Garage door battery

[mrpbailey]

My electric roller garage doors (Birkdale brand)have this box attached to the lower part of the inside (assume it is maybe the receiver part?). It has 2xAA batteries in it. For the last 6 months or so we seem to have to replace batteries every few weeks, whereas before they would last at least 6 months (useage hasn’t changed dramatically). Garage has 2 x single doors and the other one lasts a lot longer, tho it is used about half as often.
When the batteries run out the door will not work.
Any ideas why they are running out so quickly? Other than them being a cheapo brand of door?!

[steve-V8s]

What tells you the batteries are exhausted, is there some indication other it not working ? Or to put the question another way have you measured the batteries after removing them to confirm they are actually flat.

A quick look at the Birkdale web site reveals lots of pictures of happy people and shiny doors but no useful information about the box you show and what it does which is a shame.

[AW10]

It's quite possible that while they are AA form factor they're actually 3V cells such as https://www.amazon.co.uk/EEMB-CR14505BL-Cylindrica...

Any chance you still have the very first ones that you took out or that there's any text in the battery holder?

[Glosphil]

The 'box' powers the sensors that stop the door if it touches an obstruction.

The wall mounted control unit for our Birkdale roller door beeps if the batteries need replacing.

The batteries in our door 'box' are 2 x standard AAs.

[Spare tyre]

If you have the manual, check what chemistry the battery should be, lithium, nickel metal hydride, alkaline etc, could make a difference

[fttm]

Try replacing the capacitor in the receiver , about 10 quid and a couple of minutes work .Very common fault .

[mrpbailey]

steve-V8s said:

What tells you the batteries are exhausted, is there some indication other it not working ? Or to put the question another way have you measured the batteries after removing them to confirm they are actually flat.

A quick look at the Birkdale web site reveals lots of pictures of happy people and shiny doors but no useful information about the box you show and what it does which is a shame.

As Glosphil says, the wall mounted box beeps when it’s low battery then after a while the door will stop moving. I’ve checked the batteries with a multimeter after removing and they are definitely flat

[mrpbailey]

AW10 said:

It's quite possible that while they are AA form factor they're actually 3V cells such as https://www.amazon.co.uk/EEMB-CR14505BL-Cylindrica...

Any chance you still have the very first ones that you took out or that there's any text in the battery holder?

Definitely AA batteries.



As I said above, it’s one of 2 doors and the other one doesn’t have the same issue

[steve-V8s]

As you have two units I would be inclined to measure the current drawn on both and compare to confirm the suspect one is actually drawing more current. As others have mentioned different chemistry batteries have slightly different voltages, alkaline cells for example are lower than older types so can show as flat before they are.

Presumably if two AA typically last 6 months the unit is in a standby mode most of the time, without understanding exactly what it does it is difficult to guess but is the door or sensor not achieving a position where it is able to go to standby.

[Langleyuser]

Unrelated question to Birkdale garage door owners - I am in the process of replacing my garage door, what’s your first hand review on these doors? Cost vs reliability vs Customerservice etc . Would you go with them again if you had to ? Or will go for other established brands like Hormann , Securoglide etc

[Stupot123]

As a few have mentioned, these are probably AA size but not actual AA batteries.

Here are the ones that are in mine.

[mrpbailey]

Langleyuser said:

Unrelated question to Birkdale garage door owners - I am in the process of replacing my garage door, what’s your first hand review on these doors? Cost vs reliability vs Customerservice etc . Would you go with them again if you had to ? Or will go for other established brands like Hormann , Securoglide etc

I wouldn’t recommend them. Obviously I am having this issue. Other than that (although not sure how much is down to the fitters rather than the product), the bottom of the door doesn’t seal very well on the ground. At the top of the door when fully closed there is about a 15mm gap between door frame and the door! Bit pointless then being “fully insulated” when there’s gaps all round.

[Langleyuser]

mrpbailey said:

Langleyuser said:

Unrelated question to Birkdale garage door owners - I am in the process of replacing my garage door, what’s your first hand review on these doors? Cost vs reliability vs Customerservice etc . Would you go with them again if you had to ? Or will go for other established brands like Hormann , Securoglide etc

I wouldn’t recommend them. Obviously I am having this issue. Other than that (although not sure how much is down to the fitters rather than the product), the bottom of the door doesn’t seal very well on the ground. At the top of the door when fully closed there is about a 15mm gap between door frame and the door! Bit pointless then being “fully insulated” when there’s gaps all round.

Thank you for the inputs.

[48k]

mrpbailey said:

Definitely AA batteries.



As I said above, it’s one of 2 doors and the other one doesn’t have the same issue

"AA" just describes the form factor, it doesn't tell you what the type or voltage of the battery is.

The sensor on the bottom of my garage door takes two AA 3.6V lithium batteries. If I put boggo 1.5V AA Alkaline batteries in there it doesn't work.

[AW10]

From a review of Birkdale Garage Doors on TrustPilot…

“Problem with safety sensor on controlled Garage Door
Had a problem with safety sensor on one of my garage doors where the 2 x AA batteries all of a sudden lasted two weeks instead of 6 - 9 months. The control system was still fully operational apart from this problem. As this was about 3 years after installation I was informed by Birkdale that this product was STILL UNDER GUARANTEE to my delight. They attended a and fixed problem within a reasonable timescale.”

OP, you are not alone…

[mrpbailey]

48k said:

"AA" just describes the form factor, it doesn't tell you what the type or voltage of the battery is.

The sensor on the bottom of my garage door takes two AA 3.6V lithium batteries. If I put boggo 1.5V AA Alkaline batteries in there it doesn't work.

Whilst I can’t 100% guarantee they aren’t 3.6V batteries required, I only have this issue on one of the 2 doors, both of which have standard AA batteries installed.
Poster above also states they take standard AA batteries

[motco]

AW10 said:

It's quite possible that while they are AA form factor they're actually 3V cells such as https://www.amazon.co.uk/EEMB-CR14505BL-Cylindrica...

Any chance you still have the very first ones that you took out or that there's any text in the battery holder?

My Seceuroglide doors use those. I replace them roughly annually but the first set lasted nearly 3 years. It's not worth leaving them until they die though, too inconvenient when they fail as you want to go out.

[AW10]

motco said:

My Seceuroglide doors use those. I replace them roughly annually but the first set lasted nearly 3 years. It's not worth leaving them until they die though, too inconvenient when they fail as you want to go out.

You can override the Seceuroglide sensor by pressing and holding the button you’re using to close the door.

[TriumphStag3.0V8]

My doors (different make) have something similar as a safety sensor. On mine there is also a magnet on the frame that aligns with the sensor when fully closed which basically turns it off to save battery when the door is closed.

Do/should you have something similar?

[mikey_b]

motco said:

AW10 said:

It's quite possible that while they are AA form factor they're actually 3V cells such as https://www.amazon.co.uk/EEMB-CR14505BL-Cylindrica...

Any chance you still have the very first ones that you took out or that there's any text in the battery holder?

My Seceuroglide doors use those. I replace them roughly annually but the first set lasted nearly 3 years. It's not worth leaving them until they die though, too inconvenient when they fail as you want to go out.

Same here. In fact I keep a spare set by the garage door for that reason.

On the seceuroglide, although it takes two 3.6V AA lithiums, it actually only needs one to work. The second is for capacity, not voltage - they are wired in parallel rather than series like most battery holders.