Door Sensor Orientation

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Tim Clawson

• April 26, 2019 01:11

The door sensor installation is not working for me.  My garage door tends to wobble on its tracks, just enough to make its final resting position unreliable for sensing a closed state.  I have adjusted the sensor a few times and the best I can get is an 80% success rate.

I think if I remove the sensors from their brackets and mount them horizontally on the top of the door there will be plenty of clearance and it should give 100% success rate.

The question is, will the sensor function properly with a horizontal installation, as opposed to the vertical orientation that results from using the provided track bracket?

I feel that this might be an obvious “of course it will work” answer but I figured I’d ask before I spend the time taking it apart and mounting it, and this discussion might also be useful to other users.

Thanks!

 

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  Scott Riesebosch

  • April 26, 2019 02:16

  Tim,

  Sorry the mounting is not working for you. Yes, you can mount them horizontally at the top of the door if that will work better for your door. The main thing is to get them to ideally within 1/2 inch of each other when the door is closed for highest reliability.

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  Tim Clawson

  • April 26, 2019 02:40

  Hi Scott,

  Thanks for confirming this in such a short time!

  The concern came simply from a lack of technical information about the sensor itself, i.e. if there are any moving parts inside that require a particular orientation, versus a purely magnetic pickup which will work regardless of angular position.  Sounds like it’s the latter.

  I’ll give it a try this weekend and report back.

  -Tim

   

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  Scott Riesebosch

  • April 26, 2019 13:15

  Tim,

  Correct. There is a simple magnetic reed switch inside. It's not a tilt sensor. Great question Tim.

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  Tim Clawson

  • May 04, 2019 22:10

  Just a follow-up on the sensor installation.  I removed the sensor from its track bracket and installed it on the frame above the door, and installed the magnetic pickup to the top of the door.  It has been one week now and the Tailwind has worked flawlessly, 100% success rate.

  I’m very pleased with this product.  To anyone having problems with your sensor I recommend spending a few extra minutes to pick an installation that works for your situation.

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  Scott Riesebosch

  • May 08, 2019 03:21

  Glad to hear you're happy with it Tim. Thanks for sharing!

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