How do i force my garage door closed?

[JEDI]

10yr old craftsman garage opener

sometimes on sunny days, i cant close the garage door.
it's like light is being reflected somewhere at the eye sensor.

all google says is to use the wall keypad to force it close.
but i dont have a keypad.

anyway to force the garage door closed with the key fob?

 

[Micrornd]

Maybe putting a short section of toilet paper tube over the eye would solve the reflectivity problem?

 

[herm0016]

i was thinking a little cardboard sheild on the outside of the sensor. or just stand so your shadow is over it, but not under the door.

or just install them above the door like got intended when they starting making the damn things. my parents did this because the snow was tripping them in the winter. the doors still go back up if they encouter something not at the end of travel that keeps them from going down.

 

[mindless1]

The first thing to try is cleaning the sending and receiving sensor lenses.

Unless there's instructions using the fob to do this in the owner's manual, it seems the harder route.

You could just put a longer rope on the mechanical release if needed, tied to a section further down on the door so it isn't hitting the vehicle as you pull in, then manually release the door and close it, then it is blocking sun so you should be able to use the opener motor to move the mechanism down and engage with the door so it is ready to use next time - at least it is this way on many of the CM/Chamberlain openers.

You could use a multimeter to measure the voltage level change of the optical receiving unit when the door is working versus blocked, and replicate that with a pull up resistor or resistor divider from the receiving sensor input to opener, from the power supply for the sending sensor, then run the two wire connection to that, over to the wall panel where you put a new switch in it to override the optical sensor.

If you don't want to touch the existing opener wiring, another possibility might be to just create your own infrared LED module slightly off to the side (so it doesn't block the normal sending sensor beam) of the receiver sensor but aimed towards it, and power that however you want. For example a 100mW IR LED underdriven a bit, could be powered by a simple circuit of 5V cellphone/etc USB charger and 75ohm series resistor.

Another option is swap the positions of the sending and receiving sensor so it is less vulnerable at that time of day, or as someone else already mentioned, mount a tube on the one receiving the excess sunlight, preferably longer than its diameter, though you may then need to more precisely aim the sender.