
Mike Hawkins

Oh-Fudge · 02-05-2013, 09:50 AM

Oh-F........udge! Okay, I am nominated for the Doofus of the Year Award

.

So, these new eyes come with the Scotchlock quick-connectors (photo). Well, I have never used these before and like all good DIY'ers, I never even unfolded the instructions. What I had done was twist the two white wires and stick them in one side of the connector and twist the two black wires and stick them in side the other side OF THE SAME CONNECTOR. Crimp, boom, no worky. I went back the next weekend to take one more look before buying a whole new opener and Duh! It dawned on me

(sound of angels singing) that each connector was for only one wire!

Now, mind you, I'm not an electrician, but I have done my share of handywork over the years, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc. But this is one of my all time doofus moves. Of course, when I put just one wire per connector -- (angels singing again) -- LED's light, garage door works, wife can park in the garage again, cat won't get squished, I don't have to buy a new GDO, all is good with the world

.

I am posting this with great embarrassment just so that it might save one of my fellow Doofuses from making the same mistake. So, go ahead and let me have it with the insults - deflector shields are up.......

curiousB · 02-05-2013, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oh-Fudge

Thanks for the replies everyone. The opener is a Crapsman/Chamberlain unit that came with the house when I bought it in 1997.

I had the same problem with a 1995 Sears unit. The problem was the cheap connector into the eye unit. It is tin on tin so subject to corrosion/oxidation. If you plug and unplug the connector several times you'll scratch away the oxide that builds up and it might work for a while. I eventually soldered the wires directly to the pins in the eye unit and never had the problem again.