Garage door issue...
 

Ok...not something normally found on a boating forum but since we reach a large cross section of boaters from all over...here goes.

We have a two car garage with a Liftmaster Garage Door opener that like most others, uses a laser beam across the opening to prevent the door from closing in the event something crosses the beam while the door is closing. Over the past few days at about the same time every morning the door won't close as if something is interrupting the light beam. In each case there is nothing in the path of the beam.

Understand this is a new issue and has never happened before. Now get this...in the afternoon...the damn thing works !!! It works at night also...just not in the mornings between 8 & 10. I thought about the sun and it's unique angle this time of year so I tried standing in different positions to cast a shadow on the light receiver that gets direct sunlight...makes no difference. I have tried re positioning the location of the beam with no effect.

We have only had this happen this past weekend...usually we are up and away early during the week so we don't have the sun up and everything works fine. Even though here in SE Florida we have beautiful sunny weather this time of year as compared to most other parts of the country, we still have the same short days and long nights until March 21st when the days start getting longer than the nights. This doesn't happen during the summer when it is daylight when we leave.

Has anyone else ever experienced this and have any ideas as to how to remedy this situation?

Thanks in advance.

Try giving it a helping hand as it closes, if that works then its time for a little maintenance. I have a screw drive that doesn't like to close when it's cold.

Does not begin to close or doesn't close all the way? Using the wired switch or remote?

I had that problem at my old shop but it was the sun and when I shielded that side where the sun came in low the prob went away. it does not take much light to trigger the sensor and its the direction i believe that does it and sunlight rays are nearly parallel at that distance. it was seasonal and at times it was bad enough I had to bypass the sensor. another solution would be to rotate your property and buildings about 90 degrees :D

I didn't even want them things coming into play so I mounted them facing each other on the two pieces of angle that the motor unit hangs from. Done.

That ^^^^

Send me a plane ticket and I`ll open the door for you, dam -9 this morning.

Nope...it starts down and then stops and heads back up...regardless of whether I pull on it or not.

As for cold...how about 55* LOL

Dave...makes sense to me...but this morning at 8:30 I had no problem at all....my fiance left at 9 and all was well. But when I went by the house at 9:35 for a few minutes and left at 9:45...no workie!!!

It's definitely the sun...guess I'll have to come up with a way to shield it....maybe a toilet paper spool or something similar...I don't know...:mad:

Come on...that 242 needs a "Warm Up" any way...LOL

could be one of the micro switches, if it bounces or binds on the runners it can stop and reverse, no idea why its only in the morning

Lithium grease the track and rollers

I had a copier making big black blobs over half the page at the right time of day. They moved copier out of the sun and problem was gone. So like dave said. Turn the garage door away from the sun. Or if you are really screwed and hafta leave pull the pin and make it a manual door. When u come back rehook it...

It could be the down force adjustment as it can be very sensitive. If it is the sun, you will need to shield the receiving unit with a piece of cardboard to block all the sunlight to verify that it is the sun, then just reverse the sending and receiving units from one side to the other. You will need to reverse the wiring from them where they attach to the motor unit since the receiving unit acts as a switch. I had a client with the same problem, and my suggestion fixed it. Like most other building products though, the quality and longevity are just not what they used to be. You may just need a new motor unit. It would be cheaper than a service call probably. Good luck.

I never install those annoying little pieces of crap.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]537188[/ATTACH]

Mine does it every winter (like now in the single digits!), but since you're in West Palm, I'd guess that we have separate, unique issues. ....from multiple perspectives! ha!

Check the level in the drive lube bottle, this could be sending a false reading

You can always do one one of these and just throw those stupid things away

http://www.ebay.com/itm/garage-door-...-/321410487118