# My garage door opener works up, but not down **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097 "2008-02-25T17:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/21 "2008-02-25T23:33:55Z")
Well, that’s pretty helpful… ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/22 "2008-02-26T01:21:32Z")
[QUOTE=happywaffle] …it doesn’t go down unless I hold down the button the entire way. Otherwise, if I just press-and-release, the door goes down maybe an inch and stops. …? [/QUOTE] I see I’m a little late to the party but I was going to say this is exactly how our door reacts when there is something blocking the eye sensors, it goes down about an inch and then stops. I’ve never tried holding down the button in those circumstances but it makes sense it could be an override on some models, and **RedSwinglineOne** seems to confirm that this is sometimes the case. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/23 "2008-02-26T01:56:13Z")
One note about the eyes - direct sunlight can make the eyes think there’s an object in the way. This happens at my parents’ house on a regular basis at the exact right times of day. They have to wait a few minutes for the sun to move before they can close the door. ---
**Author:** ![happywaffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ee59a6/32.png) [@happywaffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happywaffle)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/24 "2008-02-26T16:15:19Z")
Alright, you’ll love this one - went home, examined the tracks, then turned my attention to the sensor eyes. I nudged one of them about a quarter-inch, and a little red light turned on. Fixed! And here I was worried about multimeters and circuit testing. Hehe. Even funnier that the previous owners never figured this out and sold the home with a nonfunctional garage door opener on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/25 "2008-02-26T19:49:30Z")
That fixed mine as well. Consider my subscription paid for! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/26 "2008-02-26T20:18:36Z")
[QUOTE=happywaffle] Alright, you’ll love this one - went home, examined the tracks, then turned my attention to the sensor eyes. I nudged one of them about a quarter-inch, and a little red light turned on. Fixed! And here I was worried about multimeters and circuit testing. Hehe. Even funnier that the previous owners never figured this out and sold the home with a nonfunctional garage door opener on the list. [/QUOTE] Excellent. They should be mounted with some kind of a bracket…tighten any and all screws associated with the mount so it’s less likely for them to move in the future. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/27 "2008-02-27T03:19:17Z")
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil] Excellent. They should be mounted with some kind of a bracket…tighten any and all screws associated with the mount so it’s less likely for them to move in the future. [/QUOTE] They are equipped with those brackets. Run into them with bikes, trash cans, or other ordinary garage inhabitants, and all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/28 "2008-02-27T04:09:39Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] They are equipped with those brackets. Run into them with bikes, trash cans, or other ordinary garage inhabitants, and all bets are off. [/QUOTE] But knowing that, the eyes can always be moved back into place. Sweet, sweet technology, how you befuddle us with your mystic charms. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Philip\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@Philip\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philip_Smith)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/29 "2016-03-05T00:40:49Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Ah…I assumed you meant the remote. Does the remote produce the same result? If it does, then I would suspect an “eye” (or as **beowulff** called it, a lower limit switch, which is what it really is) issue. > But, if this only happens when you use the button on the wall, then reference **beowulff’s** post above once you exhaust all your other options that take only a little time to resolve, like checking the functionality of the limit switches, that the guide rails are free of obstructs/bockety guide wheels, etc. Then I would look towards an electrical issue. My fix was cleaning the “eye” beam lens and unplugged and re-plugged the wire from the back of the beam sensors. Make shore you see each the LED light is now powered on. Thank should be your fix 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/30 "2016-03-05T14:36:59Z")
It’s been 8 years since he had that problem. I bet he got it fixed meanwhile. But thanks for joining us. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/31 "2016-03-05T15:05:17Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > That fixed mine as well. Consider my subscription paid for! 🙂 Nice. ---
**Author:** ![happywaffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ee59a6/32.png) [@happywaffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happywaffle)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097/32 "2016-03-06T20:22:35Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s been 8 years since he had that problem. I bet he got it fixed meanwhile. > > But thanks for joining us. I did indeed 🙂 Funny to see my old threads revived, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garage-door-opener-works-up-but-not-down/439097.md?page=1)