Re: Solve the Garage Door Opener Puzzle !


On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:33:28 GMT, Charlie E. <edmondson@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:32:46 -0700, Jim Thompson
<To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:14:10 GMT, Charlie E. <edmondson@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:40:13 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
<speffSNIP@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Situation: An approximately 15-year-old name-brand chain type garage
door opener. The drive train was replaced by myself a couple of years
ago, which is unrelated to the problem at hand.

It suddenly started working (from the remote) only to OPEN the door,
and not to close it. The wall pushbutton switch always worked. I
noticed that if the door was left open for some minutes, it would
"recover" and would work again from the remote.

Anyone here can figure this out? Hint: I (much) later recalled
replacing the lights in it (one had burned out).


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

I will hjack this thread to thank the group for helping me solve a
little electrical problem yesterday!

Had just finished putting up the tree, and plugged in the vacumn to
clean up the little stuff that escapes from boxes and the old tree
(artificial!) when it went Zo.......m dead. All the lights on the
tree, the stereo and tv went quiet. Went out and checked the
breakers, none tripped, but reset the living room breaker anyway. No
help. Also,undercounter lights in kitchen were out, but rest of house
was fine.

Opened outlet, and pulled out my VOM. between ground and both hot and
neutral there was voltage - neutral problem!

Ate lunch, and then went back out to breaker panel. Opened it up,
located breaker, located neutral (goes to two different circuits) and
pulled. Out comes neutral! Pulled a breaker so I could get to the
neutral buss, and tied down the neutral. Living room now back up!

Of course, all the undercounter flourescents are still out. I am
afraid the fault may have done something wonderful like take out all
the ballasts, or something...

Charlie

Years ago I had a mains neutral go resistive on me (underground feed).
Noticed it when furnace blower would come on, half the lights in the
house would dim, other half would brighten... plus one of the
daughters complained that the shower would "sting" her... 15VAC
between shower head and the drain :-(

Called APS... broad lipped me, that I didn't know what I was talking
about. After I taught her a few new curse words, she connected me to
a technician, and they came out within 15 minutes and installed an
above-ground temporary neutral until they could come with a digger.

...Jim Thompson
Ouch!

No, fortunately, this one was in the breaker box. But I still don't
know for sure what the problem with the lights is. Haven't had a
chance to troubleshoot yet.

Maybe over-voltage due to the nearly floating neutral? You're
fortunate you only lost some lights :-(


And then, there is my living room ceiling fan. Got a noise that
sounded like big sparks from in it when I tested it, but it worked
fine... :-(

Charlie

My ceiling fans periodically make "clicking" noises... means tighten
the blade screws ;-)

Now that the Obama "Green Team" is in place I guess it's time to do an
electric power review. Since we drive so little the only big hit we
can take is for electricity :-(

I rarely swim in the winter... just the occasional spa. Maybe I can
convert my solar pool heater to house water heating.

...Jim Thompson
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