What is a garage door safety sensor and how is it maintained?
A garage door sensor is a ‘photoelectric eye’ that serves as the lookout of your garage door openers. It emits an infrared signal that activates your garage door opener when it is accessed through your garage door remote control or any buttons wired to it. Whenever something in its path was detected by the sensors, it automatically sends a command that stops your garage door from closing. Since your safety is largely dependent on the mechanism, it is important to know how to properly care for these sensors.
- Like any mechanism, a garage door sensor could accumulate dirt over time that causes it to malfunction. Regularly clean the lens of your sensors using a soft cloth to prevent this from happening.
- Always check the functionality of your sensors by putting any object as high as the ‘eyes’ and attempting to close it. If the door immediately stops closing and returns to its original open position, then there is nothing wrong with the mechanism. But if it continues to close, then you should have your sensors checked.
- A garage door sensor has an exterior LED. Over time, screws that keep it in place may loosen, breaking the alignment. Check this light regularly. A blinking LED light indicates misalignment. You may need to tighten the screws holding it to the bracket if not bending the bracket to bring it back to position.
- Garage door sensors are attached to complicated wiring. Rather than handling this yourself, it is wise to have on-call technician adept at garage door repairs and maintenance come once in a while to perform check-ups on these mechanisms. While you are at it, maybe you could have them check for other problems in your other garage door components as well. This would prevent you from incurring a bigger cost by needing major repairs in the future.