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Re: Saving the Garage Door Opener?



Date forwarded: 	Tue, 13 Oct 1998 18:06:28 -0600
Date sent:      	Tue, 13 Oct 1998 17:33:26 -0600
To:             	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject:        	Saving the Garage Door Opener?
Forwarded by:   	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
From:           	Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>

> Original Poster: "Coiler" <mycroft-at-access1-dot-net> 
> 
> I ran my coil outside for the first time this weekend, and was
> very disappointed in the performance. Unfortunately where I live
> there is fairly constant breezes. Great for staying cool, lousy
> for the formation of ion clouds.
> So.
> I'm trying to find a way to move back into the garage. But there is this
> pesky little door opener in the way. And my wife has been fairly
> understanding
> of my purchasing of all the hardware for the coil, but draws the line at
> my removing the door opener. Since my door and operating hardware
> are all metal, I thought I might be able to protect the system in this
> manner, someone please tell me if I am all wet.
> 
> 1) Attach runners to my RF ground.
> 2) Build a 'faraday cage' of aluminum mesh around door opener unit
>    itself, with a door for the antenna to hang down for normal operation,
>    to be lifted up inside the cage during coil runs. Attach this cage to
>    RF ground.
> 3) Yank the plug during the runs
> 4) Ground the door via clamp.
> 
> Do I stand a chance?  I already know that running the coil in the next
> bay over (I have a 3-car) confuses the obstruction sensor to the point
> where it shuts down, requiring me to unplug the door opener to reset.
> 
> Thanks
> Michael Baumann
> Coiler, Homebrewer, Nerd. mycroft-at-access1-dot-net
> 
> 

After killing two garage door openers, and having to pay for new ones, I 
consider myself well versed in this subject.  I even had a dedicated cold 
water pipe ground which I had run to one door opener, and the H.V. strike 
was to the metal drive screw rail, and the solid state electronics died 
anyway.  I found that I could pull the two circuit boards out of the opener 
and put them in a safe place while coiling, then plug the cards back in 
afterwards.  Took an extra five minutes, but I never had to replace another 
unit.  My experience is that at Tesla coil voltages, a ground may not be 
adequate protection.