We here at Plano Overhead understand that when it comes to installing and connecting devices sometimes can get very stressful and frustrating. That’s why we are here to help you out when it comes to providing you with the utmost information and will help you get the most from your products when using a smartphone, tablet, or computer to monitor and control your garage door opener, gate opener, light controls, or other MyQ enabled products.
Connecting to the device
To start, look to the “ MyQ Quick Start Guide” for instructions for the connection of your Chamberlin Internet Gateway to the Internet. A computer or tablet is a MUST HAVE for the step; a smartphone or mobile device will not work to create an account and connect to the Internet Gateway.
You then must have a valid email address to create your account. After entering and submitting your information, you will then receive a confirmation email.
When the Internet Gateway powers up, the GREEN LED and BLUE LED will blink for times indicating a correct power connection and reset of the Gateway. After power up, the LEDs will indicate the status of the Internet Gateway.
If the GREEN LED is off after connecting the Internet Gateway to your router, check the Ethernet cable connection to your router. It must be in the LAN port, (normally numbered 1-4). If the GREEN LED is still off, try another port on your router. Then if you still cannot get a solid GREEN LED, you then will need to contact Liftmaster for help. They have an entire team dedicated to helping you with the device.
Registering
Once you have set up your account, you must add the Chamberlain Internet Gateway to the account. It is easy to do from a computer; this can also be done from an internet empowered smartphone or tablet.
To add the Chamberlain internet Gateway to your account, the GREEN LED on the Gateway must be on unremittingly. If the GREEN LED is off, try connecting and created again. The Internet Gateway MUST HAVE an internet connection for the website or phone to find it.
You will need the SERIAL NUMBER from the bottom label of the Gateway. If this is the second Gateway to be added, you then will only need to go to “Manage Places>Add New Place”.
Now you will need to personally name your device.
At this point now you are able to add things like the garage door opener, gate opener, lights. Or other accessories from the “Manage Places” page. To assemble that, click on “Manage Places>Add New Device” and follow steps.
Alerts
The alert feature allows MyQ users to receive an electric notification when certain events occur. You’ll be sure to be aware when your garage door opens and closes at all times! An alert can be enables, edited, or disabled with any internet enabled computer or smartphone. Multiple alerts can be enabled for any of your garage doors, gate operators, or light controls. You may even have alerts be sent to your email for your personal record.
Smart Phone App
Now that the hard part is finished, you can move onto the fun part! Downloading your smartphone app can be the most useful thing when it comes to Garage Door Openers! After installation, all you need to do is input your account email and password and you could be in Hawaii on vacation and be able to open your garage door for your neighbor to let your dog out or water the plants!
Weather seal is located on the bottom of all residential garage doors, and is usually the first component on the door that goes bad over time. With much of the garage door being steel, the vinyl plastic weather seal usually shrinks at the corners, tears, hardens, and eventually just doesn’t do its’ job. The steel components might last for 10, 20, even 30 years; but the vinyl plastic seal at the bottom definitely will not. Here are a few reasons on why you should replace your weather seal on your garage door:
Dust
Leaves
Rodents/Snakes
Ants
Weather
Money
Dust
Dust is a major reason why you should change the weather seal on your garage door. It keeps the dust and dirt from outside your door from getting into your garage. So if you are storing important things in your garage you don’t have to worry about the wind blowing dust debris all over your stuff.
Leaves
We all know what it’s like in the fall when the leaves start falling off of the trees. They are all over your yard and then if you leave your garage door up they get in there also. Well if you don’t change the weather seal on your garage door, even if it’s closed, you will still see leaves gathering in your garage over time. The weather seal provides a barrier on the bottom so that the leaves can’t seep into your garage. Once again this also keeps your valuables that you might keep in your garage from having leaves and sticks all over them.
Rodents and Snakes
The picture above was taken by one of our installers in Plano, Texas. If you look closely, you will see that the weather seal on the bottom of the garage door is missing at the end due to shrinkage over time. So not only did the customer have a snake in their garage, but the tail of the snake actually caused the garage door to come off of it’s tracks and damage the garage door. The snake had coiled around the drum at the top corner of the door because it gets warm over time with usage. Bad place to be. When the garage door opens, the cable coils around that drum. Once the snake was removed, the customer gladly elected to have new weather seal installed on her garage door!
This I know can be a gross topic, but rodents and snakes do get into your garage. We have seen mice, opossums, snakes, stray cats, geckos, If you don’t keep the weather seal good on the bottom of your garage door, those rodents can definitely get into your garage. Which in turn they may get into your house! Not only that but they also like to tear up wiring and what not that is also a safety hazard for your home. They can get into the wiring for your garage door opener motor, and the cable and drum system that operated the door and really mess things up. That’s why important you keep your weather seal good on your garage door.
Ants/Other Insects
When you start talking about rodents your think well most of them are big so if there’s a little gap at the bottom they can’t get in. This might be true but it won’t stop ants or other small insects such as spiders from coming right on in! If you keep your weather seal in good condition even small insects like ants can’t come in your garage. Once they get in your garage you could be in all kinds of trouble. Especially if they are able to get into your home. Then they get in your food supply and things like that.
Weather
A proper seal at the bottom of your garage door will prevent air, rain, snow, and wind from causing problems inside your garage. Wet floors in the garage can be extremely slippery, and the Texas heat can be brutal.
Money
You can save thousands of dollars over the span of the life of your garage door by preventing the elements from getting inside. Moisture causes corrosion and rust- which is detrimental for all the metal parts on a garage door. Weather seal will also help you save money on your electric bill. It is also a relief when you don’t have to worry about everything in the garage getting nasty. Once everything gets that first layer of dust due to a lack of barrier, there’s no turning back.
If you get a crack in your window, you replace the window don’t you? If you are a do it yourself kind of person, we sell a variety of garage door weather seals for a wide range of applications and on a wide range of brands and styles of garage doors. If you haven’t serviced your garage door in the past year, we recommend setting up a service call, that way you can get your one year warranty on labor. Also, since we’re already at your home, we only charge the cost of the part to install it for you! Give us a call today, we’re here to help! 972-422-1695
One piece tilt-up garage has actually been a part of America’s home front for decades. These doors were popular on homes built in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Even today, believe it or not, some of these doors are still used. As technology and design progress and become more advanced, older garage doors followed suit and are still dangerous as ever. While many continue to operate moderately, we here at Plano Overhead Garage Door recommend replacing them with a current, up-to-date sectional door.
Flaws of One-Piece Garage Doors
Flaws of this type of door lead to eventual disruption and breakdown. There are major safety and security issues with having a tilt-up. They were known as, “shinbusters’ because they bust your shins every time the door tilts out and up. These heavy old doors use two very large springs that are mounted on each side of the door. This type of spring can be very dangerous when worn. If and when one of these springs break, the door can slam down with full force, crushing objects or people if they’re in the way of the door’s pathway. Unlike sectional doors, that just roll straight up and utilize safe torsion spring systems that are mounted above the door.
The Aspect of these “Shin-busters”
Old Tilt-up wooden doors consisted of a single panel door that pivots out and up, sliding into a section along the ceiling of your garage. Tilt-up doors greatly reduces your overhead space in your garage as well. It’s even very possible in most cases, they can hit your car when the door is opening or closing, if it’s parked too close to the doorway.
Hard Management
Insulating a one-piece garage door is close to impossible to insulate, especially when we start bringing wood doors into the mix. They have no additional insulation features. Also, due to the tilt-up design of these older doors, it’s almost impossible to have a good weatherseal. Living in Texas with our cold winter months, it is very important to have a well-insulated and tightly sealed garage door to keep the elements out! Considering that most tilt-up garage doors are made from wood, they can weigh up to 300 lbs each, which brings to our attention, another safety hazard.
Time to Upgrade?
Now in some circumstances, you may be surprised if you come across a company that may install a one-piece or “tilt-up” door, but it’s HIGHLY recommended to replace or repair using a more modern sectional door. So bottom line – modern sectional garage doors made from steel are easier to maintain – are safer, work better in any weather environment that’s thrown at you, provides better insulation – lasts longer – and because they look great, will increase your curb appeal. If you have an older tilt-up door, consider upgrading soon!
It is very frustrating when you go to close your garage door and it starts to go down and comes right back up! The most common reason that this happens is because the safety beam sensors located at the bottom of your garage door. These sensors are very sensitive and if there is anything blocking the beam, such as a blade of grass or cob web, will cause the door not to go down. Also if the sensor is not lined up properly it will cause this as well.
How do I fix this problem?
It is actually very simple to fix this problem yourself without having to have one of our service technicians some out and fix it. There are a couple of ways for you to test or troubleshoot this problem. Sometimes it can be the wiring itself or a short in the wiring. You can inspect the wiring yourself with these simple steps:
Check for incorrect wiring between the sensors and the garage door opener.
Verify the wire connections are correct on the garage door opener. The solid white wires connect (insert) to the white terminal and the white and black wires connect to the grey terminal.
Note: The amber LED on the sending sensor will glow regardless of alignment or obstruction. If the green LED on the receiving sensor is off, dim, or flickering (and the invisible light beam path in not obstructed), alignment in required.
How to test the wiring?
There are also simple steps to test the safety sensor wires.
Remove the sensors from the brackets.
Remove the wires from the wire nuts or cut the sensor wires 12” from the sensors.
Strip both ends of wires from each sensor and twist like colored wires together. Proceed with both sensors to the garage door opener motor unit.
Remove existing wires from the white and grey terminals on the back of the operator.
Attach or insert white wires into the white terminal and black/white striped wires into the grey terminal.
Point the sensors at each other-if both sensor LED’s turn on, there is an issue with your wiring. Replace the wires between the opener and the sensors. If the LED’s DO NOT turn on, replace the sensors.
Note: If after replacing the sensors, the LED’s still do not light, it could be the circuit board or even a new opener.
If it is not fixed what do I do?
If after trying these steps and your sensors are still messing up there may be some bigger issues at hand. In that case you might want to give us a call and have a technician come out and give you a free estimate. Do note that if you cannot get your garage door to close because of the sensors, you can hold down the wall console button inside your garage and it should close all the way. That way you can get it closed if you are in a hurry and we can come out right away. Just give us a call at (972) 422-1695 to schedule your free estimate!
Flaws of One-Piece Garage Doors
