The Importance of a Battery Backup on Your Garage Door Opener

The modern overhead garage door is one of those things that most people take for granted. They don’t remember a time when entering the garage entailed more than just pushing a button while moving up the driveway and having the door close automatically behind them once they were safely inside. But all it takes to bring back the not-so-good old days is one good old fashioned power outage. When that happens everyone is suddenly reminded what life was like when you had to get out of your car and manually lift and close the door. Everyone, that is, except those people who have a battery backup on their overhead door.

Don’t Replace the Garage Door - Get a Battery Backup

The battery backup is a feature that automatically kicks in should the main power source go down for some reason and here are just some of the reasons you should have one on your garage door.

• You won’t have to disconnect the motor - Every automatic garage door has a mechanism (a handle actually) that hangs down from above the door near the opening. If, for some reason you can’t get the motor to work you pull this handle and it disengages the motor. You can then open the door manually and wait until the start of the business day tomorrow to talk to someone about garage door replacement. Doors are heavy though and you don’t want to disconnect the motor unless you really have no choice. The battery backup will save you from having to use the release mechanism to disengage the motor.
• They’re there for you in a power outage - Imagine driving up to your home if the power in the neighborhood has gone out. The door that usually responds to the push of a button doesn’t budge and outside it’s pitch black. If you have a garage door opener with a battery backup it’s no problem. When you hit “open” your door will open and when you get inside it will close safely behind you.
• It’s a heck of an insurance policy - Everyone sleeps better if they know they have backups in place. If you go camping you don’t worry about your phone battery going dead if you have a power bank with you. And if you have plenty of savings you can weather the occasional economic downturn. Same with the backup battery on your garage door opener. You’ll rest easier knowing that no matter what you’ll be able to get in and out of the garage without having to open the door manually in a howling snowstorm.
• It’s a must if you have kids - If you arrive home in a blizzard you don’t want to be stranded outside the house with the kids because some power lines have blown over. You want to be able to push the ‘open’ button like you always do and gain easy access to the garage so everyone will be safe. Once inside you can light some candles, start a fire in the fireplace and make an adventure out of it. Once you get inside. With a garage door with a battery backup no one will be left out in the cold.
• It’s just common sense - Would you go out without an umbrella if it looked like rain? Would you take an expensive vacation without travel insurance? Would you drive your car without a spare tire in the trunk? Would you only have 1 key for the front door? Of course not. Having a fallback position is just common sense because you don’t really know what’s going to happen. It might start raining while you’re walking from the subway to the office. You may lose your luggage in Rome. You may have a flat while driving at night or you may lose your house key. It’s the same with the garage door opener. Having the battery backup will ensure that when you need the automatic garage door the most it will be there for you.

A Word About The Backup Battery

While you can’t retrofit your old garage door opener to a backup battery you may want to know what type of battery to look for when you decide to ditch your old opener for a backup compatible one. In general you’ll want a battery that will provide at least 50 cycles after the power goes out. You’ll want one that’s easy to mount. And it would be best if the battery had an LED indicator on it that let you see the current battery level. In addition the battery should have a minimum warranty of at least 1 year.

To learn more about garage door openers with backup battery capability contact A Better Garage Door or review the features of the garage door openers we offer.