Is the ADOR battery dead or is the motor bad?

When the ADOR door fails to open, opens only partway, or stops mid-travel, there are three possible causes: a weak or dead battery, an obstruction, binding, rubbing, warped frame or wall, or a failing motor. The symptoms can look similar, but the steps below will help you identify the problem.

Step 1 — check the power first if it is not "retrying"

If the motor stops, and reverses to try again, we call the RETRY -- skip to Step 2.  Tap the button to open/shut the door to see how it behaves, especially upon lifting the door.

A weak battery is the most common cause of door problems — and a surprisingly large number of brand new batteries from retail stores are already weak when purchased. A battery can show a healthy voltage on a multimeter with no load, but still fail to deliver the brief burst of current the motor needs to start moving.

A quick diagnostic could be to swap in a fresh battery from a reliable source and see if the problem goes away. If the door then operates normally, the original battery was the issue. Watch the weak battery diagnostic video for a demonstration of what a weak battery looks like in operation.

Step 2 — check for an obstruction

If the door RETRIES, that is the electronics doing that.  Higher than normal motor current, when detected, causes the electronics to try to get beyond what appears to be an obstruction. Common causes of high motor current include:

•       Debris, dirt, or bedding material in the door slides or channel

•       Ice or moisture causing the door to stick in cold weather

•       Warping of the frame and/or the sliding door panel.  Is it fastened down too tightly on a wall that is not flat in one plane?

•       Take off the lid and watch the sprocket.  Is it climbing out of the sprocket holes and riding up on the metal webs between holes, causing binding? 

When the ADOR detects that the motor is drawing too much current — which happens whether the cause is an obstruction or a failing motor — it responds with what we call a Retry: the motor briefly reverses direction by a couple of inches, then attempts to complete the travel again. It will retry up to three times before stopping and sounding an SOS  O alarm code.

Symptom summary

Step 3 — isolate the motor

If the battery is confirmed good and there is no visible obstruction, the motor may be weakening. A motor that is failing will draw excessive current even under no load, triggering the same Retry and SOS O response as an obstruction. If the door retries repeatedly and the channel is clear, contact us — the motor or controller board may need to be replaced.