Remote Garage Door

[jamie.aston]

Hi Guys,

My mother in law has just purchased a house with a garage at the bottom of the garden. This garage has a remote controlled electric door. The MIL has the key fob but cannot get it to work. I was asked to take a quick look but could not see any make/model signs on the outer cover so whipped the cover off and still no make/model. Was hoping on the off chance that someone here might know what make it was so i could hopefully get a manual and sort it out (garage has a pit which would come in handy while serviceing and working on my car ) Pic of open unit below:

Remote isn't really required (MIL doesn't drive anyway) so if anyone could describe a way that i could (cheaply) whip out the old unit and replace with a siumple (cheap) switch for up and down that as an option it would be great.

P.s. The incoming flex is attached to a 13A rewireable plug and i havn't checked the fuses in the pic yet but will do tomorrow.

Cheers
Jamie

 

[seafood]

If I was a betting man I would have a fiver on the brown and blue bottom right being the feed and the brown, blue & black above being the feed to the door opener.

If I've won the fiver you could then fit a 2 way light switch (outside type) with the brown feed in the common and the brown & black to the door opener in L1 & L2. The 2 blues would need to be joined in a terminal block the same as the earths are.

As it's only an educated guess, please wait for other opinions

 

[RF Lighting]

Can you show us a pic of the three pairs of terminals which currently have links in them?

One of these will probably be for a PTM switch which will allow you to do open/close/stop with each press

 

[Spark123]

What does pressing the test button do (using an insulated device)?
There is a program button at the top LHS, have you tried pressing this and pressing a button on the keyfob at the same time? If you leave it intact you'll need to sort the cable entry out

 

[tim west]

As Spark123 says it may need programming to the keyfob again as they could have gone out of sync being as the unit is a wireless system(Antenna on left of pic), before that check its not something silly like worn out batteries in the fob.

Bit concerned that the limit and stop switch connections look to be shorted out with links, they really should be connected to limits top and bottom of door and a stop button in an accessible place, otherwise you are relying on the keyfob user to stop the door, unless part of the programming is a timing circuit for the limits? unlikely but never know?

 

[jamie.aston]

Cheers for the info guys. I will take some pics later and post em up ASAP. Will also try reprogramming the remote. Nothing happens (except clicking noise and LED lights up) when the test button is pressed.

Thanks
Jamie

 

[jamie.aston]

Hi Guys,

Just been up and had another look.

Seafood, You were bang on the money. Tried your idea of wireing it up to a 2-Way switch and ...... Nothing. So got out the old multi meter and worked out that there was current going to the motor but nothing was happening. Then found 2-Pop Fuses on the motor, i reset these and the door opened and closed perfectly. using 2-way switch. I then reconnected everything up to the control unit and..... nothing. Looks like either the battery in the remote is too weak to work or the unit needs reprogramming to the remote. Pressing the test button now makes the door go up/down but Tim West was right about the limiters, the door seems to go too far up/down. (think thats the reason that the fuses on the motor might have popped)

After consultation with the MIL i have decided to fit a switch that has up/off/down positions and needs to be held down to operate (this would mean i wouldn't have to fit limiters (push to break switches for 13A, do they exist out of curiosity) or a stop button). Anyone know where i could source such a switch (preferably a weatherproof one but a normal would do as garage is watertight)?

Cheers In Advance
Jamie

 

[breezer]

there is such a thing as a limit switch, but why bother?

look at it this way, there seems to be no connection for them, other doors dont have them so there must be something else.

the motor speed must be known. there fore it will take say 4 seconds to open and 4 seconds to close, so it must have a timer.

what does the little pot do? (volume control looking thing)

 

[jamie.aston]

Got a copuple more pics for you all. Looks like there are did switches to setup a timer mechanism to stop the door after a certain time.

Anyone know where i can get an idea of what make/model the unit is?

Jamie

 

[breezer]

so whats wrong with adusting the timer?

 

[bernardgreen]

If and ONLY IF the motor / actuator has inbuilt limit switches then direct manual switching of the motor is possible.

The three wires plus earth to the motor are ( on many but not all motors )

BROWN live to raise
BLACK live to lower
BLUE common neutral

The brown and black feed different coil on the motor via the relevant limit switch. A capacitor between coils provides a shifted phase to create the rotation direction.

Can you take a photo of the under side of the PCB to find the connections between the motor terminals, relay contacts and power supply terminals.

 

[tim west]

After consultation with the MIL i have decided to fit a switch that has up/off/down positions and needs to be held down to operate (this would mean i wouldn't have to fit limiters

You should still fit limits because if the person operating the switch holds it for just a second too long you'll end up with the motor fuses blowing again, an unnecessary expense and inconvenience, and although the fuses blow fast there are still stresses on the motor windings each time that weaken them until finally the motor will become defunct.

 

[bernardgreen]

The motors I have seen on roller doors and at least two upand overs have had limit switches in the motor / gearing assembly which meant when the motor reached the set limit the relevant feed ( brown or black ) was open circuited.

 

[breezer]

ah, but most i have seen only have one button, if its up it goes down and if its down it goes up

 

[jamie.aston]

I wud be happy to adjust the timer but have no idea how to reprogram remote to operate unit. Wud make life alot easier but i wud still wanna fit the limit and stop switches. 2x Push to break switches from maplin and some telephone cable should do it by the looks of the tiny wires that are used to short connections. Anyone got any ideas on how to reprogram remote?

Jamie