Garage door opener with better safety sensors?
#29
Yes, I saw that. I thought it was cool and then I thought "What the heck would I use any of this for?" Then, where would I get parts for it when it breaks in 10 years. Heck, I get a battery charger with each tool, I don't need another one. That one time a year the power fails, I manually open the door.
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#30
(02-07-2017, 05:24 PM)Mr_Mike Wrote: Yes, I saw that.  I thought it was cool and then I thought "What the heck would I use any of this for?"  Then, where would I get parts for it when it breaks in 10 years.  Heck, I get a battery charger with each tool, I don't need another one.  That one time a year the power fails, I manually open the door.

Yeah I was wondering aabout parts availability as well. Ryobi and others tend to come out with stuff and it's on the market for a year or so then it's gone forever...

      Our power goes out fairly often as the lines and transformers are overloaded in our neighborhood. Older neighborhood with higher demands than when the power was put in and they haven't replaced anything since the 40s... My battery backups will start kicking in and chirping and I know that in a few seconds I will hear a transformer blow. Happened 3 times in one day last year. 
         Hence why the computers, modem and router and even the litter boxes are plugged into battery backups. And our power is so dirty it's not even funny. I hooked up my scope and it's ugly looking at times. Had some odd slight flicker in led lights at odd times and it wasn't until I hooked up the scope that i found out why.
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#31
Sounds like you need a whole house surge protector as a minimum.

Relative to the garage though, manually opening the door is not much of a hassle.

Ever since they "upgraded" the local substation we have had more frequent power failures. All related to the sub or attached power lines. They upgraded the incoming voltage and replaced all the transformers to match. I don't think that was a problem. It seems either the incoming/outgoing power lines (on new poles) are somehow more sensitive to weather or something. Mostly the outages are brief. Worst was about 8 hours in the last couple of years. No issues with ice storms in the desert. However, winds the last 3 days have been very high, like it is every year.
Rocket Science is more fun when you actually have rockets. 

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." -- Patrick Henry
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#32
We need a whole house battery backup... I used used to live on the other side of of the lake and all the power was underground and only only a few miles from the power station. Almost never had a power issue. Here its all on poles.. It's It's the first place I have lived with eanything on poles and I don't like it.. Even in hawaii everything was underground and digging there it a real chore. 

     A friend has that lift master belt drive with the battery and said it works great. He is in Detroit and if the power goes out he has to get in the garage through the window so battery backup is nice.
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#33
Secondary egress to a garage is a requirement these days and I doubt the window counts. Of course, I'm sure that is an old, grandfathered garage. Even with the battery, they should add some other egress method. For entry, you can get those lockable lanyard disconnects.

A whole house battery is a big deal expense wise. One would be better off using those same funds on a whole house generator, which is my plan.
Rocket Science is more fun when you actually have rockets. 

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." -- Patrick Henry
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#34
(02-07-2017, 04:54 PM)Robert Adams Wrote: I'm not a big ryobi fan but they have an interesting opener they came out with last year. Lots of attachments like fans and cord reels and a spot for a tool battery used as a battery backup.

I saw that and at first was thinking that's pretty cool... but then the more i thought about it, it's not like you're gonna be up there switching out batteries-- like if your drill dies, you gonna get up on a ladder and swap batteries?!  Might as well just put a standard lead acid battery up there, and you replace every year.  Having it the same as their cordless tool system is a pointless feature.  
Your garage door opener should outlast the cordless tool systems-- those seem to change every few years.

Colin
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#35
(02-08-2017, 02:06 PM)Cdshakes Wrote: I saw that and at first was thinking that's pretty cool... but then the more i thought about it, it's not like you're gonna be up there switching out batteries-- like if your drill dies, you gonna get up on a ladder and swap batteries?!  Might as well just put a standard lead acid battery up there, and you replace every year.  Having it the same as their cordless tool system is a pointless feature.  
Your garage door opener should outlast the cordless tool systems-- those seem to change every few years.

Colin

 No reason to get up there at all. It charges the battery itself. It's just a cheap way for them to add battery backup. If them ryobi batteries were as good adds others it would last for years as Asa backup battery but from my experience and watching other guys on job sites with their tools the batteries just don't last long. I can go two days on my m12 impact driver installing boxes reaming pipe and putting on pipe clamps but the guys with ryobi can't make it half half a day with an 18v tool. Not sure if their tools use that many more amps or the cells in in the batteries are cheap or most likely B grade.
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#36
Was just looking at that ryobi again and I like the sensor design. Looks more compact and would flex less than the others. I'm assuming that lift master is making it for them as well...  
     It says it'll open and close close the door 100 times on one battery charge. A dozen times would be better than the lead acid ones which usually give you maybe two openings while having a pricey lead acid battery that doesn't last long. 

       One thing I don't like about most openers is that they are designed for 7' doors and require a $50 extension for taller doors. Why not just make the opener a foot longer and be done with it. Our doors are 7.5'x9'. We need new doors and I may re frame for 7' but it's nice to get a truck in the garage. Though the doors are 50% more..
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