Our new garage door opener opens a quarter of the way only. With no known obstructions. Why?
We replaced the motor unit of our garage door opener with a new one. When we click to open the door it only opens a quarter of the way. We do not see anything obstructing it and it works if you release the emergency release and open it manually. What could be stopping it?
Kevin...
Expert
The motor has a built in force sensor which stops it from continuing if the motor has to work to hard to raise or lower the door. This is a safety feature, and is supposed to stop the door from moving if it contacts something, such as a car. On the outside of the motor, there should be 2 adjustment screws labeled "up force" and "down force" - try decreasing the sensitivity of the "up" direction. I suspect the door is simply binding a little in the track, and the force sensor is tricked into thinking the door has hit something on the way up.
You want the sensors set so that they are "insensitive" enough to overcome any regular friction and binding, but sensitive enough to stop/reverse if the door contacts something in the way. A good test is to pull up on the door as it is coming down, or to pull down on the door as it is going up.Join this conversation.
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