Single width metal door, ancient Genie opener. Door goes about halfway down,
then up again. Disconnected the door from the chain drive and found that it
was imbalanced - the door barely stays open without something propped under
it. Could this be one reason the opener's having problems? Too much weight?

On Wed, 9 Jun 2010 17:49:47 -0400, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

Single width metal door, ancient Genie opener. Door goes about halfway down,
then up again. Disconnected the door from the chain drive and found that it
was imbalanced - the door barely stays open without something propped under
it. Could this be one reason the opener's having problems? Too much weight?


Yes. Have the springs adjusted for balance.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
Single width metal door, ancient Genie opener. Door goes about halfway down,
then up again. Disconnected the door from the chain drive and found that it
was imbalanced - the door barely stays open without something propped under
it. Could this be one reason the opener's having problems? Too much weight?



You have already received a lot of good advice, but I had a problem
with such a door opener that took me years to discover. It too was a
Genie chain drive, but WAS balanced at midpoint unlike yours. So this
story may not be of much help:

In my case although the door was balanced at midpoint, occasionally I
found the door reversing during the close operation. After each
failure, I checked for obstructions and never could find one, much less
duplicate the reversing problem. It just happened perhaps one time in
twenty!!

The solution to the problem was that the rollers that move in the side
tracks for the door had some lateral slack. Occasionally this slack
allowed the door to move sideways enough to encounter an obstacle (I
believe it was the cable attached to the bottom of the door) and that
cause the reversing of the door. The problem was it happened so rarely
that when troubleshooting the problem it was not apparent. My solution
was to place a spacer on one of the roller shafts so that the lateral
movement of the door was reduced. This prevented the door from coming
close enough to meet the cable and obstruct the free flow of the door.

On Jun 10, 8:27*am, Ken wrote:
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
Single width metal door, ancient Genie opener. Door goes about halfway down,
then up again. Disconnected the door from the chain drive and found that it
was imbalanced - the door barely stays open without something propped under
it. Could this be one reason the opener's having problems? Too much weight?

* * * * You have already received a lot of good advice, but I had a problem
with such a door opener that took me years to discover. *It too was a
Genie chain drive, but WAS balanced at midpoint unlike yours. *So this
story may not be of much help:

* * * * In my case although the door was balanced at midpoint, occasionally I
found the door reversing during the close operation. *After each
failure, I checked for obstructions and never could find one, much less
duplicate the reversing problem. *It just happened perhaps one time in
twenty!!

* * * * The solution to the problem was that the rollers that move in the side
tracks for the door had some lateral slack. *Occasionally this slack
allowed the door to move sideways enough to encounter an obstacle (I
believe it was the cable attached to the bottom of the door) and that
cause the reversing of the door. *The problem was it happened so rarely
that when troubleshooting the problem it was not apparent. *My solution
was to place a spacer on one of the roller shafts so that the lateral
movement of the door was reduced. *This prevented the door from coming
close enough to meet the cable and obstruct the free flow of the door.

Adjust the springs. Open and close the door by hand with it
disconnected from the drive. But hold it at the center where the
drive connects to do this. That's where the drive pushes and pulls so
if it is binding you should feel it.

Older opens that did not have the optical obstruction sensors on the
floor often had a load sensor in the unit. There may be some
adjustors on the unit.

jamesgangnc wrote:
....
... occasionally I found the door reversing during the close
operation. After each failure, I checked for obstructions and never
could find one, much less duplicate the reversing problem. It just
happened perhaps one time in twenty!!
....
Older opens that did not have the optical obstruction sensors on the
floor often had a load sensor in the unit. There may be some
adjustors on the unit.

AFAIK still do? At least the one I just installed does; can't imagine
would design without it.

Anyway, the intermittent and the mention of the IR sensor reminded me --
had a loose piece of material hanging that occasionally would interrupt
the beam once't upon a time--took a while to realize what that problem
actually was also because it was intermittent and wouldn't perform on
demand, either...

--

On Jun 10, 9:10*am, dpb wrote:
jamesgangnc wrote:

...

... occasionally I found the door reversing during the close
operation. After each failure, I checked for obstructions and never
could find one, much less duplicate the reversing problem. It just
happened perhaps one time in twenty!!
...
Older opens that did not have the optical obstruction sensors on the
floor often had a load sensor in the unit. *There may be some
adjustors on the unit.

AFAIK still do? *At least the one I just installed does; can't imagine
would design without it.

Anyway, the intermittent and the mention of the IR sensor reminded me --
had a loose piece of material hanging that occasionally would interrupt
the beam once't upon a time--took a while to realize what that problem
actually was also because it was intermittent and wouldn't perform on
demand, either...

--

If you read the thread you would know that the op has already stated
that his does not have the optical sensors.

jamesgangnc wrote:
On Jun 10, 9:10 am, dpb wrote:
....

If you read the thread you would know that the op has already stated
that his does not have the optical sensors.

Well, that's the proverbial big if...

--

On Jun 10, 9:10*am, dpb wrote:
jamesgangnc wrote:

...

... occasionally I found the door reversing during the close
operation. After each failure, I checked for obstructions and never
could find one, much less duplicate the reversing problem. It just
happened perhaps one time in twenty!!
...
Older opens that did not have the optical obstruction sensors on the
floor often had a load sensor in the unit. *There may be some
adjustors on the unit.

AFAIK still do? *At least the one I just installed does; can't imagine
would design without it.

I agree. Every modern one I have seen has both force limit sensors
and the optical sensors. I believe both are required. However,
given that it reverses on the way down, it may not be the force
sensor, because you would think with not enough spring tension it
would fail to open instead of close. But I would fix what you know
for sure is wrong first. And that is that the door is not properly
balanced and the tension needs to be adjusted. It may turn out that
something else is wrong, like it binds at some point, etc, but with
any door opener, the door needs to be reasonably balanced as a
starting point.





Anyway, the intermittent and the mention of the IR sensor reminded me --
had a loose piece of material hanging that occasionally would interrupt
the beam once't upon a time--took a while to realize what that problem
actually was also because it was intermittent and wouldn't perform on
demand, either...

--

On Jun 10, 9:38*am, wrote:
On Jun 10, 9:10*am, dpb wrote:

jamesgangnc wrote:

...

... occasionally I found the door reversing during the close
operation. After each failure, I checked for obstructions and never
could find one, much less duplicate the reversing problem. It just
happened perhaps one time in twenty!!
...
Older opens that did not have the optical obstruction sensors on the
floor often had a load sensor in the unit. *There may be some
adjustors on the unit.

AFAIK still do? *At least the one I just installed does; can't imagine
would design without it.

I agree. *Every modern one I have seen has both force limit sensors
and the optical sensors. * I believe both are required. * However,
given that it reverses on the way down, it may not be the force
sensor, because you would think with not enough spring tension it
would fail to open instead of close. *But I would fix what you know
for sure is wrong first. * And that is that the door is not properly
balanced and the tension needs to be adjusted. *It may turn out that
something else is wrong, like it binds at some point, etc, but with
any door opener, the door needs to be reasonably balanced as a
starting point.





Anyway, the intermittent and the mention of the IR sensor reminded me --
had a loose piece of material hanging that occasionally would interrupt
the beam once't upon a time--took a while to realize what that problem
actually was also because it was intermittent and wouldn't perform on
demand, either...

--- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think that's pretty much the advice I gave. Make sure the door
operates well manually. Then test and check the adjustments on the
opener. What an opener with the optical sensors has or doesn't have
isn't really germane to the problem he's having. He doesn't have
optical sensors, he made that clear in his second post.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

Single width metal door, ancient Genie opener. Door goes about halfway down,
then up again. Disconnected the door from the chain drive and found that it
was imbalanced - the door barely stays open without something propped under
it. Could this be one reason the opener's having problems? Too much weight?

If the opener runs normally when the door is disconnected from the
trolley, then door imbalance is the problem. Otherwise I'd check the
limit switches and the downward force adjustment. Genie limit
switches are adjusted by loosening their screws and moving them, and
those screws can work loose. I believe the force adjustment doesn't
actually measure force but motor RPM instead, and the RPM sensor may
be a paddle wheel or chopper that interrupts an optical emitter and
sensor (can get dusty -- blow out with air or aerosol alcohol). Some
Genies also use a magnetic sensor to measure RPM, which should be
trouble-free unless the magnet cracks (vibration) or its wiring breaks
(also vibration). The force sensor can be affected by imbalance and
binding, and if the trolley is plastic and slides along a tube, as is
the case with Stanley openers, it probably should not be lubricated.
OTOH when grease is required, try NGLI #1 because in cold areas the
more common but thicker NGLI #2 can become too stiff.

The vibration from the motor can loosen screws and crack solder
joints, especially those around heavier parts and cable connectors,
and those cracks are often microscopic (IOW resolder everything).

Openers are supposed to automatically stop in about 20 seconds if they
don't detect door closing or opening by then, and in old openers this
was handled by a simple resistor-capacitor timing circuit. Maybe a
rotting capacitor in this circuit might make the opener stop
prematurely, but I'd think it's more likely to lengthen the allowed
run time.

An opener old enough to not have a light beam may have electronics
that can be repaired because all the parts are 100% generic.