Shopsmith Forums

For weeks now it has been doubtful whether or not I would be able to close the garage door using the remote. More often than not, when we left the house, I would have to close the garage door using the master control on the wall and then leave the house by the front door.

I can no longer hit the close button and race out before the door goes closed. I can't move than fast anymore.

Today the inevitable happened. The remote control just quit functioning except to open the garage door. Yes, the remote would open the door but would not close it. Through all of this, the master control works fine.

I checked and adjusted and readjusted the invisible beam. It works.

I lubricated the rollers; they needed it.

I tightened up some bolts on the door system.

I double checked the invisible beam. Why? Because the manual seems to indicate that when I have this problem it is caused by the invisible beam alignment. Maybe sometimes. But not always. Mine are and have been properly aligned.

The door just does not close under remote control.

The door is going closed and I get called for lunch. Just about the time the door should touch down going closed, the motor stops dead. The manual says this might happen when I keep running the door up and down. The motor overheats and is protected by a thermal switch.

OKAY. I'm tired of working on this anyhow. As I leave to go get fed, I pulled the release rope to let the door go down under gravity (disconnect from the drive chain).

After lunch and a half hour of FOX News I decided to go try again.

Remember that I pulled the rope and disconnected the drive chain from the door.

I hit the wall switch for the door and the motor activates and the trolley reconnects with the chain.

Hit the button again and the door goes up. Hit it again and the door goes down. Oh -- that's right. That always worked. Use the remote.

Hit the remote button and the doors goes up. That always worked too. Hit the remote button. Hallelujah . The remote worked.

Ran the door up and down about a dozen times using nothing but the the remote. Went out in the street to check it from a distance. It works.

I don't know why it works but it does. I hate success when I cannot explain what I did to change the situation.

A theory. The door was misaligned and when I pulled the rope it realigned itself. That's too simple to explain to my wife so I just told her I "fixed it".:):)

I am one happy garage door mechanic.:)

Glad you got it working, Dusty.

Always take credit when it turns out right.
Blame your predecessor when it doesn't.

Dusty
All you have to do is to install a doorbell contact button inside the garage on the door frame and run some bell wire from the button to the garage door opener to the same terminals that the original inside button is connected to.
Then step outside the garage and reach back in and press the button to close the door. No more racing to get out.
Bill V

wa2crk wrote:Dusty
All you have to do is to install a doorbell contact button inside the garage on the door frame and run some bell wire from the button to the garage door opener to the same terminals that the original inside button is connected to.
Then step outside the garage and reach back in and press the button to close the door. No more racing to get out.
Bill V

Thank you for that idea. It will work now and I might do that.

However, it would not have been a solution before because I had to hold the master switch down to make the door go closed.

Hopefully the gremlin will not return and this remains "problem solved" for a long, long time.

As I've gotten older I've quit trying to "know" the exact cause and effect when I "fix" something. I just try to enjoy that it is working again.

I worked in an ESSO gas station all during high school. The man that owned it taught me more in those 4 years than my 9 years of undergraduate and graduate college education. One thing he taught me was not to worry about which of the many things we did in a tune up back then made the engine purr... Just be fair to the customer and always be ethical and honest.

In my forties I owned an Ace hardware store. Snapper and Lawn Boy lawn mowers were a big part of the store. Electronic ignitions were fairly new and there were no tests to determine whether they were functioning or not. A lot of shops would replace them, along with doing a bunch of other stuff and charge the customer for all the work. Made big bucks. I taught my mechanics to replace the electronics (the most expensive part on a push mower... $60-80) , then try the mower. If it was good, replace the electronics with the original ones and if it still was good, don't charge the customer for that labor, but just be glad the mower was now working great! I didn't get rich, but I slept well at night.

Point is , enjoy the garage door remote, don't spend a lot of time agonizing over how it "fixed" itself.

Billdit wrote:As I've gotten older I've quit trying to "know" the exact cause and effect when I "fix" something. I just try to enjoy that it is working again.

I worked in an ESSO gas station all during high school. The man that owned it taught me more in those 4 years than my 9 years of undergraduate and graduate college education. One thing he taught me was not to worry about which of the many things we did in a tune up back then made the engine purr... Just be fair to the customer and always be ethical and honest.

In my forties I owned an Ace hardware store. Snapper and Lawn Boy lawn mowers were a big part of the store. Electronic ignitions were fairly new and there were no tests to determine whether they were functioning or not. A lot of shops would replace them, along with doing a bunch of other stuff and charge the customer for all the work. Made big bucks. I taught my mechanics to replace the electronics (the most expensive part on a push mower... $60-80) , then try the mower. If it was good, replace the electronics with the original ones and if it still was good, don't charge the customer for that labor, but just be glad the mower was now working great! I didn't get rich, but I slept well at night.

Point is , enjoy the garage door remote, don't spend a lot of time agonizing over how it "fixed" itself.

Good advise. Very good. But learning from it is my problem. In my 75 years I have picked up some bad habits and fusing over situations like this is one of them.

I do know that the door works better. It is quieter, as it moves, and it no longer slams the ground when it goes closed.

My guess the solenoid/relay was stuck and when the motor overheated it made a different circuit that unstuck the solenoid/relay.

Also did you check the battery in the remote?

dusty wrote: A theory. The door was misaligned and when I pulled the rope it realigned itself. That's too simple to explain to my wife so I just told her I "fixed it".:):)

I am one happy garage door mechanic.:)

Dusty, you ain't no mechanic - you are just one lucky bastich. I have the same stuff happen with my Chamberpot garage door, but with a new twist:

I can press the homelink on my car and it won't open or close; I can press the remote and it won't move. I can use the wired buttons and it works. Now this works for both doors. If one is out the other is also. Nothing gets fixed until I press the wired buttons on both doors. Weird.

If I were a conspiracy theorist I would blame it on the Warren Commission, George Bush, Acting President Obama, Hillary of the Arkansas Hillbilly Clinton clan, or Kerry. I know they are far reaching but I doubt that far.

Wait a minute. . .Putin? Putin did it? Well, he is far reaching (retching) but not quite that far. So, any recommendations?

wa2crk wrote:Dusty
All you have to do is to install a doorbell contact button inside the garage on the door frame and run some bell wire from the button to the garage door opener to the same terminals that the original inside button is connected to.
Then step outside the garage and reach back in and press the button to close the door. No more racing to get out.
Bill V

Good advise from Old School but I tried this. It seems with the newer openers you must have one of their newer "smart" buttons. So, make sure that it is compatible with your opener. Door buttons are about $2 but the newer and improved buttons are about $10.

dusty wrote:Good advise. Very good. But learning from it is my problem. In my 75 years I have picked up some bad habits and fusing over situations like this is one of them.

I do know that the door works better. It is quieter, as it moves, and it no longer slams the ground when it goes closed.

Well, the explanation for that part is easy—
It knows it can’t catch you on the way out anymore.