Garage Door Opener keypad recommendations

Nov 13, 2010 34 Replies

This link shows it for around $130.00

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Doug

My spring broke and the opener (1/2 HP) lifted it just fine. They are not designed for this load everyday, for sure.

This was a garbage board / solid wood type door but only single size = 7 x

8'. The opener was a Genie screw mechanism type. Any 1/2 HP motor should be able to lift 400 lb. of door over a 8-10 second period and the weight is only when the door is fully closed. When it is half way up half the load is horizontal and not loading the motor.

I got my car in that night and out the next day until the spring boy came to fix it again.

Best, Christopher

Point made. You don't remember....LOL

Home safes are a bitch for that, also. I usually write the combo on the back, in some binary notation and backwards.

3

"Josepi" wrote:

Been there, tried that. The door did not budge.

Best, Christopher

It may depend on the type ( I had a screwdrive one), the HP and the clutch setting.

If you have your clutch (electrical, mechanical or both) set very sensitive for stopping when any resistance is "felt" (supposed to be a child or toy anti-squisher) the motor should give up right away as a safety concern. Mine may have been set tougher than yours??? Perhaps some only work in the closing direction???

The guy next door left a alum. lawn chair in his cheap uninsulated door, twice now....what a mess. The twisted and ripped panels have been replaced twice now....LOL. Obviously needs an adjustment of the safety setting.

Best, Christopher

Thanks for all the replies. It looks like I'll end-up going with a wireless unit after all, since it doesn't appear there are many other choices. I guess for the batteries, I could always wire-in an AC adapter.

I don't believe in hide-a-keys, false rocks, etc. They're too obvious of a hiding place, and where I live someone could spend a long time turning over rocks, or checking the usual hiding places, without being noticed.

Actually not a bad idea! :)

Yes, it's the locked outdoors without a key scenario, so going in another door would not be an option in that case. It's also good so that if I need to let someone get into my house when I'm away, I can always talk them through getting in with a keypad, so they wouldn't need to have been given a key ahead of time.

Perhaps, but I suspect is was more about the modest weight of your door. I called a garage door company in our area and he said the motors will not lift a heavy doublewide with a broken spring. FWIW.

Best, Christopher

Motorized, driver has a seat and everything. Like the ones the guys at home depot drive around the store. For getting the pallets off the top shelves.

Yeah - but that would make it too easy. Here they insist on splitting it up - the big ones they call fork trucks, the smaller ones are hi-lo's.

So when I made my little quip, I used the term I was used to - then it sort of took on a life of its own...

Update: I ended-up building my own keypad and wiring it to the KEP-1 control box via a 7-conductor cable. I found a 3x4 matrix keypad online, and created a mounting box for it. The keypad is supposed to be weatherproof, but the box I made uses an outdoor outlet cover, so it should be doubly protected from the elements. So now I've got something that meets my original requirements, even if I did have to create half of it to get there. :)

LOL.... I love McGyver stuff.

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