Soft Start Device for Garage Door Opener

[BVH]

I spent some time on Google looking for a soft start device made for 120V/1/2 horse power garage door openers. I found some devices not specifically for doors but motors in-general. I was hoping to find something that would plug into a standard duplex outlet and the door opener would then plug into that device. Anyone seen such a device?

I'm getting tired of the slam start and slam shut actions of my opener. Would it be somewhat easy to build my own device? I'm fairly good with electrical devices, soldering etc. I would guess a a device with 5 to 7 Amp capacity would probably be sufficient.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I'm wondering if a device that essentially slows down your motor would be in the long run good for it if the motor wasn't overkill then starving it for power could make it wear out faster. have you thought about some sort of spring on the linkage maybe even one like a car tailgate opener to soften the "blow"?

 

[BVH]

You could be right with all that. Was just looking at newer openers and some of them tout soft start and stop with variable DC and belt drive. That's probably the easiest way to go.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

You could be right with all that. Was just looking at newer openers and some of them tout soft start and stop with variable DC and belt drive. That's probably the easiest way to go.

I took a quick look and didn't see any 120vac soft start kits on the market. I'm thinking it must be too expensive to implement electrically or electronically such that a mechanical solution would be considered or using a DC motor. It looks like to me replacing the whole thing with a soft start motor setup would end up being the easy way to do it unless you could come up with a mechanical solution like a clutch or hydraulic solution.

 

[turbodog]

Never seen a problem with slamming open/closed. Perhaps endpoint adjustment is needed...

 

[calvinjhon]

I suggest you contact with Garage Doors Repair Phoenix