weird garage door problem

[lukasz]

Heres the problem, we have a huge drier for screen printing in our shop and right across about 150 ft away or so is our garage with automatic doors, but for some reason when our large dryer is on the IR sensors dont seem to work, and the drier is on a completely different wiring system, so its not a power issue, is it possible that the old drier is giving off a frequency that is blocking the doors?

if so you think there is a way to fix it? we already tried a led box around the motor and tin foil, someone said that would work, hah. didnt though. any ideas?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You first need to find what's stopping it working - for a start how does the IR opener work?.

 

[lukasz]

well from what i understand they just work on IR light pulses and binary, which is why it confuses me on why the drier would cause this, but none the less without fail, everytime it seems to jam the signal. so im a bit confused.

 

[lukasz]

actually i just read something on RF remotes and says some actually work on radio frequencies. so the trier could be producing that, im curious if theres a way to block it, im thinking if i maybe find out what frequency it is i can make a device that makes that same frequency but out of phase, and it would cancel out the drier signal. sounds out there, but maybe it would work?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You're over complicating what I asked - how do they work? - is it remote control, beam breaking, proximity sensing?.

 

[lukasz]

guess im not sure what your asking. it is a remote control for sure if thats what your question is. the remote control is only thing that doesnt work, we can press the open and close button and it works fine.

 

[Sig239]

You said the door was automatic. What makes it automatic.

Also you don't seem to really KNOW how the door works. You are talking about IR, RF, automatic..... If you want help then we have to know how the door is activated.

When you talk about lead and foil it sounds as if you are trying to shield it from RF or something, but you reffered to IR at that time. Read your own post carefully, that is the only information about your door that we have.

 

[lukasz]

honestly i dont know if its RF or IR, you know about just as much as me. Im not really sure how to check either unfortunately else i would have checked.

 

[Andy1845c]

I personally have never seen an IR garage remote. I have two seperate openers on my garage and both are RF. If it is by chance IR there should be a IR LED or lense on the front of the remote (like a TV or Stereo remote).

 

[Roff]

How does your dryer work? Is it just a heater? Does it have phase-controlled triacs, or something else that could generate a lot of RF interference?

 

[ljcox]

IR is a light beam and needs line of sight between thw sender and receiver, like someone wrote, a TV remote control.

So it would not work if you hold a sheet of cardboard between it and the door sensor. But if it is RF, cardboard would not affect it.

As Ron wrote, it must be interference from the dryer which means that it is probably an RF system.

 

[lukasz]

yeah i just found out they are radio frequency for sure. now i guess im trying to figure out how to diagnose the problem. i dont know much about the heater itself except its very old. its very large too, about size of two cars, cant find the old dryer but heres on thats very similar to it **broken link removed**

not sure if that helps at all.

 

[HiTech]

what brand and model is the garage door opener? Maybe you can check out the mfgr's website for more info. Have you tried changing any DIP switch settings to see if that resolves things (if the remote & opener controller have DIP switches). Be a little more detailed with info. for us to diagnose from.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

If it's RF, then the dryer is probably throwing out lots of RF interference, try an AM radio near it!.

 

[Roff]

If it's gas-powered, the RFI is probably coming from one or more of the motors. It has to have at least one. If the conveyer belt motor has a speed control, it is probably the culprit. A power line filter might solve the problem.

 

[lukasz]

yeah i was going to try the AM radio thing but only problem with that is that i dont know what frequency its at, and even if i do find it, what good does it do? unless you can build that machine to throw the signal out of phase with itself.

and it definitely has a speed control for the motor.

will this work for it?**broken link removed**
and i dont know much about those where exactly do they install?

 

[ljcox]

Those filters may do the job, but I would explore further with a radio.

The interference is likely to be broadband so try an AM radio first. If it has short wave try those bands also. Tune (you won't have to do any tuning is it is broadband) through the spectrum until you hear the noise and then turn the machine off to check if the noise stops.

Also try the FM band. However, if it is AM noise, you won't hear much on a FM receiver.

But remember that the garage door remote is probably transmitting at about 400 MHz so the noise may be above the range of AM & FM radios.

A simpler and cheaper solution may be to put ferrite rings around all wires going to the motor. I would try that first before buying the expensive filters in the web site you posted.

Also, go to an electronics shop and see what they have. If you can find a knowledgeable salesman he or she may be able to advise you.

 

[Sceadwian]

Trying putting a new battery in the remote for the door opener, you could just be transmitting a really week signal subject to the RF interference, or simply changing which circuit breaker either the oven or the door opener is on, it wouldn't take much oscilation on the power line to seriously screw up the receiver in the door opener. Double check all the wireing on the oven and the door opener itself as well. I'm willing to wager a couple bucks it's an over taxed power line or the transmitter battery.

 

[ljcox]

Yes, the checks suggested by Sceadwian are a sensible starting point. If this fails, see www.jaycar.com.au and search for catalogue numbers LF-1250 Ferrite Bead, LF-1260 Ferrite Suppression sleeve, and the Round cable suppression sleeves LF-1290 & LF-1294.

The beads & Suppression sleeve can be slipped over the wires where they enter the electronic controller. But only if you can easily remove the wires and re-terminate them.

The Round cable suppression sleeves can be opened, the wire can be placed through it and then closed. If there is enough slack wire, you can wind it around 2 or more times to increase the impedance.

I don't know where you are located, but JayCar have shops in Australia, New Zealand, the UK & the USA.

 

[HiTech]

Aaaw just place an RF choke in line with the antenna wire!