Recently the door would occasionally reverse when closing. Yesterday I
couldn't make it close by pulling on it (figured the tension might be
wrong). Disconnect and it would almost fall shut so no friction
problem. Been awhile so I cleaned the IR sender/sensor. Closed. Aha!
fixed it...nope. Did the same this morning. Tested the indicator
light - yep, it is seeing the sendor. Cleaned again, door still won't
close. Was just heading for the house when I noticed this little bitty
sprig of cheatgrass with a flimsy head on it leaning in the door.
Picked it and door fixed! That explained why it was intermittent -
depended on how the breeze was blowing. It may have degraded the
signal by about 50% which was apparently enough.

Harry K

Harry K wrote:
Recently the door would occasionally reverse when closing. Yesterday I
couldn't make it close by pulling on it (figured the tension might be
wrong). Disconnect and it would almost fall shut so no friction
problem. Been awhile so I cleaned the IR sender/sensor. Closed. Aha!
fixed it...nope. Did the same this morning. Tested the indicator
light - yep, it is seeing the sendor. Cleaned again, door still won't
close. Was just heading for the house when I noticed this little bitty
sprig of cheatgrass with a flimsy head on it leaning in the door.
Picked it and door fixed! That explained why it was intermittent -
depended on how the breeze was blowing. It may have degraded the
signal by about 50% which was apparently enough.

Harry K

Yeah, it doesn't take much sometimes. I've had the reversal problem on
occasion and confirmed one time that it was caused by a spider. My guess
is that the movement of the door caused vibrations which were
transmitted to the sensor and sometimes they prompted it to move in a
direction which blocked the beam. So now I suck up all the little
critters that prefer those corners along with their webs a few times a
year with the shop-vac.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

John McGaw wrote:
Harry K wrote:

Recently the door would occasionally reverse when closing. Yesterday I
couldn't make it close by pulling on it (figured the tension might be
wrong). Disconnect and it would almost fall shut so no friction
problem. Been awhile so I cleaned the IR sender/sensor. Closed. Aha!
fixed it...nope. Did the same this morning. Tested the indicator
light - yep, it is seeing the sendor. Cleaned again, door still won't
close. Was just heading for the house when I noticed this little bitty
sprig of cheatgrass with a flimsy head on it leaning in the door.
Picked it and door fixed! That explained why it was intermittent -
depended on how the breeze was blowing. It may have degraded the
signal by about 50% which was apparently enough.

Harry K

Yeah, it doesn't take much sometimes. I've had the reversal problem on
occasion and confirmed one time that it was caused by a spider. My guess
is that the movement of the door caused vibrations which were
transmitted to the sensor and sometimes they prompted it to move in a
direction which blocked the beam. So now I suck up all the little
critters that prefer those corners along with their webs a few times a
year with the shop-vac.

Hi,
Stray light from sun does wonders some times too.

Tony Hwang wrote:
John McGaw wrote:
Harry K wrote:

Recently the door would occasionally reverse when closing. Yesterday I
couldn't make it close by pulling on it (figured the tension might be
wrong). Disconnect and it would almost fall shut so no friction
problem. Been awhile so I cleaned the IR sender/sensor. Closed. Aha!
fixed it...nope. Did the same this morning. Tested the indicator
light - yep, it is seeing the sendor. Cleaned again, door still won't
close. Was just heading for the house when I noticed this little bitty
sprig of cheatgrass with a flimsy head on it leaning in the door.
Picked it and door fixed! That explained why it was intermittent -
depended on how the breeze was blowing. It may have degraded the
signal by about 50% which was apparently enough.

Harry K

Yeah, it doesn't take much sometimes. I've had the reversal problem on
occasion and confirmed one time that it was caused by a spider. My guess
is that the movement of the door caused vibrations which were
transmitted to the sensor and sometimes they prompted it to move in a
direction which blocked the beam. So now I suck up all the little
critters that prefer those corners along with their webs a few times a
year with the shop-vac.

Hi,
Stray light from sun does wonders some times too.

Oh yeah, BTDT have the T-shirt. That was one of the trouble shooting
things I checked while working on it.

Harry K