Garage Door Opener

Garage Door Opener

Garage Door Opener - Know How it Works
By Andrew Stratton - Ezinearticles

The garage door opener is a modern wonder. As you cruise up to the house, you hit the button and it welcomes you home. But can you imagine life without a door opener? If you know anybody with one of the old wooden openers, you probably would know the importance of it. These are beautiful, immaculate doors that give character to any house. They also give you exercise, getting out of the car each time to pull them open, and then having to pull them shut again when you're done! Let's give thanks to the modern garage door opener. How does that little magic button work anyway?

The Rolling Code

First, you hit that little button. It sends a signal to the receiver located inside the garage. Modern openers use the 300-400 MHz frequency range, and they use what's called a rolling code. This means that it changes the code each time, making it tougher for somebody else to hack your remote's code.

The receiver gets the message, and the whole operation gets to work.

Springs and Things

Actually, the electronics of it are the easy part. The really complex part, and what makes the modern garage door opener so great, is the opening mechanism.

The brain of the operation is the motor drive. This is the big box that, in most cases, is on the ceiling of your garage. This is also where the light is located. The motor drive starts things rolling. Garage doors use either a chain or a belt drive. Both work basically the same way.

The motor starts turning in the big box, and this pulls either the belt or chain clockwise. It pulls the springs along tracks, which are usually located along the walls. When you close it, the motor turns counter-clockwise and it goes down.

Thank Goodness For Safety Features

Modern doors are installed with a limiter. This tells the door when to stop. It also tells the door when there is something in the way, like a car or your kids, and this automatically stops it. These sensors keep it from shutting and causing damage or injury to what's underneath.

This is just a description of the most basic opener and how it works. You can buy openers with all kinds of extra features, openers that are designed to be quiet, or openers you can customize yourself. There are all different kinds and they come in all different prices. Where would you be without a one? You'd be getting out of your car every time you came home and opening it yourself!

Garage Door Opener