Poll - Positions of garage door opener safety sensors at your house (colors, installation)

[Pink Jazz]

When we lived in Virginia, we had a Genie garage door opener installed in 1998. I remember that the sending eye was on the right and the receiving eye was on the left. The same is true with our current LiftMaster garage door opener at our current house. At first, I thought this was standard installation practice, however, I have noticed at a friend's house that their garage has the sensors in the reverse orientation.

So, for curiosity, I decided to do a poll to see which orientation is more popular. For those who don't know which is which, I will explain. On Chamberlain (including LiftMaster and Craftsman) units, the sending eye has an amber LED and the receiving eye has a green LED, while on Genie and Overhead Door units, the sending eye has a green LED and the receiving eye has a red LED. If the sensors are penetrated, the LED on the receiving eye should turn off.

I assume for Genie/Overhead it is pretty standard convention to put the sending eye (green) on the right and the receiving eye (red) on the left due to these being the traditional starboard and port colors, respectively. For Chamberlain there may not be a standard convention due to the colors being different.

[nybbler]

I have two Chamberlain doors side by side, and they are installed with the green on the inside and the amber on the outside, -- that is, the right door has the green on the left and the left door has the green on the right. Since it doesn't make any difference which way you put them, I doubt there's any standard.

[HWTechGuy]

I have a Chamberlain opener. The green (receiver) is on the right and the amber (sending) is on the left. If I break the beam, the green LED goes out, just as outlined in the original post.

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by nybbler

I have two Chamberlain doors side by side, and they are installed with the green on the inside and the amber on the outside, -- that is, the right door has the green on the left and the left door has the green on the right. Since it doesn't make any difference which way you put them, I doubt there's any standard.

I'm guessing with Genie, most people follow the port and starboard convention due to the LEDs being red and green. Since Genie is a DIY brand, this makes sense.

[Billy_J]

It does not matter. Most people I know have no idea what "port" or "starboard" are, let alone lighting conventions (they are lucky to have read their state's driver's manual for operation of their car!)

If there is any pattern to which unit is installed on which side and it is a DIY thing, then I should think it would be due to the installation instructions saying to do it that way.

[Nodpete]

I have two doors, one doesn't have any sensors and on the other one, I have the sensors mounted above the door about an inch apart, those things are a pain in the --- !

[nybbler]

Originally Posted by Billy_J

It does not matter. Most people I know have no idea what "port" or "starboard" are, let alone lighting conventions (they are lucky to have read their state's driver's manual for operation of their car!)

Maybe people with boats will follow that pattern and the rest of us will just place them at random :-)

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by nybbler

Maybe people with boats will follow that pattern and the rest of us will just place them at random :-)

Don't forget about aircraft as well, which follow the same convention.

[Bones]

They are set up depending on which way the sun hits them.....

[RyanR]

Originally Posted by Bones

They are set up depending on which way the sun hits them.....

That's how I understand it as well. If the sun shines in your door onto one of the sensors, IIRC, you want to have the transmitter side in the sun. The sun can kind of mess up or confuse the receiver side.