Hello! name here is Rick. I dont know if this is the proper place to introduce oneself but it seems as though its proper. I will be brief, and it will lead to my question. Iam 55 yrs old and and didnt know anything about computers until a few years back when I spotted a person flying a powered paraglider and couldnt find out anything about it. Almost everyone said "go on-line".So here I am. Not flying a powered paraglider, but do fly an ultralight trike, which basically is a hang glider with a three wheel carriage and motor under it, and all that brings me closer to my question. Recently built a hanger for my trike. bi -parting doors 18x10ft. each. wanted to remote control doors but couldnt afford it,so decided to manufacture some. Had a 80:1 ratio gearbox, and thought to drive it with a Genie garage door opener,got it all tied in and lo and behold, seems I overlooked a 30 sec timer built into Genie board to auto reverse. Which left me four foot from my open limit sw. AND finally to my question. Is it going to be possible to either jump that safety feature or try maybe to spot timer circuit to add different components to double that 30 sec. My door speed is perfect so I dont really want to change my drive creation, as I said the speed is good. Not to mention It will be a pain to change. There are two boards in the power head one is reffered to as the sequencer,the other small board is the receiver. Is this possible. Thanks

 

Hi Rick,

Well, the first thing to do is to post up some photos of the circuit boards, both front and back. Taking good photos of circuit boards is kind of tricky. The best lighting for such endeavors is obtained outdoors on a cloudy day. Then the light is bright, but diffused - which makes for very soft and even lighting of the subject; no harsh contrast or reflections to deal with.

Having the subject brightly illuminated with diffused light also enables the use of a higher F-stop, which increases the focal length of the camera, and a higher shutter speed. This helps a great deal to keep the subject in sharp focus, and reduces the chance that the image will be blurred when you snap the photo.

Simply using a flash indoors will make for some very difficult-to-interpret images.

 

What part of the world are you in?

 

Hello BILL, Iam just about 90 miles north of you, southeast OK. I live between Durant and lake Texoma.

 

Alter and Timer Circuit StilwellRick

 

What about it?

 

Sgtwookie, Did you see the pitures of my boards. Name here is Rick. A few days ago you responded to my posted question by "stilwellrick" about altering a timed circuit on a genie board and you suggested photos. please let me know what you think.

 

Will a Moderator please move Rick's post into this thread:
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=35862

 

Rick,
Now that you mention it, I did see those photos, but since you didn't attach them in this thread, I didn't understand the connection.

I hope that a Moderator will combine that thread into this one.
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=35958

In the top board image, it looks like there are three relays towards the bottom left.

There is a Micrel IC (above small blue capacitor, bottom towards the right) that has 16 pins. I cannot read the part number, so I don't know what it is.
There is another small 4-pin IC to the left of the blue cap. What are it's part numbers?

You took the photo indoors with artificial lighting, which makes a photo of a circuit much harder to read.

Unfortunately, the images of the bottom of the board are not much use; that must be a multilayer board.

 

OK, folks, I promise this will be my last attempt for those that are tired of trying to figure me out. Here it is, on 3/21/2010, is my 1st post, asking if it was possible to alter a function on a Genie garage door opener board. It has a 30 second run time then auto reverses motor. I need to double the run time. Sgt. Wookie was my only reply and suggested I post pictures of the board front and back. I did that on 3/22/2010, 8:20 p.m. The reply I got back was "Huh." On 3/24/2010, I tried to explain my screw up, pictures posted separate because I didn't know how to put them with my first post. I then tried to contact Moderator "Dave" and got no response there so I assume I did that wrong also. Then I asked Sgt. Wookie if he had seen the pictures posted as per his advice and the response I got back was that he doesn't give free gratis, so here is my request, could someone please look at all posts by "stilwellrick" the past couple days. I'll bet someone could get it. I am a disabled VietNam Vet who battles PTSD service connected. I am not good using a computer, but I am not an idiot. I am using this Genie opener to drive a reduction gearbox to open two large doors. Because of the 30 second run time, it doesn't open doors fully. I appreciate your help and patience.
Thanks,
stilwellrick

 

I went through ur post and I saw a couple of pics.

 

Thanks for looking, the 16 pin# is 30442D, under this row of digits(same pin) 0806Y. The 4 pin# L0912,under this row 8148,under it,Y. The larger chip numbers are clear. The small chip, the first digit I called the letter "L" looks a little out of sorts, also appears to be a white dot in front of last digit"Y".It may be irrelevent but thats what I see. Also I would have taken your advise as to outside photo but it has rained here in Okla. for weeks. I also posted 9 photos but I only see three now. I had good shots of the back of seqenser board,which is the board we are discussing. Looks like the photos I see now are the back of receiver board.I dont know what happened there. If you need anything else,I will try. Thanks again. Rick

 

OK, folks, I promise this will be my last attempt for those that are tired of trying to figure me out. Here it is, on 3/21/2010, is my 1st post, asking if it was possible to alter a function on a Genie garage door opener board. It has a 30 second run time then auto reverses motor. I need to double the run time.

Rick,
I would really like to help you, but I cannot read the part numbers on the circuit board from the photos that you posted.

Sgt. Wookie was my only reply and suggested I post pictures of the board front and back. I did that on 3/22/2010, 8:20 p.m. The reply I got back was "Huh."

The board is quite a busy place. I did see your photos, but I didn't connect your name to them until I later started doing some searches.

It makes it much harder on those who would like to help you, if you start multiple threads/topics instead of posting them all in one place.

On 3/24/2010, I tried to explain my screw up, pictures posted separate because I didn't know how to put them with my first post.

That is understandable. The forum software does take a little bit of getting used to.

I then tried to contact Moderator "Dave" and got no response there so I assume I did that wrong also.

"Dave" is one of our Administrators. I have not seen him post recently, so I assume that he is very busy with work or something else. This is a "hobby" type site; people simply volunteer to help people out with their problems.

Then I asked Sgt. Wookie if he had seen the pictures posted as per his advice and the response I got back was that he doesn't give free gratis...

I am afraid that you misunderstood my "signature line". It is at the end of every post that I make.

Please understand that I am one of the most active participants on this Board. As such, many new people somehow think that *I* am the person who should help them solve their problem. That isn't the case, but over time it's resulted in a GREAT many PM's and E-mail messages that I have had to deal with, and I simply do not have the time to correspond with dozens of people every day via PM and E-mail about their projects.

Besides defeating the purpose of the forum (sharing knowledge), helping people via PM/E-mail prevents them from receiving input from other knowledgeable forum members. It also creates extra work for me, because I have to manually assemble the correspondence into a "thread", or it is too easy to lose continuity when working on multiple projects.

If someone wishes to hire me for a project, then I will dedicate my time to them. However, I can help more people with more projects if I don't have to deal with a flood of personal messages and E-mails.

so here is my request, could someone please look at all posts by "stilwellrick" the past couple days. I'll bet someone could get it.

Rick,
I've looked at all of your posts, and all of the photographs. I have tried hard to identify the markings on the two IC's by the blue capacitor; but unfortunately they are just too blurry.

I am a disabled VietNam Vet who battles PTSD service connected. I am not good using a computer, but I am not an idiot. I am using this Genie opener to drive a reduction gearbox to open two large doors. Because of the 30 second run time, it doesn't open doors fully. I appreciate your help and patience.
Thanks,
stilwellrick

Thank you for your Service. I am a VietNam-era Veteran myself. Beenthere, a Super Moderator, is a member of the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club. You may remember Red Crown.

If you are ever going to be in Orlando, send me an E-mail. I'll give you a tour of the VietNam War Museum we have here, about 2 kliks from my house:
http://nwmvocf.org/

I have been interested in aviation for many years. In the Marines, I worked on the F-4J/S Phantom II interceptor/fighter/bomber. I am certain that if you were boots on the ground in VietNam, you saw a lot of them.

Back to your door opener:
Please take some better pictures of the top of the board, and post them.
I simply cannot read them. I know they are hard to take without getting them blurry.

What is the make and model number of the garage door opener? If a schematic/maintenance manual could be tracked down, that would be a VERY big help.

I really would like very much to help you, Rick. We simply don't have enough information at the moment.

Also, please continue in just one thread. If you start new threads, it makes it harder to piece together what goes where. Instead of being a conversation that "flows" naturally, it is a bunch of short messages that become increasingly harder to sort out.

 

Rick,
Even better yet, why don't you get your particular Genie model number, and call Genie's toll free help line:
Call Toll Free: 800-711-8410

Explain your problem with the 30-second time out, and what can be changed to increase that time?

They have the schematics for your opener. After all, they designed it! Ask them if they will give you a copy of the schematic via E-mail.

 

Thanks again sgt. I did make several attempts contacting Genie. I think because or this being one of the saftey circuits that they are leary of helping me.(understandably so).I even told one tech I was not using the opener for its intended purpose so there would be no liability to Genie,but he was still reluctant. I think that there is a division in Dallas which is only about 90 miles. I will drive there to get a face to face,and I think I could better explain things. I dont know come here from sic<em about electronics,but from what I have read on timer circuits I believe a larger cap. and resistor could extend the run time,if not Ill have to go back to what I do know and manipulate gear ratio. Now talking about F-4. I was navy CB (seabee). Built a runway for Marines in Nam Phong Thailand. Spent lots of time across the creek in Cambodia,and Laos. Have you ever flown in an ultralight trike. If not you must. by the way opener is directlift plus 3060 but schematics are elementary. Thanks for your help brother. Sincerly, I apologize if I came across harsh, you owe me nothing. see ya on the flip. Rick

 

If it was a technician you were speaking with, then it's completely understandable that he would be nervous about suggesting changing a part to a different value. That would likely get him fired if anyone found out, and finding a new job can be quite a challenge in these times.

You will probably need to speak with one of the engineers; but that will be a challenge in itself.

However, if you can either get a GOOD, CLEAR photograph of the top of the board and post it, or even just copy down the part numbers from the two IC's that are next to the blue capacitor, we could at least have something to start with here. I could then try to look up the part numbers and see what they are.

Sometimes, changing the timing can be as easy as changing a resistor. However, I simply don't know what integrated circuits are being used as of yet, so I have no way of knowing which one might need to be changed.

That must've been pretty interesting being in the SeaBees. One of my cousins married a SeaBee; great guy. He left active service around 1972.

Did you see Bob Hope's show at Nam Phong?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwNt0CFiOV8
One of my Marine buddies was stationed at Nam Phong back in the day, right when it was being built.

No, I've never flown in an ultralight. I've had a number of hours flying time in various single engine small planes like Cessna 150's, 152's, 172's, and a few others. My Father's last project was building a Rans Coyote II, and he did a beautiful job of it. He was hoping to get a Light Sport Pilot license and be able to fly the plane (since it qualified for that class) but since he was turned down for a regular pilots' license previously, they denied him the Light Sport ticket - so he was never able to solo in it. He certainly was excited about building it though.

Those light trikes frankly make me a bit nervous; they are pretty fragile. I prefer having a cage around me.

 

Rick,

What is the model number of your Genie?