Garage Door Openers, I Can’t Imagine Life Without Them!

The first garage door openers were opened and closed through the combination of a radio transmitter, a receiver, and an actuator (which is just a fancy word for the piece that gets the job going). You’d drive up and your receiver would sense your transmitter and the bulk of your vehicle and open up the door.

Problems arose, though, because it didn’t take thieves long to realize that anyone with a transmitter could open these types of garage doors. More amusingly (or more annoyingly depending on your disposition) were the times that your neighbor accidentally opened up your garage door while trying to get into their own.
Garage door technics attempted to remedy this through creating a shared frequency between your transmitter and receiver by means of dipswitches. Even though 256 different combinations were created, it still didn’t fix the problem.

The now garage door openers don’t bother with such dinosauric technology, preferring an opening type known under the pseudonyms of either “rolling frequency” or “hopping code.” This simply means that your system outsmarts itself and your neighbors, switching frequencies after each subsequent open and close.
Outside the door opening transmitters themselves, the technology of the actual door opening is pretty straightforward. There are three different types. The first type–which is also the least expensive, running somewhere in the range of $130–is the chain drive. It is just what it sounds like. It’s a metal chain that hooks up to a metal trolley. The one downside to these are the fact that they make quite a racquet during the process.

The next price up (coming in at $150) are the screw drives. The threaded lead screw snuggles into tracks which are plastic lined. This lining not only dampers the sound but also hurries along the process.

The final option is a hush-hush, literally. Belt drives, starting at just $170, are the fastest and the quietest of the models.

Now, you might think that garage doors are hoisted up by the door openers themselves. You would think wrong. What actually goes on in the lifting process is a system of springs. When the doors open up, the springs take a deep breath and lift the door off their shoulders. Then, when the door closes down again, they crouch down and take the weight.

There are two kinds of springs for the job: expansion springs and torsional springs. Conversely, there are also two different kinds of garage door openers: jackshafts and trolleys.

The choice between them comes down to your preference on space uptake and safety. Jackshafts are smaller, as the trolleys attach both to the door and the motor itself, thus taking up ceiling space. However, trolleys tend to be the safer option. They are more sensitive to, say, small someones trapped under the closing door.
Your next set of choices are between motor types. Do you want an AC or a DC? Buyer tendency leans toward the AC, but actually, DC makes more sense practically. Not only do they suck far less energy, but they are quieter and their speed is easier to control.

If child or pet crushing is a concern of yours, you can invest in models which auto-reverse. The remotes for these can work from even the distance of 150 feet and, to make the deal even sweeter, you can turn on your garage light from the remote instead of groping the walls in vain for the switch.

If you’ve forgotten your remote or the batteries are dead, don’t worry. Systems now come with a keypad on the outside of the garage door which, when supplied with your unique opening code, will open the door. Finally, in such instances occur that you are trapped outdoors in a power outage, most doors come with an emergency release so that you can open it manually.

Source:- http://foxoverheaddoor.com/garage-door-openers/garage-door-openers-i-cant-imagine-life-without-them/