Garage door opener light won't stay off!

[dustin92]

Lately our garage door opener light keeps turning itself on randomly. It has acted up a couple times before, but the last two days it has been awful. I dont know if it is a security feature when the keypad has been locked, or if the opener is malfunctioning, or if the house is haunted (yikes!). I was cleaning out in the garage yesterday and noticed it was on, turned it off and locked the keypad. A couple hours later we got home just before dark (we only went to the grocery store which is 3 blocks away) and it was on (again). unloaded the grocery bags and went out to turn it off, it was already off. Today I was in the garage again and noticed it on, turned it off and locked the keypad. Tonight noticed it on and turned it off again. About 10 minutes ago, happened to look out the living room window and it was on again. This time hooked the cord with a broom and unplugged the thing. I dont need the light on all night, wasting electricity, showing the contents of the garage to anyone who drives by, and possibly creating a fire hazard! Does anybody have a good explanation for this or? Thanks!

 

[petek]

No idea

Have you tried unplugging it for a minute or so? At the same time remove the batteries from the keypad and remotes.

 

[dustin92]

It will remain unplugged all night, the keypad is hard wired, and the remote does not have a battery in it currently.

 

[whirlcool]

How old is the opener and what brand is it? Does it have the motion sensors on the door frame?

When we leave our garage door open, the light stays on for 5 minutes after opening/closing it. Then it goes out. BUT if anyone or something trips the door sensors(across the door opening) while the door is open the lights will automatically go on again.

Maybe this is what is happening in your situation. Even a cat crossing the door threshold will trigger the light to go on.

 

[dustin92]

It is only a few years old, Im not sure what brand it is, and I dont think it has motion sensors.

 

[SQueenJJ]

It has to have motion sensors where the door goes down. It's required by law and has been for over 15 yrs. They are usually a small square box near the floor on each side of the door. They have "eyes" that must line up or your door will not work. When something or someone breaks the beam, the door won't go up or down. My opener's light will come back on if someone walks thru the beam.

 

[dustin92]

Yes, it has the safety sensors, but I didnt know that would trigger the light.

 

[whirlcool]

Yes they do! So if your door is open and the light comes on by itself there is a good chance "something" passed by the light sensor. Could be a cat, dog, rat, etc.

 

[dustin92]

The door was closed, and the windows and entry doors were also closed, nothing bigger than a mouse could have gotten in.

 

[supersurgilator]

My grandparents opener has a beam that must be out of alignment. When you open the door it will open fine, but if you try to close it, you must keep holding down the wall button until the door is closed. If you let go the door goes back up.

 

[mrb627]

Garage door openers

I had to replace my garage door opener a little more than a year ago. The builder had installed a LiftMaster which I found to be terribly noisy. At the time of its failure, I found for what it would cost me to have it repaired, I could replace it with the top of the line unit from Home Depot. So that is the route I took. The new opener has the safety beam just under knee height at the door and it has a motion sensor on the button pad. Just stepping into the garage from the house turns the light on in the garage. A nice little feature.

According to the manual, the light may come on if the beam at the door is not properly aligned. I would suggest checking the alignment to be sure it is correct and secure. Perhaps one of the sensors is loose or vibrates enough on the track to confuse the system.

Malcolm

 

[whirlcool]

We have a lift master now and it is really sensitive to how the door sensors are aligned. If the sensors are out of alignment it will come 1/2 way down then go all the way back up again.

At our last house we had a Genie screw drive opener. That was really nice, it moved the door very quickly and quietly. If we replace this Liftmaster we'll be buying another Genie.

 

[dustin92]

I still havent messed with it, but I think it may be a lift master, now that you mention it. It sounds like we have the same opener, ours is very noisy, and slow to lift the door (old solid wood panels with windows). We also had a genie screw drive at our old house. It was also very quiet and never had an issue.

 

[supersurgilator]

My grandparents is a Genie screw drive and I think it is actually pretty noisy. It does have to life a double width old wooden door tho

 

[qsd-dan]

<a name="start_42590.626952">My grandparents is a Genie screw drive and I think it is actually pretty noisy. It does have to life a double width old wooden door tho </a>

 

Squeeze a tube of white lithium grease down the entire length of the screw.

 

That should quiet it down considerably.

 

[supersuds]

The Craftsman belt drive openers are the quietest I've ever heard.

I had a Genie at one time that developed a fault, perhaps due to a power surge, that caused it to open randomly. I'd come home and the door was open. There was no separate lock. The landlord wouldn't do anything about it, so I jammed a steel broom handle in one of the slots in the door track. The next time it decided to open for no reason, it destroyed itself, and I got a new opener. The broom handle is dented but still perfectly serviceable.

You may just have a short circuit in the wiring, though.

 

[dustin92]

Well the ultimate solution has been to leave it unplugged and operate the door manually when needed. The door opens and closes very easily, despite the trouble the opener has lifting it. When winter gets here and we need the garage to park in, it will probably be fixed properly.

 

[whirlcool]

You are very lucky the door opener didn't overheat and catch fire when you jammed it with a broom. In our last neighborhood a garage almost burned down from that same situation. The homeowner forgot something and came back to the house and saw smoke billowing out of the cracks between the door jamb and the door itself.

Just unplug it while not in use.

It sounds like something else in your area is on the same frequency or code as your garage door. Have you tried resetting the code for the opener & the remote?

 

[arbilab]

Door openers since 1990 have blockage (overcurrent) sensing. Before that, anything can happen. If the overcurrent sense is deliberately misadjusted--say to compensate for a mechanically-imbalanced door--anything can STILL happen.

Confirm the optical sensor is still aligned ("cleaned out garage"). Just sweeping could knock mine off. Though mine did not operate the lamp.

Speaking of lamps, why not just unscrew it and continue to use the opener?