HOWTO: keep garage door from coming down on taco

My tacoma just barely fits in the garage. I want it back as far as possible so we can get around the front of it. That means the garage door is extemely close to scratching the bumper every time I close the door.

I have

$54 Maxsa 37312 Park Right Dual Laser Parking Guide, Silver

a laser to put a dot on the dash when I'm in the right spot, but I wanted something a little more difinitive.

The sensors that keep the door from coming down on a small child could be moved up and out, but then they wouldn't protect a kid...

From what I've read, those sensors are transmitting and receiving an oscillating signal, so we can't just add another pair of standard garage door sensors. People report attempting to add sensors in serial and parallel without success.

But -

$27 Seco-Larm E-964-S50TB Multi-Frequency Single Photobeam Sensor; 4 selectable frequencies to reduce interference; Up to 50ft (15m) sensing distance; Replaced E-961-S50TB

there are photobeam sensors that operate on 12 volts DC and provide a normally open or normally closed relay. That makes it easy - just set the relay to normally closed cut one of the wires for the existing sensors and run it through the relay.

Any time the new sensor's beam is broken, it turns off the OEM sensor.

I screwed a scrap of aluminium to the track to hold the sensors:

Now it will let the door come down this close, but if the truck is back another inch, it won't let the door come down.


Supplies required for isntalling the sensors:
- One set of sensors
- 50 feet or so of thermostat wire
- a 12volt DC power transformer (it can be very small, total draw is 45 ma for both)
- a few staples for the wire
- whatever you're using as a bracket to mount the sensors (or put them on the wall)

Now I have the laser to tell me if I'm about where I want to be, and if I'm not paying attention, the door still can't come down on the taco.

 

cleaver move on that sensor, I had my garage door scratch/gouge my bumper on my old car.

 

Nice solution. I am finding it weird parking in the garage in general. New Taco is the first truck I have owned that would even go in there!

 

thanks.
Yeah, I did quite of bit of looking online and was mostly finding a lot of people trying and failing to add a second set of OEM ensors. Eventually I found one reference generic sensors with the relay.

I don't know what the manufacturer intended them for, but with that configurable relay they can be used for just about anything.

 

From the ceiling of the garage hang a tennis ball from a string so that the ball just barely touches your windshield when the car is parked at the right distance. This tells u when to stop. Cheap and it works.

 

Yep. Keeps the wife from smashing shit.

 

1) Hang a tennis ball from a string from the ceiling at the point where youn”just” hit it to stop.
OR
2) Install a second set of sensors in parallel with the first at the higher heights.

 

I thought only people over 80 years old were supposed to do that?
The only person I knew who did that was my great grandfather.

 

My cheap solution, right in front of the front tire.

 

Most garage doors, even with a failure of the photo sensors on the ground, have a pressure sensor that will automatically retract the door if it hits something other than ground.
How do I know? Because my brilliant ass mounted the photo sensors above the garage door about two feet away from each other. That's one safety sensor bypassed. However i was doing some brazing in the garage near the open garage door. My wife came in and without thinking hit the garage door close. It came down on my back ( Hunched over my work with shield on) pushed a bit and then retracted. No issues. If it came down on my truck hood it wouldn't have hurt it.

 

Yeah, with a light door and properly adjusted opener, if comes down and hits the truck square, there might not be damage. But if it grazes the bumper it can still make nasty scratches.

On my door the load settings can't be set very sensitive because its a double door and I added foam to it for insulation. So its over 200 pounds.

 

I am in that category and have tennis ball on a string. Very easy to install and fine tune.

 

By law (so I was told by the garage door installer) the sensors have to be installed at a certain height but the homeowner is free to move them higher if desired. Problem with the original height is that if a lifted vehicle is backing out and the sensors are between the front and rear tire, the door will come down on the vehicle if the door opener is pressed before the vehicle is out of the garage and will damage the garage door (about $350 but don't ask me how I know and no, it wasn't me).

 

I agree, there's a lot to be said for the simplicity of a hanging tennis ball.

Got mine rigged to garage door so that ball is down when garage door is up and retracts up and out of the way after car is safely parked in garage.

 

Stop it. You're old. Supposed to be a dildo on a string. More high tech.

 

Tennis ball never glitches and fails

 

I use a rubber block.

 

I use this cool device.

 

Yes, since 93’ and technically 6” off the ground.

It’s the force limits and you definitely got lucky- seems your door and opener are adjusted properly. But don’t think of it as won’t do damage because it will but instead that it won’t (or shouldn’t) crush whatever is in the way before reversing.

Not completely true- single door, double door, steel, wood, light or heavy doesn’t really matter because your springs should be properly balanced. If there not then your asking for trouble (actually most people are unaware that a garage door needs to be maintained and that springs do lose tension over time).

In your case if the force close is maxed out or more then half your springs are likely not balanced. Balance your springs (or have someone that knows how because you can get hurt) and then re adjust your force close. You should be able to stand under your door, hold hand palm up at shoulder and the door should feel it and reverse- if it wants to take you down gtfo the way and get it fixed. If it’s actual styrofoam you installed that’s fine, it’s the other crap I see people put on their door to insulate that actually adds weight. Again it doesn’t matter your door is 200lbs- check the springs