Garage Door Opener - How to DISABLE Light Sensor?

[quantass]

We purchased a Chamberlain Power Drive garage door opener back in 2003. It has one of those sensors that stops the garage door from closing if the light beam is broken. The system is working fine but the sensors always get out of alignment making closing the garage door an absolute *****.

Is there something i can do, such as disabling the sensors, in order to get the garage door to close nice and easy? There are 4 wires on the back of the main garage door unit. I've removed the wires from the white and black sockets, no effect. I've tried other combos but still nothing.

Again i want the garage door to be operational but WITHOUT the sensors in order to close the door consistently.

I could not locate my manuals.

Thanks.

[JAC]

I shouldn't need to tell you what a BAD idea this is, but if you're comfortable with the liability issue and well insured, just dismount the sensors from the rails, and remount them facing each other out of the way somewhere, like the ceiling.

[Whitedart]

We purchased a Chamberlain Power Drive garage door opener back in 2003. It has one of those sensors that stops the garage door from closing if the light beam is broken. The system is working fine but the sensors always get out of alignment making closing the garage door an absolute *****.

Is there something i can do, such as disabling the sensors, in order to get the garage door to close nice and easy? There are 4 wires on the back of the main garage door unit. I've removed the wires from the white and black sockets, no effect. I've tried other combos but still nothing.

If the sensors are properly and securely mounted, they should not be going out of alignment. Can they not be remounted?

[Potsman]

When I bought new GDO (Craftsman), I too was also trying to figure a method to bypass the sensor as I had a problem with the door track blocking the beam path. In the end, the solution was quite simple. I cut 2 pieces of 2 x 4 about 8 inches long each and screwed them to the wall by the track. Then, measure and drill the top pilot hole on each sensor an equal distance from the ground. Make sure the brackets are square 90 degrees and not bent. After that, aiming is easy. They have only come out of allignment once and that was after I hit one of them taking the snowblower out.

Listen to JAC as GDO's are designed that way for a reason due to all the accidents in the past. If you choose to bypass the sensor and there is any type of accident (could even be your neighbors dog and not a person), you will be in huge trouble as not only facing a civil suit, but probably a criminal negligance charge as well as well as your feeling of guilt if there is an injury or the unspeakable. It's just not worth it.

[BuildingHomes]

So you are looking to disable the safety features on a mechanical device that could potentially injur you and kill a small child.

The sensors are there for a reason. In fact, they were mandated many years ago.

If you remove them, you are removing the saftey features and going to cause yourself a whole heluvalot of liability if anything happens to anyone.

If they are consistently going out of alignment, then there is a problem somewhere. My guess it's user failure.. someone kicking them, putting brooms/hockey sticks in the corner, etc.. Fix that and you will fix the problem.

[Potsman]

Just a thought t the OP... Are you positive it is the sensor? Maybe describe exactly what is happening.. It could be a few other things such as the torque setting is not high enough or the door is out of balance.

[Stock R]

What do the lights on your sensors show?

My chamberlain sensors have a green and orange light to indicate whether it's getting a proper signal or not.

[l69norm]

Just a thought t the OP... Are you positive it is the sensor? Maybe describe exactly what is happening.. It could be a few other things such as the torque setting is not high enough or the door is out of balance.

+1, for all the time and energy it's going to take to jury rig a bypass, just call someone to check if everything else is ok and fix the sensors properly