Wall Mount Garage Door Opener - Question for Current Users

[s219]

Thanks S219. The door rails go up two feet above the top of the door opening, so the bottom door panel is still almost vertical and the next panel is at a 45 degree angle and the other 4 panels are on the flat section.

I went out with a pipe wrench and turned the shaft by hand, and the door came down without loosening the cables. I never would have guessed. I may end up raising the rail ends so the horizontal track is not perfectly level. Thanks for your help!

I'm ordering the 8500 openers after Christmas.

Sounds like everything is OK as-is and you probably don't need to mess with the rails (in fact, usually the door roller brackets are such that the door will still have an incline even if the track is horizontal). As long as some portion of the door is either hanging vertical or at a 45 in the corner, there is plenty of weight to pull down on the cables and keep them under tension. They should never un-spool as long as that is the case.

Years ago with another brand of jackshaft opener (Wayne Dalton "iDrive", since taken off the market because it was junk) I had some boxes block the downward travel of the door and the cable spooled off the drums. It was a trainwreck and dangerous situation to resolve, since the door got crooked in the track and then the rollers started falling out. It's a miracle I didn't get hurt or damage the two cars parked in the garage.

The Chamberlain 8500 openers have a slack sensor -- basically a spring loaded limit switch with a roller that rides on the cable. If for any reason the cable goes partially slack, it will trigger that switch and promptly stop the motor before it goes fully slack. So in the unlikely event that the door stops moving due to an obstruction, the cable won't unspool and you won't encounter the dangerous situation I ran into. Combined I have been running an 8500 (or predecessor) opener for about 20 years and they have been super reliable. I really like the whole principle of how they operate. I'll probably be adding one to my workshop, since I now have an antique car parked in there and use the door a lot more than before.

 

[Gaulithan]

It's really very simple. When the door opens, the opener has to be pressed for the door to move. If the coulter isn't pressed at that moment, the door can't move on the rail because it simply cannot move in space. A certain height above the fence must be maintained for the colter to work. This height is set by the slack sensor.
This may vary in different types of garage doors, but I think it will work that way in this case. I'm thinking of replacing my garage doors and installing a mechanism like this. Are you satisfied with using it?

 

[BoylermanCT]

I installed the opener today. Went with a Genie instead of Chaimberlain / Liftmaster 8500. Watched some comparisons on YouTube and like the features of the Genie better.

Installation was easy. Everything worked as it should and setting the open and close settings was simple. Very happy with how it went and will be ordering a second one for the other door.

Still have to straighten up some of the cables etc, but love how quiet they are and having a full 12’ of headroom.

 

[xrjohndeere]

If you don’t have one yet install a bumper pusher spring noted by Citydude. Easy to install.

 

[check]

I bought the Chamberlain one, installed it myself, and it works great!

 

[Herness]

Can't make a choice between Chamberlain and lifmaster. Any thoughts? Would like to talk to both of the customer services and found the liftmaster's here https://liftmaster.pissedconsumer.com/custоmer-service.html. Anyone know how to contact chamberlain? Thanks in advance and have a nice weekend everyone.

 

[JJT]

Can't make a choice between Chamberlain and lifmaster. Any thoughts?

I have both, no problems with either, 20+ years.

 

[check]

Now I have a problem with my Chamberlin. We had a weird power outage where the power went off and on for a while at maybe one second intervals, which as you know can wreak havoc on electronics.

I don’t know if that was the cause, because the door opener worked for a while after that, but now the motor runs but the door doesn’t move, and the motion detector light stayed on and wouldn’t go off. Unplugged everything for now, until I can have a closer look. I’m hoping that maybe just the connection to the big rod that goes across the top of the door is not tight enough. Otherwise, it might be big money!