Magnetic door contact installation

Disconnect the door from the opener, and move the door completely through its full range of travel manually. The two styles of garage overhead door found in residential construction are the sectional or roll-up type , and the older style one-piece or swing-up awning type.

For new construction and replacements, sectional panel overhead doors are the standard. For one-piece overhead doors , a contact can be installed at either the top preferable or the bottom. For sectional overhead doors , there are 3 choices: top, bottom, or track mounting. Standard overhead door contacts are used for top and bottom locations, while installing on the track requires a special track-mount contact. Bottom mounting has been the most common method used for overhead doors in the past, and can still be a good option.

The contact is secured to the concrete floor using plastic anchors and screws. The magnet attaches to the bottom rail of the overhead door with screws, or with bolts and nuts. Drilling into concrete for the anchors can be as easy as using a masonry bit of the proper diameter.

For older homes, it may not be so simple. Hammer drills not only spin the bit like a regular drill, but they pound the bit forward in rapid pulses to chip into the concrete. This tool is relatively expensive, and not something the average homeowner would own.

Also, special bits are needed that are strong enough to handle the pounding of impact-type tools. The other, much less likely problem with bottom mounting of an overhead door contact is possible damage from traffic into and out of the garage.

The overhead door contact itself is built pretty tough, and is usually not damaged. More commonly, the armored cabling containing the wiring can get snagged and pulled apart. For these reasons, I recommend avoiding the bottom location. Top mounting is a better option for one-piece doors, and track mounting is best of all if you have a sectional overhead door.

Start with the magnet, by tapping it gently with the handle of a screwdriver. If necessary, tap it in until it's flush with the door surface. This will often cause the plastic flange of the case to break off. This causes no harm, since the caulking will stop the magnet from falling too far down. You did use caulking, didn't you?! Check clearance again, and if needed, tap the switch to seat it flush. After the system is complete, check all openings for alignment.

The easy way to do this is with the "Chime" feature, found on most alarm systems. This will give an audible tone or chirp when any perimeter door or window is opened. Some panels, like the DSC brand, also sound when closed. To use the feature, first enable it at one of the keypads. Then close all the openings in the house until the keypad shows a green light, or "Ready" condition. Pick a door to start with, and open and close it several times. You should hear a beep for each opening.

Next, close the door so it latches. Try to pull or push the door open against the latch. If you don't get a beep, the magnetic door switch and magnet are in good alignment. If the keypad sounds off while the door is still closed, the two are not lined up well enough. Check the positions of the switch and magnet, and re-drill the magnet to more closely line up with the switch. Caulk the magnet in place, and retest the alignment. Repair or replace whatever latching hardware is necessary.

Until it's fixed, don't connect that particular door to the system. A door that doesn't close securely will only cause you headaches, in the form of false alarms! For magnets located in the top of the door, the double-drilling scars won't be visible. If you have to re-drill a magnet in the side of a door, be careful not to remove any more wood than necessary to get the job done. Then, use caulking or wood filler to repair the damage. Find recessed switches at Amazon.

Get help installing surface-mount switches. Learn about me, how I built this site, and how you can build one of your own! Home Blog Technology News How to install the magnetic contact? Surface mount magnetic installation method: The switch side with cable fixes on the door frames; and the magnetic side fixes on the moving door, normally on top with screws. When installing, the switch side and magnetic side should be parallel matching, otherwise the operation distance will be effected.

The gap or distance between the switch and magnetic should be as small as possible; when the distance is larger than the operation distance, the product will not work.

If the magnetic side fixes on the iron door or near some magnetic metal, magnetic contact's operation distance will decrease greatly.