Why Photo Eyes OR Safety Sensors Are the Most Important Part of Your Garage Door

If you have ever talked to a garage door expert about your garage door, you may have heard something about your garage door "photo eyes" or "Sensors". These photo eyes are an integral safety feature of your garage door opener. Here is what you should know about photo eyes or in their other name "safety sensors" and why they are so important.

How do photo eyes work?

The photo-eyes sensors are located at most six inches above the concrete slab, one on each side of the garage door mounted on the side tracks. These sensors transmit a laser beam that closes an electrical low voltage circuit.

The way they operate is pretty straightforward. If anything disrupts the beam resulting in no connection, the circuit opens, resulting in the door reversing in its track, resulting in an open garage door.

Are Saftey sensors mandatory? And why?

A garage door is constructed from at least 4 garage door section(panels) on average each section is 24 inches high making a 7-8 ft high garage door weighing in excess of 500 lb. With the invention of garage door openers that open and close the garage door with high power and force. That can result in crushing accidents resulting in injuries and even death.

As a result, the "consumer product safety improvement act." introduced a mandatory feature to all garage doors manufactured after 1982 to have a quick-release device and the auto reversal system that revers the closing of a garage door after it hits a hard object.

On an adding to ANSI\UL standard 325, every garage door opener must be equipped with an anti-entrapment device. This was the time when safety sensors were introduced.

How do you know if your photo eye sensors are not working?

How can you tell if your safety sensors are broken or simply not working?

There is an indicator LED on each sensor. They can be both green or one green one yellow, orange or red, one receiving and one transmitting.

If any of the following occurs, you should check your safety sensors

-The light flashes and you hear a clicking sound when trying to close the garage door

-Cant close the garage door with a remote

-The garage door comes back up at various points when closing the garage door

Are you having difficulties closing your garage door repair in Fort Saskatchewan? Are you in need of garage door maintenance?

Please contact the garage door and opener experts Thrifty garage door repair Edmonton for same-day service! 24/7 available at 587-200-9282.