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Two detached black sensors with recessed lenses and coiled wires lie in a tray beside a mounting bracket. — Photo-Eye Sensor Alignment or Replacement, Burlington

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Photo-Eye Sensor Alignment or Replacement in Burlington

The door will only go down while a finger stays on the wall button; let go and it stops or reverses. From the remote it opens fine but never closes, so someone has to stand in the garage every time.

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Before the door is looked at

Call (289) 816-6526, open 24/7.

  1. Never bypass, tape over or relocate the sensors to make a door close; a door that reverses is reporting something worth fixing.

In plain words

Two small sensors face each other across the doorway: one sends an infrared beam, the other receives it. While the beam lands on the receiver, the opener will close the door; the moment anything interrupts it, the door stops and returns to open. Every sensor call comes down to why the receiver has lost the beam: an object, a bent bracket, a dirty or frosted lens, sun in the receiving eye, a broken wire or a tired sensor. The technician works through those in order, fixes the one that applies, and shows you the steady indicator lights that mean the pair is talking again.

Sound familiar?

After a cold night the door stays open until the garage warms up. There is frost on the sensor lenses and a ridge of salty slush piled against the brackets where the snow blower was parked.

How the visit goes

Photo-Eye Sensor Alignment or Replacement · Burlington

How the visit goes

Technician reaching up with a drill at the vertical track of a black-framed glass-panel garage door, beside a blue ladder. — Burlington
  1. 1

    Brackets and height on both sides

    The two sensors have to sit at the same height, level, and facing each other squarely, no higher than about 15 cm (6 in) above the floor so the beam catches a small child or a pet. The technician measures both sides, because a bracket that has slipped a couple of centimetres down a track leg is enough to lose the beam. Each bracket is checked for bends from a bumper or a bin, for loose carriage bolts or wing nuts, and for rust where salt slush has sat against it for winters on end. A bracket screwed to a wall or the floor is checked for anchors that have worked loose.

  2. 2

    Repairing the wire run

    Damaged wire is dealt with in whole sections rather than patched at a single point. A pierced or chewed length is cut back to sound insulation and either spliced with proper connectors or, more often, replaced from the sensor to the nearest good junction. Where the run has failed in more than one place, a fresh two-conductor wire is stapled from the motor housing across the ceiling and down both sides of the opening, kept clear of the track, hinges and the door's travel. At the head unit the pair is landed on the correct low-voltage terminals with polarity confirmed, and the sensor lights are checked before anything is tidied.

  3. 3

    If it ever reverses again

    Should the door start bouncing back up in the future, you know the order to check. Look along the floor for anything in the beam. Look at the two sensor lights for a dark or flickering one. Look at whether the door backs up as soon as it starts or only after touching something, since the second points to the door's settings rather than the beam. Note whether the opener light is flashing and how many times. With those four facts the cause is usually obvious, and if a visit is needed, the technician arrives already knowing where to begin.

In the van

  • Track-mount sensor brackets
  • Matched photo-eye sensor pair
  • Wing nuts and carriage bolts
  • Two-conductor low-voltage wire
  • Insulated wire staples

What affects the quote

  1. 1

    Access to the doorway and the head unit

    A clear strip along the floor and a reachable head unit make for a direct job. Shelving, vehicles or stored goods that must be moved to reach the sensors, wire or terminals add time.

  2. 2

    Wall or floor mounting with anchors

    Mounting into concrete or masonry rather than onto the track means drilling, anchors and sealing against water, which takes more time than clipping to the rail.

  3. 3

    Winter conditions on the day

    Snow and ice packed against the brackets, a frozen bottom seal or a frozen floor where anchors must go all add a little clearing and care before the sensor work itself can start.

Same fees day, night or weekend.

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

(289) 816-6526

Photo-Eye Sensor Alignment or Replacement: questions

Advice · (289) 816-6526

What can I check myself before calling?

Three things, all safe. Look along the floor between the sensors for anything in the path, including snow, leaves or a cobweb across a lens. Look at the two sensor lights and note whether one is dark or flickering, or both are dark. Press close and count the flashes of the opener light. If moving an object or wiping a lens brings the receiving light back on steadily, the door may close normally again; if not, those observations make the visit shorter.

Could the door's force setting be the real reason it reverses?

Sometimes. The opener also backs up when it meets more resistance than its force setting allows: an iced seal, a limit that drives the door into the slab, rollers stiff with cold. From the driveway that looks identical to a beam problem. Timing is a clue, not proof, since a flickering beam can reverse the door partway and severe binding can trigger a force reversal right at the start; the sensor lights and diagnostic pattern settle which it is. The technician checks both so the right thing is fixed.

What tests are done before the technician leaves?

Two, and you are invited to watch. With the door closing, an object is passed through the beam and the door has to halt and climb back to the top. A 2x4 laid flat beneath the door's centre comes next; closing onto it must make the door back off on contact. The door is also run from the wall control and a remote, the opener's warning flashes are confirmed gone, and both sensor lights are shown steady.

Halton, Ontario

Burlington information

Town
Burlington, Halton, Ontario
In business
22 years
Hours
Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Visits
On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

What the census means at the door

47%

Homes of every age. About 47% of homes in Burlington were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.

A blend of older and newer homes usually means a blend of expectations too: keeping an original door running as long as sensible, or bringing a builder-grade door up to a quieter standard. Both are worthwhile, and the choice is explained at the door with the options side by side.

50%

A mix of homes. Single-detached houses make up about 50% of homes in Burlington (2021 Census).

Where housing is mixed, the doors are mixed as well: wide insulated doubles, narrow singles in rows and the occasional rolling door on a small commercial unit at the corner. Spring type, cable length and opener strength are matched to each door individually.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population

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Request a visit

The door will only go down while a finger stays on the wall button; let go and it stops or reverses.

Call now · open 24/7(289) 816-6526
  • On-site assessment preferred
  • Same fees day, night or weekend
  • 22 years in business