Lower Keys
Photo-Eye Repair in Big Pine Key
A Big Pine Key door that closes only while someone holds the wall button is almost always a photo-eye problem. The eyes sit a few inches off the floor, and a remote finishes only when they see each other. Holding the wall button is the constant-pressure path that still brings the door down once. That one close can get a car out, and it is a poor way to shut the door every day. Shade under the pines leaves webs and a damp film on the lenses at ankle height.
What you can check from the floor
Stand inside with the door fully open and find the small indicator on each eye. Pass your foot through the space between them and watch whether the light changes. A broom, a leaf, or one strand of web in that line is enough to stop a remote close. Wipe a dusty lens with a damp cloth, because a dry paper towel scratches the plastic.
What we do at the opening
Keys Door Co aims the eyes, confirms power, and traces the wire before any new pair goes on. A staple in the low run, or damp at a splice, looks like a dead eye from the driveway. When the beam is sound and only the remote failed, that remote is replaced and the eyes stay. The brand on the operator head selects the sensor, because the eyes must belong to that head.
Shade and a low western sun
Pines cut the midday sun and still leave a low western beam late in the afternoon. That late light can wash a lens that closed the door without trouble at noon. Say whether the miss is constant or shows up only when the sun sits low. A web across the beam can look, from the driveway, like a short limit or a bind.
What to have ready
Have the brand on the operator if you can read it from the floor without a ladder. Note which control still closes among the wall button, the remote, and the keypad. If the door reverses before the floor, say so, because the limit can imitate the beam. Key Deer Boulevard or the narrower refuge road belongs with how tight the last stretch is.
Tape and a stuck-open door
Tape across the lenses defeats the entrapment check, so the operator no longer watches the opening. One held cycle can secure the bay, and then the door should stay down with the tape off. If the bay is stuck open, call (645) 256-1794 and say the door is up. If the door is already closed and only ignores the remote, the form is enough for a callback.
Request this visit.
Call (645) 256-1794 about this door.
We answer any hour Sunday through Friday.
Saturday stays closed.
Keys Door Co is family-owned, local, and insured.
We have worked this coast for over ten years.
Common questions
Why does the door close from the wall button but not the remote?
The wall button, kept down, is a constant-pressure close, so one trip can finish while the remote waits. The remote honors the photo eyes and stops the close when the beam is broken or the lens is filmed. A web or damp film under the pines is enough to split those two controls.
Can I tape the eyes so the door will close until someone gets here?
Tape makes the operator ignore an entrapment device, which is the check that watches the opening. Use one held-button cycle if a car must come out, then leave the door down and take the tape off.
Will a new remote fix a door that reverses before it reaches the floor?
A new remote does not aim the eyes or set the down limit, so it leaves an early reverse alone. That reverse can be the beam, the limit, or a bind, and a web can imitate the other two. The indicator, a foot through the beam, and the down limit are read together on this opening.
Place reference: National Key Deer Refuge
Request service
Name the street and whether the door is up, down, or stuck.
- Repairs and replacement parts
- Openers and controls
- New garage doors