lightning hit garage door opener

Hope I'm in the right forum--if I'm not please tell me where I should be.

A bolt of lightning nearly deafened us the other night, and now our garage door opener is dead. It's a bright yellow Stanley, about 1996, with a light bulb on the front of it.

Used to be that when I pressed the inside-the-house button to open the garage door, a light on the button came on and the door opened. Neither happens now.

The power socket on the garage ceiling (where the opener is plugged in) is still working okay (I plugged in my power saw and it worked fine).

I disconnected the wires on the back of the opener unit and shorted the screws, and nothing happened.

I didn't see a fuse in the unit, but I couldn't see in there very well (I haven't take it down yet; I was standing on a ladder).

Does the fact that nothing happened when I shorted the two screws indicate that I have a fried transformer or some such? Please, what's my next step??

Please email me directly:

danhughes@juno.com

Thanks for any help!!

---Dan Hughes, Champaign, IL

 

Dan, I have the same opener as you, and the same thing happened to mine a few years ago. The entire circuit board has to be replaced. Seems like it cost about half as much as a new opener to have it replaced. I was told to plug a surge protector into the outlet, then plug the opener into the surge protector. I did, and have never had any more problems. I recommend that all garage door openers be plugged into a surge protector. Wish mine would have recommended it in the instalation manual. I think I payed less than $5.00 for it. Live and learn I guess.

Gary

 

Thanks, Gary. How difficult is it to switch the circuit board? Wonder if should try doing it myself, or should I let a technician do it? (I'm not all that much of a handyman).

Thanks again,

---Dan

 

I didn't know what was wrong with mine, so I called a garage door company and they sent a man out to check mine out. He told me it had to be replaced, so I just had him install one while he was there.

Since you know yours needs replaced, it would probably save you a few bucks to install one yourself. It's not a big deal at all. Take the cover off and see if it's something you can handle. Whether you do it yourself or have it done, remember to plug your opener into a surge protector to avoid this problem in the future.

Gary

 

I replaced mine (Genie) which was installed wrong and cracked the board after about a year. Cost about $75. Was pretty easy. Disconnect the wires from the screws (label them first) and pop out the board. Plug the new one in, rconnect and that's it. If you've ever put a soundcard or modem board in a computer, it's the same process.