How to Adjust Infrared Safety Beam Sensors

Why won’t my garage door close?

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:

1. Check for incorrect wiring between the sensors and the garage door opener.
2. 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.

1. Remove the sensors from the brackets.
2. Remove the wires from the wire nuts or cut the sensor wires 12” from the sensors.
3. 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.
4. Remove existing wires from the white and grey terminals on the back of the operator.
5. Attach or insert white wires into the white terminal and black/white striped wires into the grey terminal.
6. 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!

By  Nick McGregor , General Manager of  Plano Overhead Garage Door

Tags:  Garage Door Safety Sensors for Plano, TX, Homes ,  Infrared Safety Beams ,  ISBs ,  Liftmaster Reversing ,  Liftmaster Safety Sensors