LiftMaster 3800 Residential Jackshaft Garage Door Opener
by Chamberlain
 |
Our Price: $309.70 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $299.00 (click here) Category: Tools See more product details |
Product Details
Manufacturer: ChamberlainModel: 3800
Product features:
- Specially designed for garages & applications that don't allow for a traditional garage door opener
- For sectional doors only, up to 14 ft. high or 180 sq. ft., 650 lbs
- Push button limit settings/automatic force sensing allows for faster setup
- Meets all UL325 requirements,Ultra-quiet 24V DC motor performance.
- IMPORTANT:Before purchasing, Contact Chamberlain(or website) to verify it will fit your application.
Tools and Hardware Reviews of LiftMaster 3800 Residential Jackshaft Garage Door Opener
Customer Review: Once correctly installed - It SEEMS to function perfectly..
Summary: 4 Stars
Let me start off by saying that this is NOT a garage door opener to purchase if you can get away with a more traditional style, suspended from the ceiling, track door opener. My new house has a load bearing beam that was 2 3/4" short of allowing me to install my first choice, the Chamberlain ½hp Whisper Drive. I didn't know that until I ordered it, but thankfully Amazon was awesome, as usual, and took the unit back for the full purchase price. Thank you Amazon!
My neighbor was exceptionally vocal against the choice of the Chamberlain 3800 Jackshaft opener stating that they had checked into this option and the local Home Depot had stopped selling the unit because of "all the trouble with the installation of the damn thing". That is partially true, Home Depot & the local Lowe's do not sell this unit. Why they no longer carry it, I do not know for sure, but you can't buy it locally.
I will say this concerning the Chamberlain 3800 Jackshaft Opener - if you do not have excellent troubleshooting skills, look at a different model or consider professional installation. I have wasted an entire Saturday on the installation of the unit, and I have tomorrow to finish the final tacking up of the wires and the cleaning up of the garage. :-(
My garage door is a Wayne Dalton, and it's brand new, so the questions of balance and correct installation have been taken care of for me. The door is about 16' wide and is about 8 feet tall. This is a sectional, aluminum door, and it seemed to pass all the "correctly balanced" tests, so I felt that is was a perfect candidate for this unit.
The installation of the main hardware was extremely straight forward. If you possess the basic set of home tools ( a cordless/corded drill, a few drill bits, a couple of screwdrivers, a level, a pair of wire cutters, a hammer, etc.) you should have no problem with the installation itself. Now the fun begins!
There are (3) pieces of the installation that are absolutely necessary for the unit to perform correctly, but that information is vague in the directions. For your own sanity, I will list them so if you find yourself screaming obscenities at the Engineer who designed this unit, you can refer to my experience and save your blood pressure a few points. :-)
1) The Wall Mount Control Unit: This MUST be connected correctly for the unit to function in the open/close operation. The problem is, for all the advanced connections and thought put into the unit, you are forced to strip 7/16" of an inch of cheap, thin wire and wrap it around a standard Phillips head screw. You are then supposed to run this screw ALL THE WAY IN to the motherboard of the cheap, plastic unit that is the house "control". This is easily the cheapest, most asinine, piece of the whole installation. A set of quick connects, or a true wire termination point, would greatly increase the average person's ability to install this unit by themselves.
2) The "Protector" System: This is basically the electronic eyes that stop the garage door in the event that your child/dog/cat/neighbor annoyance gets in under the door while it's closing. The key features are that one eye has a solid Amber color light, this is your "sending" unit, and a solid Green color, and this is the "receiver" unit. Mounting these units at the same height and insuring that they can "see" each other will create a solid, invisible beam that, when broken, will cause a reverse of the door travel. These MUST be in place correctly for the unit to work correctly.
3) The "Cable Tension" Monitor: Last, but not least, this pain in the @ss unit is a complete misnomer. There is NO monitoring of tension that is taking place with the placement of this unit. It has a type of circuit, I forget the name, but essentially it needs pressure to insure the door will open, and it needs NO PRESSURE on it to insure the door will close. I have spent over 2 hours figuring this out, so take heed of this information. I changed the placement of this unit no less than 5 times in the attempt to get it to work properly. This is the KEY piece of equipment to get the garage door to close after it has been opened.
My garage door has a sort of "lurch" in it when it starts to close. This "lurch", or sudden start, causes a quick slack in the "tension" of the cable that is used to open/close the garage door. When this "lurch" would happen, it would cause this circuit to "close" prematurely and reverse the travel of the door. This was kicking my @ss for at least an hour before, while on perpetual hold with Chamberlain "tech" support, that it dawned on me a way to test the device. It turns out, with the door closed, there is to be NO TENSION, on this unit at all. The unit is built with an automatic closure spring that forces the unit to close and keep the rolling "handle" close to the cable. When the door is closed, the internal spring causes the handle to rest close to the wire, effectively closing the circuit. When the door is open, this unit is "pried" away from the spring that closes the circuit, by the tension cable that is used in the process, so the circuit is "open". With the circuit in the OPEN condition, and provided the rest of the equipment is installed correctly, the door will close correctly.
So, after a couple of trips to the local hardware store, and the better part of a Saturday wasted, I have achieved installation and the door SEEMS to function perfectly. I have now opened and closed the garage door well over 30 times, testing both the hardwired, wall-mounted remote and the wireless, in vehicle, remote from various points of the driveway & street. Range is good, but not outstanding. Some of that seems to be the "shielding" of the double insulated, double sheet rocked, garage walls.
I will update this review after a few months of use and let you know how it is holding up.
Functionally, this is a very sound, very functional, space saving garage door opener. If the installation procedure were more straight forward (by reworking the wall mounted control wiring connections and the complete ELIMINATION of the "Cable Tension" Monitor) I think it would be a very good choice for your home.
As for me, I am hoping for the small satisfaction of witnessing my neighbor standing in the pouring rain, since they are still without an opener, during the Fall/Winter months opening their garage door manually while I pull right in, warm and dry. :-)
As for you, IF you choose this product, I wish you the best of luck in the installation process!
Description of LiftMaster 3800 Residential Jackshaft Garage Door Opener
Wall-mount installation - mounts on the left or right side of door. No rails to hang, it simply mounts on the wall and attaches to the garage door torsion bar. Unit requires an electrical outlet within 6 feet. Patented absolute positioning technology - the newest technology in garage door openers. Liftmaster patented design allows the electronic limits to be extremely accurate, even after a power failure. Optional accessories: 475LM Battery Backup, 377lm Keyless Entry Pad, 379lm Fingerprint Keyless Entry,975lm Garage Door Parking Assist, 370lm Mini Remote. IMPORTANT NOTE: BEFORE PURCHASING, PLEASE VERIFY THE 3800 WILL FIT YOUR APPLICATION BY CONTACTING CHAMBERLAIN. TO RECEIVE IT AND THEN SHIP 33LB PACKAGE BACK TO SELLER IS INCONVENIENT.Tracks & Rollers Tools
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