Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

[Mark42]

I live in an area of big open hay fields and ranches. Lightning storms strike trees and the ground all around my property, yet the house has never been struck since new in '92.

Lately close strikes blow out the circuit board and/or the infrared door sensors of the Sears Garage door opener. Getting costly. So I added a small surge supressor, and last night a storm blew the logic board AND door sensors just two weeks after replacing both of them! GRRRRRR!!!!

Nothing else in the house is affected, and most electronics and PC stuff is on surge supressor power strips or UPS. Last night a close strike reset the Cisco ISDN modem and also my wireless router. But no damage to them.

So why is the door opener so susceptible to lighting strikes near by?

I am also going to get a special supressor that has connections right on it for the wires that go to the sensors. I'll see if that helps.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

Sounds like its not grounded properly.

 

[Terry Olson]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

I don't know much about this mysterious thing you call electricity...

With that said, could it be that the building is catching at least part of a strike or electrical charge from a nearby strike (I have no idea whether this is possible or likley) and the best path to ground is through the electrical system via the garage door opener?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

Sounds like its not grounded properly.

I checked the ground. Its fine.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

A few things come to mind.... make or buy a RF shield around the box.... If you have an outdoor antenna for the unit try relocating the antenna and IF it is a seperate antenna change the wire to the antenna with coax cable which is shielded.

 

[bandit86]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

I'm guessing the door operator is listening on a set frequency and the close proximity of the lighning's EMP overloads that circuit.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

Also check to be sure the hot and neutral wires are not reversed. I recently retired from the telephone business and we were required to run a separate ground wire from all the equipment to electrical ground. Used to be required to go to a cold water pipe until they started using PVC for feeds to the building. If electrical ground wasn't easy to get to we drove a ground rod in and bonded to that. It sure eliminated a lot of surge problems and especially static electricity which can be a killer to electronics.

 

[QuadManiac]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

Possible that the long wires leading to the optical door sensors are acting as 'antennas' for the huge EMP being generated in their neighborhood and feeding enough voltage back to the board to fry it.

Try adding some inductors to both leads of each of the sensors right where they connect into the opener's case. A couple of hundred microHenry's or a milliHenry or so, each, should do it... probably available at Radio Shack. This should slow down the voltage rise at the opener during the strike and greatly reduce the voltage seen at the circuit board.

You could also put a metal oxide varistor (MOV), 15V maybe, from each of the sensor leads to ground (case of the opener). This will short anything above 15V in those leads to ground. Check first with a voltmeter to see what the max normal voltage is on those wires, i'll bet 12V. Go a few volts higher for the MOV.

Good Luck!

 

[rwise]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

If this is a line strick somewhere then lightning does what lightning wants and it wants the easiest way to ground. A strick will often take out the same thing over and over. Check with your power provider and see id they offer the surge protection that goes inside the meter (I can get it in my area for about $300) protects the whole house.

If this is just a nearby strick, (with no contact to lines) my first thought is defective workmanship in the product. As mentioned above try shielded coax and surge supresion. Also contact product support for the opener and see if they have any recalls. A nearby lightning strick should not affect your opener.

Do you know who made it for sears?

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

About all garage doors have metal rails for the rollers. Are these grounded to ground and not the ground to the electrical system? Your problem might be as simple as putting a lightning rod on top of your house or a nearby pole. If you do have a ground rod, it may not be doing its job. I've seen many cases where the rod hit a rock or something to prevent it from being driven in all the way. SO the easy thing to do is cut off the excess. This is not acceptable and can cause problems. Ground rods are not that expensive and adds better protection. I also have known ground rods to lose thier ability to conduct to the ground. Pouring a strong saltwater solution in the area of the ground rod usually helps getting the conductivity back.

One place I worked, the water well pump got hit just about every storm that came in. This happened for many years until I started working there. I put a rod on a nearby pole that was higher than the electrical service. After that, the pump never got blown out.

Lightning rods seem to be a thing of the past, don't know why they aren't used as much as they were. Its been a proven fact that they do work.

Good luck Mark

 

[boling]

Re: Lightning keeps blowing out garage door opener. Why?

As above, check your metal railing to the ground plug from a nearby outlet with an ohm meter. you should see very little difference. If there is a big difference, run a ground wire directly to the rail.

Lightning will always seek the ground through whatever path it can find. Any induced static on that door or the rail might be using the circuit board as a pathway to ground.

Good luck