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Only during summer and only when the sun is close to the horizon the light from the sun confuses my garage door opener and in order to close the door I have to hold down the wired button which is a real pain if I'm leaving.

A friend suggested I use toilet paper rolls (or maybe some PVC) to shield the sensor from the sun and direct the beam to the other sensor and that's a good idea but it'll mean I have to change how the sensors are mounted to the track and move them out a bit. Just moving them back might solve the problem (since they'll be blocked by the walls).

Any other suggestions? Is this a common problem?

Aarthi
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tooshel
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8 Answers8

15

You could swap the emitter and detector units so that the emitter is on the sunlit side. It doesn't matter if the emitter is being blasted by sunlight; only the detector needs to be protected. Of course you might just be changing the time of day of your problem if the other side of the door is sunlit at a different time. :)

Don't forget to swap the wiring at the opener unit as well of course.

Mike Powell
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13

You probably only have to shield the sensor just enough to put a shadow over it (and not let the sun hit it directly). I would think a small piece of cardboard taped to the side or top (or both) of the sensor that is getting hit with the sun should do it.

Another way would be to block the sun from outside of the garage by maybe planting a shrub (test it out by putting your garbage can in line to block the sun when it is low in the sky and see if it works).

Jeff Widmer
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7

I had the same issue. I tried shading both the sensor and the emitter with card board and toilet paper rolls. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Today it wouldn't cooperate at all. I even tried re-aiming the sensors. I was able to prove that it was the sun causing the issue by closing the door, disengaging the door from the opener, and activating the opener. It worked fine with the door closed. So....after giving it some thought..... I decided to find some glass cleaner. I cleaned the sensor and the emitter. After that it worked fine even in direct sunlight without any type of shading. Hope this idiot fix helps!!!!

Joe
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4

I used an old pair of polarized plastic safety sunglasses that were $6.00 new. I cut one lens off and slid it behind the sensor so that it covers the lens: no more sun problem stopping the beam so the door now works.

Niall C.
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Joe
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4

Placing a tube around the sensor/emitter might work, but it sounds like that would easily break if kicked or struck by something passing by.

Perhaps a polarized filter for a camera would be taped or somehow fixed to the unit.

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Amazon has this one for $11.99.

Glorfindel
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spoulson
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2

I placed a semiclear plastic food service glove over the receiver has worked so far.

Michael Trevethan
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What a pain that must be. Could you raise or lower the sensors a few inches up or down to make it less inline with the sun? I agree with Jeff, all you need is just enough to make a shadow.

Really not much else you can do, other than disable the sensors which would obviously dangerous and not recommended.

mohlsen
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0

I placed a piece of black construction paper around the receiver. This helped me to solve the problem.

Niall C.
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user13410
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