Garage Door Sensor Repair in Los Angeles, CA

Why your garage door reverses before it closes

The door starts down, stops, rolls back up. Usually the opener light blinks a code. That is the safety eye pair talking. One sensor sends an infrared beam, the other receives it. Break the beam and the door must reverse. Break the alignment and it reverses anyway.

Most calls are not dead sensors. A bracket got bumped by a bike or a trash bin. Santa Ana grit films the lens gray. A staple through the bell wire finally corroded through. On coastal and low-lying garages, salt air pits the terminal screws on the opener head and the connection reads intermittent. Direct afternoon sun striking a receiver lens can also wash out the beam, which is why one door misbehaves only in late afternoon.

Diagnosis follows the wire. Steady LED on the sender, steady on the receiver, both under three inches from the floor. Then we check for a splice buried in the header framing, a stud staple, or a rodent chew above the track hanger.

Sensors are cheap relative to labor. If the wiring is brittle and the opener is an old chain unit with a worn logic board, replacing eyes alone is throwing parts at a symptom. We will say so.