Starting on January 1, 1993 all new electronic garage door openers were required to be equipped with electronic safety eyes. These safety eyes protect entrapment underneath a garage door as it closes.
The requirements state that safety eyes should be mounted no higher than 6 inches above the ground or floor of the garage and the beam must cover the entire width of the garage door.
We receive many calls involving the safety eyes preventing the garage door from closing due to the safety eyes malfunctioning or simply being out of alignment. If your garage door opens fine, but will not close using the wall console, then this could be a safety eye issue. If the opener light flashes and/or the motor makes a clicking sound, this is a warning that you have a safety eye issue. You can begin by looking at the safety eyes themselves. You should see a steady light on both of the safety eyes. If one of the lights is flashing then you may just need to simply align the eyes properly. This is done by physically moving/adjusting the safety eyes until you have both safety eyes with a solid light showing.
If both safety eyes are showing a solid light, then you may have malfunctioning safety eyes.
A simple test is to press and hold the wall console to close the door. If the garage door closes while holding the wall console button, then you probably have a safety eye issue.
Safety eyes can be replaced very easily
Just be sure you are using safety eyes that are compatible with the brand and model garage door opener you have.
Safety eyes are required for all garage door openers manufactured since January 1, 1993 and the garage door opener will not work without the safety eyes attached and functioning properly. We have customers who ask us to mount the safety eyes on top of the opener, or in a manner that by passes the entrapment protection the safety eyes provide. We can not bypass the safety eye sensors in any way. Again, the regulations say safety eyes sensors must be mounted no more than 6 inches from the ground or floor of the garage and span the width of the garage door to prevent entrapment injuries and possible death caused from being entrapped under a closing garage door.
If your garage door opener was manufactured prior to January 1, 1993 and was not equipped with safety eye sensors, then there is no way to retrofit safety eye sensors to your garage door opener.
