Why is there is an extra set of wires running to each garage door opener?

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Old 04-12-2020, 05:50 PM
Jeff & Judy Jeff & Judy is offline
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Question Why is there is an extra set of wires running to each garage door opener?

I'm sure most Villagers have the AllStar garage door openers. I was going to install another wall opener (the one with the buttons/lock/light-switch) when I discovered there was already 2 sets of wires going to the back of each of my garage door openers. (I have 2 garage doors: regular and golf cart) One set of wires goes to my current wall opener by the door leading into the house from the garage and after chasing them thru the attic, the second set of wires runs out to the front (roadside) corner of the garage. What are these for? I can only think it's in case you wanted to put in a wired wall mount opener outside the garage door (rather than wireless) or perhaps it's a receiver extender for the handheld transmitters? Does anyone know because I'm thinking about clipping them and using them to connect to my second set of wall mounted garage door openers rather than buying new wire. But I don't want to do that if it will cause me issues. Thank in advance for clarity/comments.
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Old 04-12-2020, 06:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff & Judy View Post
I'm sure most Villagers have the AllStar garage door openers. I was going to install another wall opener (the one with the buttons/lock/light-switch) when I discovered there was already 2 sets of wires going to the back of each of my garage door openers. (I have 2 garage doors: regular and golf cart) One set of wires goes to my current wall opener by the door leading into the house from the garage and after chasing them thru the attic, the second set of wires runs out to the front (roadside) corner of the garage. What are these for? I can only think it's in case you wanted to put in a wired wall mount opener outside the garage door (rather than wireless) or perhaps it's a receiver extender for the handheld transmitters? Does anyone know because I'm thinking about clipping them and using them to connect to my second set of wall mounted garage door openers rather than buying new wire. But I don't want to do that if it will cause me issues. Thank in advance for clarity/comments.
Are they the wires that go to the sensors that detect if anyone gets in the way of the door coming down?
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Old 04-12-2020, 06:22 PM
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If they are running outside the garage, they are likely for the outside keypad as you suspect.
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Old 04-12-2020, 07:03 PM
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Door bell , thermostat or phone wire comes what they call pairs for carrying low voltage you can go from 4 up to hundreds if one fails you have a spare with out fishing any wires
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Old 04-12-2020, 08:13 PM
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All of the low voltage wiring (telephone, garage door controls, alarm system) were wired with CAT 5 (4 pair twisted) cable BLUE jacket. As noted above the installers used what ever number of wires were needed for that device, and the others were spares. Hope this helps.
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Old 04-12-2020, 09:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenswing View Post
Are they the wires that go to the sensors that detect if anyone gets in the way of the door coming down?

Yes, they are. Wiring diagram attached.
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Old 04-13-2020, 05:53 AM
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No keypads are wireless. They are for safety reversing sencors. Do not cut them.
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Old 04-13-2020, 06:05 AM
Cheapbas Cheapbas is offline
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You may want to look into Smart Garage door systems before you add the second wall unit. Controlled from your cell phone, but have cool features like geofencing which will open close as your phone gets within a certain range. Just a thought.
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Old 04-13-2020, 06:55 AM
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if you only have 2 wires it must be an older unit

like in the diagram provided in this post, I have 6 wires on both of the openers in our garage

be careful...I know a guy that rewired his garage doors and every time he pushed the button to open the door his garbage disposal started up....poor guy had to leave the water running every time he went out to avoid burning out the garbage disposal unit...he had a huge water bill until he realized his wife could unplug the garbage disposal unit if she got down on her hands and knees and reached under the sink. They divorced less than a year after that and when he moved away I lost touch with him, so I never did hear whether he fixed the wiring problem or not
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Old 04-13-2020, 07:03 AM
Jeff & Judy Jeff & Judy is offline
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Thanks all. They are definitely for the backup sensor after looking at them a little closer.
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Old 04-13-2020, 10:24 AM
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If you are asking this forum for advice about this, then I think you should be calling a garage door company or electrician for help. If you make a mistake, it will cost a lot more in the long run.
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Old 04-13-2020, 10:52 AM
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Possibly wired to safety sensor.
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Old 04-13-2020, 06:41 PM
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Old 04-13-2020, 09:14 PM
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