Garage door eye sensors (also known as safety sensors) are a critical component of your overhead door system. If you’re having trouble with your garage door eye sensors, read on or watch the video below for some tips on resolving the problem.
Introduction to Eye Sensors
Eye sensors are two little light sensors at the bottom of your door. They are typically six inches up from the floor and attached right to the track. When the eye sensors are aligned, meaning the sending sensor’s laser is being read by the receiving sensor, your door will open and close properly. If one or both eye sensors are out of alignment, your door will try to come down but instead come right back up.
How to Align Garage Door Eye Sensors
Let’s dive into what it takes to line up your garage door eye sensors and get your door closed today! First, get down on the level of your eye sensors and look for a green light on the receiving unit, and a yellow light on the sending unit. So long as you have power and the doors are open, the yellow light should always be on. If it isn’t, you have an electrical problem, not necessarily an eye sensor problem. This could be anything from a stapled wire to a power outage. You’ll want to check around for something obvious, like a breaker switch, before calling a professional.
Once you’ve confirmed the yellow light is on, the next thing to look for is the green receiving light. If the green light is off, you’ll need to align your eye sensors. Rather than wiggling the brackets themselves, the easiest way to go about this will be loosening the wing nut that screws into the sensor. Once the wing nut is loosened, realigning the sensors should be a breeze!
Make sure to adjust the eye sensors on all axes. Move them forwards, backwards, inside, and out.
Troubleshooting Your Eye Sensors
Once you’ve lined up your garage door eye sensors and both lights are on, the next thing to look for would be something obstructing the laser between the two sensors. There might be a cobweb, hard water buildup, or other debris in front of either unit.
Another common issue is loose, rattling tracks that shake the sensors as the door is coming down. If the green light is flickering during the door’s opening or closing, the problem might not be your eye sensor’s alignment… it may be your rattling doors.
Thank you for tuning in. If that did solve your problem, you’re welcome. If not, please give us a call today. We’re happy to help.
