Garage Door Opener Problem (Yes, I'm Sober)



Question:
Boy, this one makes no sense - hope somebody can fathom an answer. A friend has an ancient garage door opener. Kind of nifty - a big pulley with a rubberized coating grips a long rod attached to the top of the pivot-type door, and drags the rod backward, opening the door. Guess it's a precursor to the more modern worm drive opener. She left her only opener in a rental car, and that was that. She went a couple months without being able to use her garage door opener, and finally got fed up enough to do something. So she went to the Depot, and purchased a Genie replacement receiver / remote control. Today I installed it for her. Pretty simple: screw the receiver to the rafters near the opener. Run two wires from two of the three terminals on the receiver to the opener, paralleling the existing manual "doorbell" switch. Run two wires from a wall wort power supply to two of the three receiver terminals (one in common with the first set of wires). Program remote control. Stand back and admire handywork. Then I tried it. Tapping the doorbell switch still makes the door go up and down. Pushing the new remote's button makes an LED on the new receiver go on, and there's the audible click of a relay. The door doesn't actuate. BUT: if one lowers the door with the doorbell switch, and pushes the remote, the LED lights, the relay clicks, and the door goes up! So the door can be remotely raised, but not lowered. I am absolutely baffled. This should either work or not work, but not half work. I can't use an ohmmeter because we have 24 volts going through this circuitry. How can I troubleshoot this bizarre problem? Is this patently obvious to someone who understands garage door opener repair technology more than I?

Answer:
Does the following indicates you have one terminal not connected? Run two wires from two of the three terminals on the receiver to the opener, paralleling the existing manual "doorbell" switch Perhaps connect the third terminal to the first? It appears that somehow the "down" circuit is interrupted by the door being up. I suspect that the relay contacts are not directly in parallel with the door bell button. Remove power, use your ohmmeter, draw out the circuit. Operate the relay by hand and hope the problem becomes obvious.





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