Automated Gates: How to Align your Photo Eyes

Questions and problems often arise in the winter when everything freezes, and then thaws back out. Your gate may no longer open and close as it is supposed to. The safety device that is often behind these issues are the photo eyes. Whether it is a thru beam photo eye or a reflective photo eye, these devices can become misaligned. There are many different brands and types of photo eyes so the first thing you should do is figure out exactly what you have. Below are a few examples of typical photo eyes that we install.

Reflective Photo Eyes

Thru Beam

If you are checking your photo eye alignment, you should start by checking their physical position and their indicator lights. While you are check the indicator lights, make sure that you stand off to the side of the photo eye. If you stand in front of it, this will give you a false indication.

Another potential quick fix to your photo eye alignment problem may be loosening the bolts on the swivel plate its mounted on. If that doesn’t fix the problem, another solution that takes a little more time and care is removing the photo eye from its mounted position and placing a spacer behind a corner of the eye to shift its alignment. 

CAUTION: Do not force any part of the circuit board. This could damage the board and could need replacement. After you have undergone these steps to fix your photo eye alignment, it’s time to see if your gate will respond.

Quick tip for aligning a photo eye: Use a measuring laser with a level indicator. Placing the laser on one of the eyes and pointing it at the other. Making sure that you have the laser level you can see where the eye maybe pointed at.

For help from true automated gate professionals, contact American Access Company today!