

On most garage door systems, the corresponding photo-eyes will consist of one red light and one green light. When the two sides interact, LED lights activate on both ends. With some garage doors that don’t close, the problem is due to a misalignment issue between the two photo-eyes. There is also the possibility that the circuitry of the photo-eye has been damaged or saturated with moisture or rain. In some cases where a garage door won’t close, the photo-eye will simply be dusty or dirty, and the dirt will be misinterpreted by the laser as a physical obstruction. Consequently, the slightest bit of anything - such as a pencil or a wad of paper - can trigger the photo-eye to halt the movement of the door. The purpose of the photo-eye is to ensure the door does not close down on objects, pets or people.Īs a safety mechanism, the photo-eye is programmed to respond instantly to any obstruction. If any type of object or body part is detected, the door either halts its closure or reverses in full. You can easily fix the problem by removing the obstruction or calling a service to have your photo-eye realigned properly.Įach time the door is prompted to close, the beam activates to scan the underlying clearance for obstructions.

Upon activation, a pea-sized laser beam is sent from one end to the other.Ī miscellaneous object or dirt is most likely the culprit for your blocked photo-eye’s safety sensors.

The photo-eye components consist of two pieces that align face-to-face across each side of the garage door, roughly four feet above the ground. The majority of garage doors manufactured since the early-1990s are equipped with this safety feature. If your garage door keeps stopping and won’t close all the way, the problem could be due to a blocked photo-eye. The Photo-Eye Is Blocked, Dirty or Misaligned Check Out Our Other Troubleshooting Resources 1.
