# Genie screw-drive opener only opens a few inches



## EricBNeverScare

I have a Genie Powermax 1200 that was installed < 1 year ago that is now giving me trouble. I'm going to contact Genie support, but they're not open until tomorrow 

The only thing I can think of that was unusual before I started having trouble was that I had the power turned off for a few hours. I kind of doubt that was related.

The issue is that when I push the wall button to open the door, it opens a few inches and then stops. I can keep pushing the button and it will move another inch or so and stop again. Then the long red LED on the powerhead starts blinking. Note that the "Safe-T-Beam" sensors both show steady "on" (i.e. normal functioning) and there are no obstructions, so this is not related to the obstruction sensor things at the bottom of the door.

Thinking that my garage door required too much force to open/close, I disconnected the opener's carriage from the door completely (so now the garage door opener's carriage is just running along the screw with no load on it). Surprisingly, I still see the same behavior. How is that possible?

In hopes that this was just an issue with the contact force setting, I tried following the instructions in the manual to view/change the contact force setting, but the instructions don't work. When I hold two buttons to view the setting, nothing happens. Either way, given that there is no load, I'm not sure this is even worth looking at.

*Now the only other thing I can think of is lubrication. How often should I be re-lubricating a Genie screw-drive garage door opener? Any other ideas?*

Let me know if you need more info. Thanks!


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## firehawkmph

Eric, 
Lubrication shouldn't make a difference on a screw drive with the exception of quieting it down temporarily. I stopped hanging genie openers a couple years ago when they revamped their whole line and changed everything. I now hang liftmasters. But I did check on your model. Force adjustment is preset at the factory, any changes made now will be minor in nature. Are your remotes still trying to activate the door after having theower off? If they are, the power stoppage should not be an issue either. When the lights flash, count now many times they do and contact genie and see if they recognize the trouble code. The only other thing I can think of is going through the travel limit setting procedure again. Normally not an issue, but most openers are going to the push button setup versus the screw type adjusters. Anything electronic is subject to malfunction. One other thing to check: Even though both eyes are lit up, if one or the other is out of alignment slightly from being bumped, it may cause the opener to act like the eyes don't see each other. Had that happen on my own opener recently. Wipe the lenses off and check to see that they are pointing directly at each other. Let us know what you find.
Mike Hawkins


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## EricBNeverScare

One additional symptom: if I hold the button down on the wall console, the door will open maybe an extra 1-2 inches (as compared to if I just tap the button). But what's odd is that the screw is audibly spinning faster than normal (and the door/carriage moves faster than it used to--and then abruptly stops.

I'm wondering if whatever is supposed to sense the force required to open it is broken, so it just keeps going faster and faster before it decides something is wrong and abruptly stops the door and starts blinking the long red LED.

firehawkmph, thanks for the suggestions. I'll try wiping the floor sensors' lenses and see if that makes any difference. Based on the manual, it sounds like "steady on" for both red and green LEDs means everything is fine, but definitely worth a shot 

As for going through the travel limits, when I'm going through the travel limit procedure, the door abruptly stops (same thing that happens when trying to open the door), so I can't actually get the limits set correctly.


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## firehawkmph

Eric, one other thing that does happen is sometimes when things act up that can't be sorted out by normal adjustments is the circuit board goes bad. It's not that difficult to replace one, but if you have to pay for it, they can be a little costly. I haven't checked in awhile, but they used to run between 60-90 dollars, depending on the model. 
Mike Hawkins


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## EricBNeverScare

Yeah. Given that the opener seems to think something is wrong even when there's no load and the floor sensors seem good (they shouldn't prevent the door from opening anyway, now that I think about it), I'm suspecting something is wrong with the electronics/sensors.

The funny thing is that I used to have an (almost) all-mechanical Stanley opener that was getting to be annoying (the chain kept hopping off), so I replaced it with something I thought would be more reliable (fewer moving parts). How wrong I was...


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## gregzoll

Check the down micro-switch. I just had to work on my next door neighbor's genie. The door would go down but come back up at four inches from the floor. Re-adjusted the arm so that it was correct, and then where the door was at at the down position, slid the micro-switch towards the sled, and then pulled the eyes back towards me, until I got them at a slight angle away from the door.

After running the door a couple of times, the switch now sits in the right place when the sled is at the down position, and same with the up position micro-switch.

It all started of course, due to her door was frozen shut, and when she tried to open it, it screwed up the travel of the door.

Check out where the door sits on the track at close, and how the micro-switch is at that position. Adjust both the sled by taking out the bolts that hold the two sections of the arm together, and then extend the bar that is attached to the sled, back towards the drive unit, reconnect the two bars, then adjust the micro-switch.

These things get out of whack over time, and it is usually when it is freezing outside, that you are stuck fixing these things.


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## EricBNeverScare

Called up Genie and walked through their troubleshooting steps. They determined that the powerhead is defective and needs to be replaced (as we suspected).

The troubleshooting steps they walked through consisted of understanding the symptoms, opening up the powerhead and disconnecting/reconnecting wires, and checking for damage/burns within the powerhead.

So this just seems like a defective unit. The good news is since it's only 4 months old, it's still under warranty.


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## firehawkmph

Greg,
The newer openers have gotten rid of the contact switches and gone all electronic. Travel limits are set with three push buttons. Everything has to be done in a prescribed sequence.
Mike Hawkins


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## gregzoll

firehawkmph said:


> Greg,
> The newer openers have gotten rid of the contact switches and gone all electronic. Travel limits are set with three push buttons. Everything has to be done in a prescribed sequence.
> Mike Hawkins


That just makes it even worse. No wonder why everyone is trying to keep their older openers running. The last thing anyone wants, is a piece of silicone going bad, when the door is going up or down, and then you cannot get to the emergency release.


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## firehawkmph

The in between phase of this Greg was the openers with internal limit adjusters. They were mechanical in nature and super easy to adjust. All you needed to do was turn one of two small nylon screws to adjust up or down travel. They are starting to phase these out in favor of the push buttons mentioned in the previous post. Liftmaster also has an add on box that let's you control your door from afar with your smart phone. Why somebody would want to do that is beyond me. I prefer seeing my doors go up or down in person.
Mike Hawkins


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## gregzoll

Same here Mike. I can see it if you are working in a warehouse, and want to know if a door is up or down, when a truck leaves, or the guys/gals have left for the day, if you close at say 8 pm.

Or even if you own a farm, and have outbuildings, that you do not have a good line of sight, or able to use cameras to watch over all of the property, then having the sensors helps in that kind of case.

I can just look out my back window and tell if my door is up or down. No need for something to tell me. Now having an alarm sensor on the garage door is a wise choice. Especially if you are gone, you want to know if someone may break into it.

But having something tell you if the door is up or down, with no camera for you to see if someone is in there, is like only drinking 1/2 a cup of Milk, and throwing the rest on the floor.


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## Taubae

Eric & Mike - This is EXACTLY the issue I am facing 2-3 years later. My unit was purchased ~Aug 2013, so perhaps out of the same defective batch, just waited longer to fail. 

*Thank you* for posting. Will update when I get a final decision. Steve


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