How to Bypass Garage Door Sensors
Garage door safety sensors are essential components since they signal the door whether to stay open or close. However, what should you do when the garage door is permanently open?
If you’ve been dealing with this problem for a while, replace the sensors once and for all. Although, there’s a better option – to bypass garage door sensors.
How do you do it? We’ll show you how to bypass garage door sensors at home.
What Do Garage Door Sensors Do?
Garage door opener sensors provide safety to your home. Since garage doors are large, they would be safe enough for homeowners to use. Basically, garage door opener sensors prevent the door from closing if there’s an object in the path.
For this reason, they are beneficial to keeping everyone and your belongings safe. Without them, you could suffer from injuries or your car from damage.
How Do Garage Door Sensors Work?
Basically, sensors have photo-eyes that face each other on the bottom part of the garage doors. These eyes produce infrared light to detect objects in the way quickly. Once they detect obstructions, sensors will prevent the garage door from closing.
How To Determine If You Need To Bypass Garage Door Sensors?
There are different ways to know if the garage door sensors are faulty. So, before bypassing garage doors, check each one below first.
Step 1: Check The Path
Once the garage door won’t close, there might be an obstruction in the path. For this reason, inspect the doorway for any objects blocking the view of the sensors.
The beams from the sensors are highly sensitive. Hence, make sure nothing is in the line of sight.
Step 2: Check The Lenses
After confirming that there’s no object in the path:
-Check the lenses.
-If they are filled with dirt, clean the sensors using a microfiber cloth.
-Give them a clean every once in a while. The sensors might consider dirt as an obstruction.
Step 3: Check The Alignment
You’ll identify right away if the sensors are misaligned through the photo-eyes. If the eyes emit a solid garage door sensor yellow or green, the sensors are aligned. Otherwise, the color from the photo eyes will blink.
So, how to adjust garage door sensors? Locate the screws and make sure they’re tight. This will position the sensors back in place.
Step 4: Check The Wiring
Wirings can be affected, too. If you see the garage door sensor wires are loose or damaged, replace or reattach them back to the sensors.
How To Bypass Garage Door Sensors In Two Methods
There are two ways to bypass garage door sensors. The first is to switch the operation to manual mode. The second is to disengage the garage door sensors. Doing one of them will help you to access your garage door – or we recommend to do both. Here’s how to trick garage door sensors in two ways.
Method 1: Switch To Manual
Switching the garage door in manual mode lets you access the garage door without sensors. Here are the following steps:
Step 1. Close the Garage Door
It’s essential to close the garage door when switching to manual mode. However, when it’s stuck open, proceed to the second step.
Step 2. Prop the Garage Door Open
When using wood, position them between the door and the floor on both ends. By doing this, the wood will hold the garage door, preventing it from slamming shut.
Step 3: Drag the Cord Down
Once you have located the cord, pull it down to disconnect the trolley from the system. This will help you to operate the garage door manually.
Step 4: Remove the Objects
Below to Close the Door
As the garage door is resting on the wood planks, remove them while closing the door. You can remove the objects using a hammer while the other person holds the garage door in position.
Then, lower the garage door until it’s fully closed. By now, you’ve already switched the operation to manual mode. Then, you can disengage the sensors if you prefer.
Method 2: Disengaging Garage Door Sensors
After switching the garage door into manual mode, this step will require you to perform. Then, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Turn the Power Off
Doing this is an easy task. One way is to switch the sensor off from the socket. Another is to directly unplug the garage door outlet from the wall.
At the same time, do this step when you’ve successfully switched the garage door to manual operation.
Step 2: Remove the garage door safety sensors
To safely remove the garage door sensors, locate the wingnut from each side of the garage door. Loosen them using a counterclockwise motion with a screwdriver. Then, you can remove the sensors from their brackets.
Step 3: Cut the wires
Once you remove the sensors from the brackets, cut the wires to disengage entirely. Use pliers to cut the wires to sever the garage door sensors finally.
Step 4: Replace the Sensors
- Use pliers again to snip the leftover wires from the casing.
- Remove the skin to reveal metal wiring.
- After, connect the exposed wire to the new sensor.
Conclusion
Probably you prefer to manually operate the garage door to get rid of the technical work. However, it’s safe to replace the sensors once they’re faulty. If you want to get rid of the hassle of replacing the sensors yourself, you can always call a reliable garage door expert. In this way, they will do the job for you.
