Safety eyes are mounted on the bottom of the track near the opening. If the garage door is closing and there is a person, pet, or object beneath the door in the garage opening, the safety eyes send a signal to the opener to reverse and return to the open position to avoid injury.
If your garage door doesn’t have safety eyes, and you’re wondering if you can add them to your existing opener, in short, the answer is “it depends.” But read on to determine what your course of action should take to ensure your garage door has safety eyes.
Your garage door opener was manufactured BEFORE 1993: I’m surprised that thing is still running! Garage door openers manufactured prior to 1993 didn’t have safety eyes so you won’t be able to add them and you will need to replace the unit. However, upgrading your opener isn’t such a bad idea. Safety eyes protect people, pets, and objects from injury or damage from a closing garage door. Additionally, today’s garage door openers offer so many features to make your home and life more safe, secure, and convenient.
Your garage door opener was manufactured AFTER 1993: Your garage door was sold with safety eyes. If they broke or are lost, you can replace the safety eyes without replacing your garage door opener.
Properly installed safety eyes should be mounted on the bottom of the track 3-6” off the ground. This helps ensure that no person, pet, or object can sneak beneath the sensor and possibly get injured from the closing door. They should be bolted to the track, not just clipped on so they can’t be easily knocked out of position. The wires should be pigtailed to eliminate the chance of them getting pulled from activity in the garage. You can test your garage door safety eyes by checking for a LED light on each sensor. To learn more about how garage door safety eyes work, click here.