Troubleshooting garage door opener (genie silentmax 1000)


  #1  
Old 01-29-17, 12:53 PM
K
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Troubleshooting garage door opener (genie silentmax 1000)

We had a power failure recently that shorted out the garage door opener's circuit board. Nothing worked, no lights on. I figured out the problem from online research, bought a new circuit board and installed it today. It was relatively simple.

Once I had finished and reconnected the power, the various LED lights all came on -- on the floor sensors by the garage door, on the wall control, and on the main unit. The LED on the main unit was solid red, not flashing. I had read that flashing meant something was wired wrong, so I felt this was a good sign.

I followed the directions on programming which said step one was to set the door limits from the main unit. I followed those instructions, and the door operated fine, and both upper and lower limits were set. The lights were all making the correct flashes during this process.
When both upper and lower limits were set, there was no longer any lit LED on the main unit, which I read is correct.

Now, the next step after setting the upper/lower limits from the main unit is to go to the wall unit and close and open the garage door, which will automatically set the force and speed controls. There is no other way to complete this process.

Well, the red LED light on the wall unit was list, but the buttons do nothing. The main button will not open or close the garage door. The light button will not turn the light on or off. The safe-lock button will not activate the safe-lock mode. It does nothing. But I know it is getting power from the red LED light.

I have triple-checked the wiring, and it is all exactly as per instructions. I have nothing else to try.

Note, I did read the wall mount will not work until the upper and lower limits are set from the main unit. I reset those limits three times, no help. It appears to me the limits are set so the wall unit should work, but it did occur to me that if somehow the main unit was forgetting the limits as soon as they were set, then that would cause the wall mount not to function, and so the problem could still be with the main unit. But from the LED light behavior, it appears the limits are setting correctly.

Assuming the limits are set correctly, what can I do now to trouble shoot the wall mount not functioning correctly?

Ken
 
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Old 01-29-17, 01:49 PM
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Here is a link to a Genie quick reference card, which may help you. It appears that solid red -especially on the power head is not a good sign.

http://www.geniecompany.com/data/pro...nce_retail.pdf
 
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Old 02-02-17, 03:56 PM
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I believe you misunderstood about the red light. The powerhead lights were solid red only when I first plugged the opener in after swapping out the circuit board. This was before I started programming the limits. Once I programmed the upper and lower limits, there was no red light at all. The light is off, but the opener is still not operational because the next programming step requires setting the speed/force limits FROM THE WALL MOUNT SWITCH, and that switch is not doing anything (though it is on, based on a solid red LED which, in that location, is what you are supposed to see to tell you it is getting power).

If, when I first plugged the opener in, I got a FLASHING red light instead of solid, that would mean that the circuit board was wrong or it was wired incorrectly or something like that. So at that initial pre-programming stage, solid red is NOT a sign of a problem, just a sign it is not yet read to use till it is programmed.

The attachments you provided does not say otherwise, it merely indicates a red light AFTER you start programming the limits indicates that you did something wrong, but I never got a red light at that stage.

Thanks anyway for trying.

The question is, what would cause the wall mount to show it is powered up (red LED) but for the buttons to do absolutely nothing (three buttons, one to control garage door, one to turn on/off the lights on the powerhead, and one to lock the wall mount, and NONE of them do anything).

My best guess / working theory was that somehow one of the two wires running from the powerhead to the wall mount has a break in it. I believe one wire takes power to the wall mount and the other wire reads signals. From the LED light, I believe the wire taking power is fine, but if the other wire has a break in it (within the plastic sheath, nothing visible), that might explain why the wall remote is not controlling the garage or the powerhead lights.

There are two problems with this theory. First, it may not explain why the "lock" button on the wall mount is not working. I would have expected that function to NOT be dependent on communication with the powerhead. But my expectation could be wrong, so this may be a non-issue.

The second, and more significant, problem with this theory is this: I would not think it is easy for this wire to break within the sheath, and what are the odds it broke at the same time the circuit board got fried?

That leaves me wondering if somehow the circuit board I got has a problem, but just as to the part of it that deals with communication with my wall mount. If it has a problem that only impairs communication with the wall mount, that might explain why everything else works. But how do I trouble shoot it? Buy a new board? (at $100 a pop?!) Buy a new wall mount?

It would amaze and shock me if I were the first person to have this problem. I am 99.99% sure others have connected a Genie Silentmax, it worked fine during the initial programming of upper and lower limits, but then it would not complete the next stage of programming -- setting speed/force limits from the wall mount. And if any of those people see this and can clue me in, it would save a lot of wasted time and energy re-inventing the wheel.

Ken
 
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Old 02-17-17, 10:56 AM
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the wall button you have is not compatible with the new board you installed. they make another wall button that is white(I believe, definitely white-ish) instead of black. Switch out the wall button and the problem is solved.
 
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Old 02-17-17, 11:00 AM
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you need the white colored wall button that is compatible with the new board. I'm not sure the part number I would have to run to my truck and get it but that is the problem. for whatever reason the black wall button you have is not compatible with their new boards. board and wall button both need to be changed.
 
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Old 04-22-17, 10:59 AM
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What's the part number for this Wall Console that works?

I have exactly the same problem but I don't see any wall button online that matches the description. Does someone have a part number so I can replace the grey one I have now?
 
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Old 03-13-18, 07:50 AM
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I too am having this exact same issue. Replaced a bad circuit board and now everything works (including remotes) except the wall console. It is lit but does not activate. What is the part number of the replacement that will work with the new circuit board?
Thanks,
Eric
 
 

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