Hi all,
I just installed a Chamberlain 1/2HP garage door opener in my garage.
The opener is not new, it is actually about 8-9 years old. I removed
it from my mother's garage before it was torn down.

I want to know if there is a way to "hot-wire" the opener so as to
bypass those stupid electric eye sensors that mount on the bottom of
the doorway. Anyone know how to do this?

I guess if there is no way to accomplish this, I could always mount the
sensors up above by the opener and have them pointed at each other.

Any help would be appreciated.

-Tony

wrote:
Hi all,
I just installed a Chamberlain 1/2HP garage door opener in my garage.
The opener is not new, it is actually about 8-9 years old. I removed
it from my mother's garage before it was torn down.

I want to know if there is a way to "hot-wire" the opener so as to
bypass those stupid electric eye sensors that mount on the bottom of
the doorway. Anyone know how to do this?

I guess if there is no way to accomplish this, I could always mount the
sensors up above by the opener and have them pointed at each other.

Any help would be appreciated.

-Tony


Yeah, it's always best to disable those "stupid" life saving electric
eye sensors.

3rd eye wrote:
On Sun, 01 May 2005 10:05:19 -0700, G Henslee
wrote:

wrote:
Hi all,
I just installed a Chamberlain 1/2HP garage door opener in my
garage. The opener is not new, it is actually about 8-9 years
old. I removed it from my mother's garage before it was torn
down.

I want to know if there is a way to "hot-wire" the opener so as to
bypass those stupid electric eye sensors that mount on the bottom
of the doorway. Anyone know how to do this?

I guess if there is no way to accomplish this, I could always
mount the sensors up above by the opener and have them pointed at
each other.

Any help would be appreciated.

-Tony


Yeah, it's always best to disable those "stupid" life saving
electric eye sensors.

Ahh another one of our federally mandated safety devices.
Our elected officials looking out for us once again.

Just tape them together & hang em out of the way soemwhere.

I line those up with the furthest forward areas of each car bumper. Makes it
impossible to lower the door when it would hit the car's bumber and scratch it.

wrote:
Hi all,
I just installed a Chamberlain 1/2HP garage door opener in my garage.
The opener is not new, it is actually about 8-9 years old. I removed
it from my mother's garage before it was torn down.

I want to know if there is a way to "hot-wire" the opener so as to
bypass those stupid electric eye sensors that mount on the bottom of
the doorway. Anyone know how to do this?

I guess if there is no way to accomplish this, I could always mount
the sensors up above by the opener and have them pointed at each
other.

Any help would be appreciated.

-Tony

Normally I would say you had a really stupid idea. However I am going
to guess the real problem is they are not working properly. If I am right,
how about telling us what the problem is and maybe we can help you out.

I might suggest this if I am wrong. Just consider spending the next 10
years in jail if some neighbor kid would happen to get injured and you had
disarmed them? The reason they are required is there were a lot of injuries
and worse.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Hi all,
I just installed a Chamberlain 1/2HP garage door opener in my garage.
The opener is not new, it is actually about 8-9 years old. I removed
it from my mother's garage before it was torn down.

I want to know if there is a way to "hot-wire" the opener so as to
bypass those stupid electric eye sensors that mount on the bottom of
the doorway. Anyone know how to do this?

I guess if there is no way to accomplish this, I could always mount
the sensors up above by the opener and have them pointed at each
other.

Any help would be appreciated.

-Tony

Normally I would say you had a really stupid idea. However I am going
to guess the real problem is they are not working properly. If I am
right, how about telling us what the problem is and maybe we can help you
out.

I might suggest this if I am wrong. Just consider spending the next 10
years in jail if some neighbor kid would happen to get injured and you had
disarmed them? The reason they are required is there were a lot of
injuries and worse.


not exactly. the reason they are required is there were a couple injuries
because people were too stupid to adjust the 'return force' mechanism that
already existed (and still does). these resulted in huge lawsuits because
people wouldnt own up to their own stupidity. hence, we now have electronic
eyes.

is the door really any safer? no.

randy

3rd eye wrote:
On Sun, 01 May 2005 10:05:19 -0700, G Henslee
wrote:


Yeah, it's always best to disable those "stupid" life saving electric
eye sensors.


Ahh another one of our federally mandated safety devices.
Our elected officials looking out for us once again.


They get more taxes out of us when we're alive.

xrongor wrote:

.....

is the door really any safer? no.

Famous last words. Ask your insurance company what they think.


randy

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
xrongor wrote:

....

is the door really any safer? no.

Famous last words. Ask your insurance company what they think.


randy

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Ask a personal injury attorney or ask the parents of children that were
injured or killed by doors with faulty or improperly adjusted reverse
mechanisms.

The doors aren't any safer, the beams aren't there to protect the doors.
But the children are indeed safer.

Go figure....

Rich
http://www.garagedoorsupply.com

xrongor wrote:

the reason they are required is there were a couple injuries
because people were too stupid to adjust the 'return force'
mechanism that already existed (and still does). these
resulted in huge lawsuits because people wouldnt own up to
their own stupidity. hence, we now have electronic eyes.

is the door really any safer? no.

The door is much less dangerous with the sensor beam because it's the
only non-contact safety mechanism, unlike the motor time-out and the
force sensor, neither which is nearly as sensitive.

Several years ago, I installed a Chamberlain-made Sears opener, and
during testing it once failed to stop the door from closing while the
sensor beam was blocked. Then a child in a town 40 miles away was
killed by an opener (brand unknown), and this encouraged me to do more
testing, which eventually duplicated the initial failure. I returned
the opener to Sears and told them it was defective. It turned out
there was a design flaw that made the opener pick up false signals from
the wall pushbutton, which was connected to the same wires as the
sensor beam (different voltage levels used to distinguish them). I
then bought a Stanley opener and was unable to make it fail, except to
make its motor thermal cutoff open up, no matter what I tried. Its
force sensor could also be adjusted for much higher sensitivity without
the door friction or weight causing false triggering.

On Sun, 01 May 2005 20:43:53 +0000, Joseph Meehan wrote:

I might suggest this if I am wrong. Just consider spending the next 10
years in jail if some neighbor kid would happen to get injured and you had
disarmed them? The reason they are required is there were a lot of injuries
and worse.

What if there are no "neighbor kids" where you live?

--
If you're not on the edge, you're taking up too much space.
Linux Registered User #327951

Just as an FYI, the consumer product safety commision has a report on
garage door incidents. Between 1996 and 2003, 64 children were killed
and 49 were injured from garage doors. Like it says above, your
insurance company may have a strong opinion on the matter.




http://www.cpsc.gov/volstd/garage/gdoupdate.pdf

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
xrongor wrote:

....

is the door really any safer? no.

Famous last words. Ask your insurance company what they think.

which would be like asking the cigarette company what they think of
smoking...

randy

wrote in message
oups.com...

xrongor wrote:

the reason they are required is there were a couple injuries
because people were too stupid to adjust the 'return force'
mechanism that already existed (and still does). these
resulted in huge lawsuits because people wouldnt own up to
their own stupidity. hence, we now have electronic eyes.

is the door really any safer? no.

The door is much less dangerous with the sensor beam because it's the
only non-contact safety mechanism, unlike the motor time-out and the
force sensor, neither which is nearly as sensitive.

Several years ago, I installed a Chamberlain-made Sears opener, and
during testing it once failed to stop the door from closing while the
sensor beam was blocked. Then a child in a town 40 miles away was
killed by an opener (brand unknown), and this encouraged me to do more
testing, which eventually duplicated the initial failure. I returned
the opener to Sears and told them it was defective. It turned out
there was a design flaw that made the opener pick up false signals from
the wall pushbutton, which was connected to the same wires as the
sensor beam (different voltage levels used to distinguish them). I
then bought a Stanley opener and was unable to make it fail, except to
make its motor thermal cutoff open up, no matter what I tried. Its
force sensor could also be adjusted for much higher sensitivity without
the door friction or weight causing false triggering.

so, to be clear, this was a case of someone getting hurt by a FAULTY UNIT
that actually already HAD AN ELECTRONIC EYE. a specific design flaw to a
particular model. not anything really to do with the basic design of garage
door openers in general.

and now we have to have electronic eyes on all of them. is anybody really
safer? doubtful.

randy

i bet more kids choked on peas or chicken and died that year.

the insurance company has a strong opinion in the matters of making money.

randy

Just as an FYI, the consumer product safety commision has a report on
garage door incidents. Between 1996 and 2003, 64 children were killed
and 49 were injured from garage doors. Like it says above, your
insurance company may have a strong opinion on the matter.




http://www.cpsc.gov/volstd/garage/gdoupdate.pdf

xrongor wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
xrongor wrote:

....

is the door really any safer? no.

Famous last words. Ask your insurance company what they think.

which would be like asking the cigarette company what they think of
smoking...

No, it is more like asking your life insurance company what they think
of smoking. It is in the best interest of both insurance companies to
provide accurate true information.

Sorry I can't help you gain common sense or to overcome your attachment
to conspiracy theories. If you want another source, try you local fire and
EM department. Ask them.


randy

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

is the door really any safer? no.

Famous last words. Ask your insurance company what they think.

which would be like asking the cigarette company what they think of
smoking...

No, it is more like asking your life insurance company what they think
of smoking. It is in the best interest of both insurance companies to
provide accurate true information.

Sorry I can't help you gain common sense or to overcome your attachment
to conspiracy theories. If you want another source, try you local fire
and EM department. Ask them.


joseph, my point is simple. EVERYTHING is out to kill you. you need to
come up with some sort of pecking order so you can worry about the important
things. how much safer do electronic eyes on garage doors make the world?
very very little.

if you just want to increase your chances of survival, why not build a
concrete bunker, and never leave it.

if you want something worth worrying about i could give you a whole list.

randy

I never thought the sensors were worthwhile either..... but the other
day the garage door was about 6" from closing, I opened the entrance
door to the house, the kittens ran out.... door is about 4" off the
ground now.... under the door they went and the door stopped and
reversed. Otherwise, there would have been kitten juice running all
down the driveway.

Now, I understand this could be a happy or sad story depending upon
your personal views with respect to cats. However, my point is that you
just never know what can happen.

Another thing to consider is that most doors are supposed to reverse if
they encounter a blockage before fully closing. I look at those eyes as
a backup to that safety - in other words I don't have to worry about
ruining the door/motor if I leave a 2x4 or something laying in the path
of the door.

To answer your question, I would guess that of the 2 sensors, one is
wired with power, and the other is the "switch". Determine which is
which, and then determine if the "switch" is normally open or normally
closed, and then short or leave the leads open as required. But this is
just a WAG on my part.

I'd think it would be easier to just install em.

xrongor wrote:
is the door really any safer? no.

Famous last words. Ask your insurance company what they think.

which would be like asking the cigarette company what they think of
smoking...

No, it is more like asking your life insurance company what they
think of smoking. It is in the best interest of both insurance
companies to provide accurate true information.

Sorry I can't help you gain common sense or to overcome your
attachment to conspiracy theories. If you want another source, try
you local fire and EM department. Ask them.


joseph, my point is simple. EVERYTHING is out to kill you. you need
to come up with some sort of pecking order so you can worry about the
important things. how much safer do electronic eyes on garage doors
make the world? very very little.

And just how did you determine that they provide so little protection or
that garage doors are so safe?

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 20,000 people each
year have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to
garage doors.


Over 85 children have died or suffered severe brain injuries involving
automatic garage doors since 1974.




if you just want to increase your chances of survival, why not build a
concrete bunker, and never leave it.

if you want something worth worrying about i could give you a whole
list.
randy

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

xrongor wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

the reason they are required is there were a couple injuries
because people were too stupid to adjust the 'return force'
mechanism that already existed (and still does).

is the door really any safer? no.

The door is much less dangerous with the sensor beam because
it's the only non-contact safety mechanism, unlike the motor
time-out and the force sensor, neither which is nearly as sensitive.

Several years ago, I installed a Chamberlain-made Sears opener,
and during testing it once failed to stop the door from closing
while the sensor beam was blocked. Then a child in a town 40
miles away was killed by an opener (brand unknown), and this
encouraged me to do more testing, which eventually duplicated
the initial failure. I returned the opener to Sears and told
them it was defective. It turned out there was a design flaw
that made the opener pick up false signals from the wall pushbutton,

so, to be clear, this was a case of someone getting hurt by a
FAULTY UNIT that actually already HAD AN ELECTRONIC EYE. a
specific design flaw to a particular model.

I don't know any details of the opener that killed the child, nor did I
mention if it was defective, wrongly installed, or had an electric eye.

and now we have to have electronic eyes on all of them. is
anybody really safer? doubtful.

You're jumping to conclusions without sufficient evidence, and I do
know of an opener that was safer because of an electric eye. Its
safety-reverse microswitch had fallen off due to a crack in the gearbox
housing, and I had previously added a homemade electric eye circuit.

Over 85 children have died or suffered severe brain injuries involving
automatic garage doors since 1974.


Between 1974 and when? Given a ten year span for that figure
(74 to 84) that puts the risk at less than 1 in 30 million
per child per year. SInce you can only be a child for
about 15 years, that means the risk per individual is around
1 in 2 million, which is well below my threshold for alarming
risks.

If you make a set of assumptions designed to justify
the detectors, (the detectors prevent 75% of such
accidents, somewhere in the vicinity of 8 million
relevent garage doors in the country), you could
expect, at best, a 1/125,000 chance that any given
installation will prevent an accident.

If the things add $20 to the cost of the door, then
it makes sense to add them if you can't save
more than one life by spending 2.5 million dollars
somewhere else.

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
xrongor wrote:
is the door really any safer? no.

Famous last words. Ask your insurance company what they think.

which would be like asking the cigarette company what they think of
smoking...

No, it is more like asking your life insurance company what they
think of smoking. It is in the best interest of both insurance
companies to provide accurate true information.

Sorry I can't help you gain common sense or to overcome your
attachment to conspiracy theories. If you want another source, try
you local fire and EM department. Ask them.


joseph, my point is simple. EVERYTHING is out to kill you. you need
to come up with some sort of pecking order so you can worry about the
important things. how much safer do electronic eyes on garage doors
make the world? very very little.

And just how did you determine that they provide so little protection
or that garage doors are so safe?

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 20,000 people each
year have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to
garage doors.

how many of them would have been saved by the electronic eye?

to rephrase, how can you put this into perspective so that we can see the
actual effect of the electronic eye on garage door safety?




Over 85 children have died or suffered severe brain injuries involving
automatic garage doors since 1974.

30 years, 85 kids. so less than 3 a year. which is virtually zero.

like i said before. choking on peas and peanuts is more dangerous. you
want to put electronic eye detectors on peanuts?

randy

xrongor wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
.....


And just how did you determine that they provide so little
protection or that garage doors are so safe?

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 20,000
people each year have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for
injuries related to garage doors.

how many of them would have been saved by the electronic eye?

Impossible to say, however I don't think it takes much effort to realize
that it would have been less.


to rephrase, how can you put this into perspective so that we can see
the actual effect of the electronic eye on garage door safety?




Over 85 children have died or suffered severe brain injuries
involving automatic garage doors since 1974.

30 years, 85 kids. so less than 3 a year. which is virtually zero.

Unless one of those three was your son or daughter. I take it you don't
believe their lives have any value?

You are sounding very much like a troll.




like i said before. choking on peas and peanuts is more dangerous. you
want to put electronic eye detectors on peanuts?

randy

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
xrongor wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
....


And just how did you determine that they provide so little
protection or that garage doors are so safe?

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 20,000
people each year have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for
injuries related to garage doors.

how many of them would have been saved by the electronic eye?

Impossible to say, however I don't think it takes much effort to
realize that it would have been less.

you brought up the statistic. im just showing you why its meaningless.



to rephrase, how can you put this into perspective so that we can see
the actual effect of the electronic eye on garage door safety?


Over 85 children have died or suffered severe brain injuries
involving automatic garage doors since 1974.

30 years, 85 kids. so less than 3 a year. which is virtually zero.

Unless one of those three was your son or daughter. I take it you
don't believe their lives have any value?

You are sounding very much like a troll.

you are the troll. twisting what i said into 'their lives dont have any
value'. you ought to be ashamed.

what i said was you cannot pad every corner in this world just because it
hurt someone. since you 'care' so much, if 3 deaths a year is cause for
action, you better get busy. and you can start throwing out just about
everything you own.

randy

xrongor wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
xrongor wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
....


And just how did you determine that they provide so little
protection or that garage doors are so safe?

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 20,000
people each year have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for
injuries related to garage doors.

how many of them would have been saved by the electronic eye?

Impossible to say, however I don't think it takes much effort to
realize that it would have been less.

you brought up the statistic. im just showing you why its
meaningless.

Life and injury are not meaninless.

I don't know how many people who die each year from skin cancer die
because of excessive sun exposure. It is impossible to say. However just
as in garage doors it is prudent to take precautions. Look up the word
prudent. You will not find your picture next to it.




to rephrase, how can you put this into perspective so that we can
see the actual effect of the electronic eye on garage door safety?


Over 85 children have died or suffered severe brain injuries
involving automatic garage doors since 1974.

30 years, 85 kids. so less than 3 a year. which is virtually zero.

Unless one of those three was your son or daughter. I take it you
don't believe their lives have any value?

You are sounding very much like a troll.

you are the troll. twisting what i said into 'their lives dont have
any value'. you ought to be ashamed.

what i said was you cannot pad every corner in this world just
because it hurt someone. since you 'care' so much, if 3 deaths a
year is cause for action, you better get busy. and you can start
throwing out just about everything you own.

Your foolish comments could convince someone to disable or ignore the
safety devices that can save lives. You are a fool.

If you believe the sensors and the regulations requiring them are not
desirable, then I suggest you take your case to the authorities making those
decisions.



randy

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
xrongor wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
xrongor wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
....


And just how did you determine that they provide so little
protection or that garage doors are so safe?

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 20,000
people each year have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for
injuries related to garage doors.

how many of them would have been saved by the electronic eye?

Impossible to say, however I don't think it takes much effort to
realize that it would have been less.

you brought up the statistic. im just showing you why its
meaningless.

Life and injury are not meaninless.

I don't know how many people who die each year from skin cancer die
because of excessive sun exposure. It is impossible to say. However just
as in garage doors it is prudent to take precautions. Look up the word
prudent. You will not find your picture next to it.




to rephrase, how can you put this into perspective so that we can
see the actual effect of the electronic eye on garage door safety?


Over 85 children have died or suffered severe brain injuries
involving automatic garage doors since 1974.

30 years, 85 kids. so less than 3 a year. which is virtually zero.

Unless one of those three was your son or daughter. I take it you
don't believe their lives have any value?

You are sounding very much like a troll.

you are the troll. twisting what i said into 'their lives dont have
any value'. you ought to be ashamed.

what i said was you cannot pad every corner in this world just
because it hurt someone. since you 'care' so much, if 3 deaths a
year is cause for action, you better get busy. and you can start
throwing out just about everything you own.

Your foolish comments could convince someone to disable or ignore the
safety devices that can save lives. You are a fool.

If you believe the sensors and the regulations requiring them are not
desirable, then I suggest you take your case to the authorities making
those decisions.

joseph you have put words in my mouth for the last time. your head is so
far up your ass you're commenting on things i never said. you're making
this stuff up as you go along and ive had enough.

randy

xrongor wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
.....

Your foolish comments could convince someone to disable or ignore
the safety devices that can save lives. You are a fool.

If you believe the sensors and the regulations requiring them are
not desirable, then I suggest you take your case to the authorities
making those decisions.

joseph you have put words in my mouth for the last time. your head
is so far up your ass you're commenting on things i never said. you're
making this stuff up as you go along and ive had enough.

randy

You mean words like "30 years, 85 kids. so less than 3 a year. which
is virtually zero."

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit