Why Are My Garage Door Sensors Not Lighting Up? (11 Reasons Why)

Garage door sensors can be easily overlooked until there’s a problem. It would help if you replaced these sensors when needed to ensure safety and security in your home.

You can be alerted via an intercom or a light if something unexpected happens. But unfortunately, this isn’t always possible. So here’s what we will expose about why your garage door sensors are not lighting up!

Why Are My Garage Door Sensors Not Lighting Up?


1. Misalignment Of The Sensors

If your garage door sensors are not lighting up, you may want to check the alignment of your garage door sensors.

Further, your garage door sensors are located on either side of the edge of the door and work in tandem with a receiver to monitor whether it is open or closed.

Aside from that, ensure that the two sensors are in alignment. For example, check for alignment when you observe red lights flashing in one or lights off in another.

Therefore, if your sensors are misaligned, they won’t be able to detect that the door is fully open or closed, causing them not to light up when activated.

2. Malfunction On Sensors’ Power Supply

If your opener’s power supply is not providing electricity to the garage door sensors, your lights won’t illuminate.

That said, it can occur when a circuit in your home’s electrical system is broken or there is a problem with the power supply itself.

In addition, they are usually simple devices with an electrical circuit, but they can malfunction and stop working if they’re not receiving enough power.

Because of that, your garage door sensors could not be lighting up because of a malfunction in their power supply.

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3. Incorrect Installation

Incorrect installation is one of the most common reasons your garage door sensors are not lighting up.

With that, to ensure no one can see inside or outside without arousing suspicion, the light must also be pointed away from where the opener is positioned.

As such, you might need to install another sensor elsewhere to get things back to working correctly.

As a consequence, if your garage door sensors have been installed inaccurately, they won’t be able to light up accordingly.

4. Aged And Stale

Garage door sensors are designed to detect motion, so they will stop working if exposed to prolonged periods of darkness or light.

For example, the battery life of a garage door sensor is 1 CR2032 battery, which lasts for about three to five years on average.

Besides, it’s important to remember that these light sensor lights are expected to last longer than a few years.

In that case, once this sounds like what’s happening with your garage door sensors not lighting up, try replacing them with new ones.

5. Obstruction In Sensor’s Path

An obstruction in the sensor’s path means that something is blocking the avenue of the sensor to the receiver, resulting in no light being emitted from it.

If this is the case for you, try moving the object blocking the sensor in question so it’s no longer blocking its signal.

Generally, garage door sensors prevent the sensors from lighting up if an object is nearby.

6. LED Light Glitch

LED Light Glitch

Having many LED lights outside your garage door can interfere with the signal from the opener.

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However, investing in high-quality LED bulbs or putting ferrite beads to the wire on each fitting are two solutions to preventing a signal block.

Overall, an LED light glitch is the most frequent cause of a garage door sensor not lighting up.

7. Sensor Lenses Require Cleaning

As you know, garage door sensors aren’t the same as a light bulb. Instead, they require regular maintenance and upkeep to function at their best.

If this happens, you will need to clean the lens on your garage door sensor. Then, you can turn off your garage door opener and remove it from its mounting bracket.

From there, if your garage door sensors are not lighting up, the most likely culprit is that they have become clogged by debris or dust and require attention to cleaning.

8. Exposed To Excessive Humidity

Humidity can be a problem in the winter, especially if you live in a cold climate.

Therefore, you need to ensure enough space for the air to flow around the sensor before you open your doors.

That being so, if there isn’t enough room for air circulation, the humidity will build up near the sensor and damage it over time.

9. Short Circuit On Wire And Cables

Your garage door sensors won’t illuminate if there is a short circuit in the wire and cables connecting them. Numerous factors, such as electrical damage or poor wiring, may be to blame.

When this happens, the sensor cannot sense any movement at all. Also, it can cause other issues, such as making it harder for sensors to detect when they’re open or closed.

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Otherwise, poorly connected wires could cause an electric shock, and serious flaws could prevent sensors from lighting up.

10. Light Interference

Some garage sensors have brief malfunctions during specific periods of the day, and the sun’s angle causes the issue.

Apart from this, the receiving sensor may be unable to detect the light beam produced by the other sensor if the sun is directly overhead.

As advised, the sensor may need to be protected from sunlight to correct its beam.

11. Broken Sensor Bulb

When a person walks by in the dark, and the garage sensor light identifies them, it will automatically turn on and stay lit for 30 to 45 seconds.

With that, these are made to illuminate when they sense movement in the area and switch on automatically.

In the event it doesn’t work, the sensor bulb may be broken and need a replacement.

To know more, you can also read our posts on garage keypad not working, why your garage door is beeping, and why your garage door won’t close.

Conclusion

Garage doors are opened and closed by sensors. They achieve this by communicating with the opener, which moves the door open or shut.

Common reasons it doesn’t light up include faulty installation, sensor power supply problems, and sensor alignment issues.

By all means, if you’ve found that they’re not functioning correctly, it’s time to investigate the issue!

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