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Photo Eye Wiring Faults

A sensor fault that comes and goes is rarely the sensor. It is almost always the wiring between it and the opener.

The wires run along the wall and are usually stapled. A staple driven too tight partially crushes the conductor, which produces a connection that works until temperature or vibration changes it.

Terminal corrosion is the other common cause and is more likely near the coast. The screw terminals at the opener head and at the sensor are small and unprotected, and a green bloom on the copper is enough to raise resistance past the point the receiver tolerates.

Check the obvious mechanical damage first: a wire pinched behind a shelf, run over by a car door, or chewed by a rodent. Wire staples along the run are worth a visual pass for any that have been driven flush.

Because the fault is intermittent, testing means flexing the run gently while watching the alignment light rather than taking a single reading.