New German GDO is in the mail..
 

My 4 year old Sears GDO has given me so much trouble these last few winters,
I've decided I want to replace it with something totally different..
No even made in China, if you can believe that!

Shop SOMMER 3/4 HP 500 Garage Door Opener at Lowes.com

SOMMER Direct Drive 3/4 HP Garage Door Opener Review - YouTube

The old Sears Craftsman 3/4 hp screw drive GDO never likes to go all the way
up during cold weather.. My wife has the same GDO (got them the same day),
but hers works pretty well during cold weather. I've got a bad board, or a weak motor, or both..
This cold temperature failure is very common to this model,
and so far no one has figured out the problem.
Some folks have replaced their PCB, but still had the failures.
But, many have decided to dump their Sears GDO and try again.
Seems like these things should last for 20 years..

So, Maybe the Sommer GDO will work when it gets down under 38F.. :o

http://images.lowes.com/product/conv...62010407xl.jpg

What made you go with that model?

Seems like a good idea, less moving weight is less stress on the motor and fewer parts with friction and that is really important in the winter when grease gets cold and thick.

For those you didn't fallow the links to find out exactly how this garage door opener works, the motor moves along the track in it's own trolley, so instead of having more or less a winch that stays in the center of the garage and pulls the door up this one pulls it's self along the track taking the door with it.

I've seen some good reviews, and just wanted to try something
completely new and different.. :D

I like the idea of one moving part too.. :) Of course, the trolly goes down
the rail, so that makes two moving parts! :eek:

They have a pretty good warranty too..

I looked around and almost all US GDOs are made by the same few manufacturers..
I've had the two big sellers before, so maybe this one will work for me..

Dang, it's already here.. I'll try to install it tomorrow, between bike rides..
The weather is too good right now.. I wonder if an earth quake is about to hit us?? ;)

Let us know how it goes. I have a garage door opener that needs repair / replacement and I hadn't decided which route to take yet.

Thanks,
Tim

Okay, I'll post my DIY experience on this little thread.. :)

The only things I can report so far is, shipping was really fast,
and the package had about a dozen shipping straps around it.
It seems to be very well packaged (from the outside),
and there wasn't any of the normal UPS foot prints, forklift blade marks,
tire tread marks, or even any dents and holes..?.

Is this what happens when the package gets delivered fast?
They don't have enough time to abuse it?? :p

Dang! Don't buy this product, if you are over 65 and kinda dopey.. :o
It took an extra long time, since I didn't read the manual close enough.

I tried to start early, taking out the old unit.. And started putting the new
one together before a late lunch. Got the chain in the rail and broke to eat.
That took extra time, since the chain carrier was upside down.
It's shown clearly in a big diagram, but I missed the fact there was a top
and bottom to the carrier.

It's hard to hold up a GDO with one hand and install hanger nuts-n-bolts with the other!
Once I got it up, I should have sat down with the manual for 20 minutes,
and would have saved myself an hour of puzzling over perceived 'problems'
that didn't exist..

Like, why is it continuously blinking the lights at 1 CPS??? (for like an hour)!
It wanted me to run the door all the way up and down TWICE,
so it could 'learn' how much force was needed to lift my door..


So, I spend about 6 hours on this project.. :( But I got it working in the mode I wanted.
There are two buttons on remote (it comes with 2 remotes), I was able
to program it so the top button makes the door go up,
and the bottom button makes the door go down.
(This will eliminate some confusion when we want to make sure the door
is really down, and don't want to go outside to look at the Detached garage).
Also helps with the problem of me hitting the button(Up),
and my wife hitting it again(Down), when we are heading out in a hurry.

Since the garage has sensor lighting, I don't need to turn on any lamps via a remote.

This GDO takes two 40w incandescent bulbs. But, I decided to go greener
and installed two 23w CFLs, equal to 200w of incandescent.

I figured the CLFs would interfere with the radio receiver in the unit,
but so far, they don't seem to be effecting the range of the remotes.
We'll see, when we try from inside the car, down the street..

Door does take longer to get up or down.. Maybe 3 extra seconds.?. Not sure.


I almost had a BIG problem.. This new rail is a lot longer than my old one.
And, there is a large wooden beam across the center of the 24'x24' garage.
The back end of the power supply-controller unit was about 1/3" from the beam..

I had to skip ahead in the manual, and install the PS-C unit on the end of the rail,
instead of plugging it onto the rail after the rail was hung. No room!

If that beam was another 1/3" closer, I would have had to cut
the rail shorter and remove some links from the chain! Lucky!!

I really like the way this works so far.. The motor just humms..
All the noise is creaking from the old steel door..
The end-of-travel is very easy to set and lock solidly into place. (number 3 Phillips screwdriver).

Very smooth motor action, no jerking and clanking.. :D

Cheers,
Rich

It's like an X10 lamp controller, but with RF control
 

I decided not to buy the fancy remote keypad for my new GDO
until, I had a chance to evaluate the unit.
Since l might be placing another order this winter, if the other door (wife's side) gets flaky..

Today, I was thinking about the old Sears remote keypad mounted by each garage door.
Mine is worthless now?? Maybe not! When we got these Sears GDOs, they came
with little radio receiver gizmos. These RF modules plug into a AC outlet,
and can be used to control a few hundred watts of load.

Kinda like an X10 module, but they can be operated remotely, by the old RF keypad,
and the two old Sears GDO remotes!

So, my plan is to plug a little 5VDC cell-phone charger into the module, so I can make 5VDC by remote control..
Put that 5V into a little relay, and wire it into my fancy new GDO button lines!

That way, I should be able to open my door (using my pin) or, one of the old remotes..

I checked the wired button box terminals with a short, it opens the door,
but does not close it. Which should be fine for my needs.
Once the door is opened via this Hack, it should be held open until
the 5v is shut down. Either by remote or using the button on the RF module.

Somethings, can be recycled faster than others.. :cool:

Since lighting is not covered, I found a neat little GDO saver at HD.

Single Outlet Wall-Mount Surge Protector-F9H101aCW-DP at The Home Depot



Plugged it in and two little green LED came on.. :cool:

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pro...57d071_400.jpg

We've had a lot of lightning around here lately.. :o