Solve the Garage Door Opener Puzzle !

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Sometime after it happened (not knowing exactly when, but at least a few weeks if it went with the broken tree nearby per "probably nearby lightning strike" theory) I was inside the garage and closed the door, and noticed that the closer did not stop "trying to close" when it got to the floor. The track was actually bowing a fair amount from the pressure on the chain. I started barking up the wrong tree of "limit switch must be out of adjustment" and eventually got to "bad control board".

Through a relay with a 12 VDC coil, and # 14 or # 16 AWG wire. A freind in Ohio had an 'Overhead Door Company' franchise. I did a lot of board level repair for him. He would drop off 25 or more at a time, and I would knock them out in a couple hours.

A standard florescent bulb puts out noise well past 4 GHz. I used to use the light over my bench to quick test C band LNAs & LNBs, along with tunable downconverters.

Ancient technology. Its all done with triacs now. At least my Genie door openers are. They have that annoying fade on, fade off function (Why? I don't know.). And they specify incandescent lamps only. Point-to-point wiring is getting pretty scarce in consumer products these days. Everything (relays, power traces, etc.) are on a PC board.

I seem to remember garage door openers had a spring-loaded switch that sensed the tension on the chain, and would shut off or reverse if it was excessive. Pretty simple and not too much to go wrong. I guess the newer model used some sort of current sensor on the motor? Probably saved 10 cents mfg costs. Engineer or manager probably got a bonus.

Paul

I will hjack this thread to thank the group for helping me solve a little electrical problem yesterday!

Had just finished putting up the tree, and plugged in the vacumn to clean up the little stuff that escapes from boxes and the old tree (artificial!) when it went Zo.......m dead. All the lights on the tree, the stereo and tv went quiet. Went out and checked the breakers, none tripped, but reset the living room breaker anyway. No help. Also,undercounter lights in kitchen were out, but rest of house was fine.

Opened outlet, and pulled out my VOM. between ground and both hot and neutral there was voltage - neutral problem!

Ate lunch, and then went back out to breaker panel. Opened it up, located breaker, located neutral (goes to two different circuits) and pulled. Out comes neutral! Pulled a breaker so I could get to the neutral buss, and tied down the neutral. Living room now back up!

Of course, all the undercounter flourescents are still out. I am afraid the fault may have done something wonderful like take out all the ballasts, or something...

Charlie

Years ago I had a mains neutral go resistive on me (underground feed). Noticed it when furnace blower would come on, half the lights in the house would dim, other half would brighten... plus one of the daughters complained that the shower would "sting" her... 15VAC between shower head and the drain :-(

Called APS... broad lipped me, that I didn't know what I was talking about. After I taught her a few new curse words, she connected me to a technician, and they came out within 15 minutes and installed an above-ground temporary neutral until they could come with a digger.

...Jim Thompson

Ouch!

No, fortunately, this one was in the breaker box. But I still don't know for sure what the problem with the lights is. Haven't had a chance to troubleshoot yet.

And then, there is my living room ceiling fan. Got a noise that sounded like big sparks from in it when I tested it, but it worked fine... :-(

Charlie

Maybe over-voltage due to the nearly floating neutral? You're fortunate you only lost some lights :-(

My ceiling fans periodically make "clicking" noises... means tighten the blade screws ;-)

Now that the Obama "Green Team" is in place I guess it's time to do an electric power review. Since we drive so little the only big hit we can take is for electricity :-(

I rarely swim in the winter... just the occasional spa. Maybe I can convert my solar pool heater to house water heating.

...Jim Thompson