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Genie Excelerator Garage Door opener - any experience?

Joined
8 April 2004
Messages
3,004
Location
Edmonton, Alberta
I am looking to replace my old Crapsman chain drive opener on my 18' wide and 7' high metal insulated door on my home detached garage.
The Crapsman does the job, but jerks and make noise.
I like the idea of raising the door twice as fast as long as its smooth and controlled.
Whats your thoughts!
Thanks
Trev

http://www.geniecompany.com/geniecompany.aspx?cid=293
 
Dude. That thing looks cool! I want one.

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I have the pros by genie.flawless so far with over 3 years of use.
 
That youtube video is blocked in Canada.....what a drag man.
I check out some others.
Trev
 
I have a Genie Excelerator. I put one in when I moved into my new house in 2005. After about 2 years, it started to go haywire (it would open 20x slower and close 10x faster than normal). The garage door closing 10x faster was definitely scary! :eek:

I called Genie and they were aware of this issue so they sent me out a whole new mother board. I haven't had that issue since replacing the mother board on the opener. So if you buy one now they have resolved this issue already.

Now, I have a new problem. Within the last 2 weeks, the lights on the opener don't work. At first I thought it was the bulbs (but then what are the chances of 2 bulbs blowing?) but now I know it's not the bulbs since I tried putting new bulbs in. I'm going to call Genie to see what they say.

Anyway, it is cool that it opens much quicker. All my neighbors have told me they wish their garage doors opened that quick.
 
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We have two in our 3-car garage - I installed myself in 2004. Ours are the screw drive models. Both doors are insulated. They've worked great and are very quiet. When I bought them, I wanted "a good one" which is why I picked the Excelerator - it was the top of the line at the local big box at the time. They also came with a crazy number of openers between the two units - like 8 total. The fast open/close was just a bonus, or so I thought.

Once installed (and after every power outage), they run at slow (normal) speed the first time you cycle them so they can find the start and stop points. I was immediately impressed with how smooth and quiet they were. After that, they speed up. Once they ran at the "Excelerator" speed, I didn't like them as much. Faster door speed = louder door movement. Also, it REALLY yanks the doors up - to the point where I wondered about extra wear and tear on the doors. Plus, I'm NEVER in a big enough hurry to get in or out of the garage where I can't wait the extra 5 seconds for the door to go up. I called Genie and asked if there was a way to disable the high speed. They told me to cut one wire on a specific resistor on the circuit board, and that would do it. I can re-solder at any time if I choose. They've been running at regular speed for 6 years and have been no trouble at all. Only complaint, the light covers don't fit very snugly and sometimes fall open.

Let me know if you need any more specific info - good luck!
 
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I've had one for about 5 years, I was lucky enough to get the lifetime warranty model.

My installer said that they have a high rate of failure but I haven't had any problems in 5 years of mild use.

If I could get any garage door opener now I would get the Wayne Dalton I-Drive unit. Back when I was shopping, they weren't compatible with my door but I think they might be now. You can use all that extra space above the car for storage.
 
I wonder if there's a way to make it go even faster. I want it to open and close as fast as star wars doors.
Make sure it opens fast like Star Wars blast doors, but also make sure they go high enough, or else....

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I want them this fast-

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I want them this fast-

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Great clip!! :D
 
Trev, looking at the specs: It is only good to -25°F (-32°C). What are you going to do when it gets cold out?
 
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I have 2 of them them for 4-5 years and the performance is very good. There were a couple of issues with door speeds and them not closing/opening completely, but the company shipped replacement boards quickly & I swapped them to fix the issues. Light in one of them is not working right now though but I'm too lazy to call/replace again.
 
Thanks for all the info guys.
I'll throw her in and see what happens.
Warren, my garage never see's below -10 even when its -40c outside.
Thanks
Trev
 
If you want smooth and quiet,go belt drive DC motor with a battery backup in case of a power outage...

I've been using Chamberlin for 10+ years and have had zero issues... My doors are about 600lbs each, wooden. Chamberlin and probably others, use a computer chip to monitor the speed and load on their DC motor... so any premium opener is probably going to work well. Just didn't like the the noise of chains and the screw type drives seem to need a lot of lube as one issue.

The battery back up is handy.. last thing you want to do is be locked out of your garage in the event of a power loss during a storm or circut breaker event. Plus, Chamberlin gives you a wireless light switch module that turns your lights on in the inside of your house when the door opens.. good security gadget.

All manufacturers will give you a rolling code style remote though... so this "option" shouldn't be an issue.
 
I have a regular Genie Belt drive in my downstairs garage (double steel back insulated door) and the range on that thing sucks. Sometimes you have to pull right up to the door. Some of the gears in it had come loose in shipping so I had to pull it apart to reattach the gear drives and that thing was cheaply made. I have two Chamberlain belt drives on my two insulated doors upstairs and those are great.
 
I have two Chamberlain belt drives on my two insulated doors upstairs and those are great.

Chamberlain makes some good stuff...

I've had lots of luck and have them on all of my doors. Never an issue, not once. And my doors are HEAVY!
 
my standard genies are fast enough for us.
 
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