Do you like pressing your garage door opener and rushing your car under your garage door? Such a stunt can make you feel like an action hero rolling under a closing door.
Plus, you don’t have to worry about any car damage. Garage sensors sense when your car is there. Yours should stop the garage door before it hits your car.
Except sometimes it doesn’t. Your garage sensors can break. Then the garage door will come down and dent your car.
Avoid explaining such damage to your mechanic. Read on to learn about four common sensor problems and how to fix them.
1. Dirty Garage Door Sensors
Your garage door sensors are near the ground. Here they can accumulate a lot of dirt and grime. A lot of this over time, can lead to blocked sensors.
Look at the sensor lens on each side of your garage door. Do they look dirty? If so, you should wipe them down with a soft, dry cloth.
2. Power Supply Issues
Your garage sensors should have two lights. One should be red and the other green. If they’re both off, there may be an issue with your power supply.
Check if your garage door system is plugged in or if there’s a blown circuit breaker. There may also be a power outage in your area.
If the latter is the problem, disconnect your garage door from the opener. You can then move the garage door manually. Do this while you wait for the power to come back.
3. Misaligned Garage Sensors
Are the red lights on your sensors blinking? This means that your garage door sensors are misaligned. It’s easy to knock them out of alignment when there’s a lot of activity in your garage.
It’s easy to fix this issue. Just move the lights until they’re pointed at each other again. If sunlight is interfering with your sensor lights, shield them with angled cardboard.
4. Broken Garage Sensor Wires
Is the light on your sensor flashing orange instead of red? If so, you’re likely dealing with a wiring issue. Inspect the wires that connect to the terminal on the back of the sensor.
Are they tangled? If so, you should untangle them. You should also ensure that the wire and terminal colors match up.
Do the wires look bitten or water damaged? If so, you’ll need to get them replaced. You may want to have an electrician fix this issue.
You should disconnect your garage door sensors until you hire an electrician.
We Fix Garage Sensors
Malfunctioning garage sensors are no fun. But they’re easier to fix than you may think. You can go back to racing through the garage door before you know it (but maybe you shouldn’t do that, just in case).
What if you can’t figure out what’s wrong with your garage sensors? In such a situation, consider calling us at All-Pro Overhead Garage Door. We’re garage door service and installation experts who are always ready to accept new customers.
Set up an appointment today by filling out the contact info on this page.