Garage Door Openers – Can You Imagine Life Without Them ?

A Garage door opener is a part of the machinery used for opening and closing garage doors. Most types are remotely controlled. Garage door openers are excellent but straightforward designs. So much so that it’s hard to believe living without them now.

The original garage door opener consisted of a radio transmitter, a receiver, and an actuator to open or close the door. The receiver would identify a shift in the amplitude and would open or close the door. However, there was a security concern with these kinds of garage door openers. Anybody could open them with a transmitter. Also, there were unexpected openings of garage doors by neighbors trying to open their doors. The last door openers used a shared frequency to overcome the unintentional gap by other users. Using dip switches, a total of 256 sequences were made to prevent interference from other garage door openers. However, the security issue was still not succeeded.

The present-day garage door openers use operating frequency or hopping key technology. In these, the frequency of opening looks advanced type, which means another frequency will open every time the door is opened, the next time, the door.

The technology for garage door openers is relatively easy. Three labels are used, chain drive, screw drive, and belt drive. Chain drives are noisy as they use a metallic chain along with a metal trolley. However, they are reasonably cheap, at about $130. Screw drives consist of a threaded role screw. They start at about $150. The latest models consist of plastic-lined tracks to reduce the noise and increase the speed of opening. Belt drives are the most expensive and the quietest. They begin at about $170

There is a misunderstanding that the door opener does the lifting. However, the actual lifting is done by the springs. When the door is closed, the springs come into force. When the door is being opened, the spring makes most of the lifting. There are two sorts of linear extension springs and torsional springs. 

Garage door openers are of two models, the jack shaft model and the trolley model. The jack shaft model occupies less place. The trolley model consists of a trolley attached to the door and also to the motor. This keeps space in the ceiling but is more popular because it is more reliable. In the jack shaft type, it is hard to sense when someone is being crushed beneath the door. There are two kinds of motors available, AC and DC. AC is more familiar, but DC has many advantages. It uses less electricity, the speed is easily managed, and it makes less sound.

There are some types that auto-reverse in case of interference, like a pet or a child. The remotes usually run-up to a distance of 150 feet. The remote can be applied to turn on the light of the garage also. Most garage door openers come with a keypad placed outside the garage. This is practiced to open the garage if the remote batteries are down or the user has forgotten the remote. The largest garage door openers provide emergency release so that the door can be opened manually in power breakdowns.