Photo eyes aligned and tested
Brackets are re-secured, lenses cleaned and the beam re-aimed until both indicator lights are steady, then the door is closed repeatedly to confirm it holds.
Garage Door Sensor and Keypad Repair
A door that starts down and comes straight back up, a keypad that has gone dead, a remote that only works from the driveway. These are control and safety-sensor faults, and they are usually fixable without a new opener. San Marcos Garage Door Repairs tests the sensors, the wiring and the controls before anything is replaced.
- 24/7 Service
- Upfront Quotes
- All Major Brands
Signs of a Sensor or Control Fault
- The door reverses a few inches after it starts to close
- One sensor light is off, or one is blinking while the other is steady
- The opener clicks and its light flashes, but the door does not move
- You have to hold the wall button down to make the door close
- The outside keypad no longer responds, or only works sometimes
- A remote works close up but not from the street
Sensors sit a few inches off the garage floor at both sides of the opening, which puts them in the path of everything that gets stored, swept or hosed into a garage. A bumped bracket, a bike leaning on a bracket, a spider web across the lens or a wire pinched behind a shelf will all stop a door from closing.
What the Service Includes
The point of the visit is to find out which part of the chain has failed: the photo eyes, the wiring between them and the opener, the wall control, or the keypad and remotes. Each one is tested rather than guessed at.
Wiring and wall control checked
Staples through a wire, a corroded splice or a failed wall button all look like a sensor fault. The low-voltage run is tested end to end and the button is checked or replaced.
Keypads and remotes programmed
Outside keypads and handheld remotes are tested, re-programmed to the opener and replaced where the unit itself has died. Old codes can be cleared at the same time.
Your Repair Options
Safety sensors are not optional equipment, and they are not the part to work around. If a door will only close while you hold the wall button, treat that as a fault to report rather than a way to live with it, and keep children and pets clear of the opening until it is fixed.
Where the opener itself has a failed board or a worn drive, the work moves into opener repair. If the door reverses because it is catching rather than because of the sensors, look at off-track repair or book a maintenance and tune-up so the balance and travel can be reset. Our opener troubleshooting guide lists the checks that are safe to try first, and repair versus replacement helps when the whole door is being weighed up.
Sensor and keypad work is covered across the area, including Martindale and the other towns on the service areas page.
Sensor and Keypad Questions
Why does my garage door close a few inches and go back up?
That is the safety reverse doing its job. Either the photo eyes are misaligned, blocked or wired badly, or the door is meeting resistance on the way down. Clear anything near the sensors and check that both little lights are on; if they are, the cause is more likely in the door or the opener settings.
Can the safety sensors be bypassed or removed?
No. They are the part that stops a closing door on a child, a pet or a bumper, and disabling them leaves a heavy door with nothing to detect an obstruction. San Marcos Garage Door Repairs repairs or replaces them instead, which is usually a small job compared with a new opener.
Why has my garage door keypad stopped working?
Most often a flat battery, a keypad that has been baked and rained on for years, or a code lost after a power cut or an opener repair. Sun-facing keypads in Central Texas rarely last as long as the opener, and replacing and re-programming one is straightforward.
Do I need a new opener if the sensors have failed?
Usually not. Sensor pairs, wall controls, keypads and remotes are available for most units still in service. A new opener only becomes the sensible option when the parts for that model have dried up or the motor and board are failing too, and you will be told which situation you are in before anything is ordered.
Arrange garage door service in San Marcos
Tell us what the lights on the opener and the sensors are doing, and we will know where to start.