How to Align Garage Door Sensors: The Garage Door Won’t Close and Lights Blink 10 Times

Note: In a pinch, you can typically shut the garage door using the keypad or button control by pressing and holding the activation button until the door closes completely. Make sure nothing is in the path of the closing door. Holding down the keypad activation button overrides the garage door sensor system because you’re in the vicinity of the garage door opener and can monitor the door closing without .

Understanding Your Garage Door Opener Sensors

Garage door opener sensors are the unsung heroes of your garage door system. They ensure safe and efficient operation by detecting any obstructions in the door's path and preventing accidents or damage.
These sensors work in pairs, one emitting an infrared beam and the other receiving it. When something disrupts this beam, the sensors alert the door to stop or reverse. Also, if the sensors get knocked out alignment, the door won’t close using your remote device.

When garage door sensors are blocked or misaligned, the door will reverse and the garage door opener lights will blink 10 times.

How to Know When Garage Door Sensors are Misaligned

If there's nothing blocking the safety sensors, check their alignment. You may have bumped a sensor out of position.

Each safety sensor has an indicator light. The sending sensor, which has the yellow light, transmits the infrared beam to the receiving sensor, which has a green light. The garage door sensor yellow sending light should always be lit. But you’ll only see the receiving sensor's green light when the sensors are aligned and unobstructed. Make sure that the garage door sensor yellow light is on and then check the green light on the receiving sensor.

If the green light on the receiving sensor is off, then the sensors are likely misaligned.

How to Re-Align Garage Door Sensors

So, how do you set things right? Here are steps to align your garage door opener sensors:

1. Make sure the sensor brackets are set at the same height. Move one of the sensor brackets if necessary to align the sensors.
2. Align the sending sensor (the one with the yellow light) to point directly at the receiving sensor.
3. Adjust the receiving sensor until it detects the beam from the sending sensor and the receiving sensor’s green light turns on.

Test garage door operation to see if that fixed the problem. In most cases, the garage door opener will work normally.

If not, other problems could be preventing the opener from working. View this helpful DIY video and follow its troubleshooting tips to help you resolve problems with the garage door opener safety sensing system:

With these steps, you'll likely be able to get your garage door opener sensors fixed and your garage door back in action.

If your unable to resolve this garage door problem yourself, schedule garage door opener service and we’ll send a service technician to your home to fix the issue.