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My garage door opener stopped working and I found it's because of the sensors. It's a very old unit from the late '80s. Sears brand, not even Craftsman.

My concern is, since this is a very old unit, they obviously don't sell the original sensors anymore. Searching online, the advice is to go with Chamberlain or Craftsman brands since they're compatible.

However, the wires connected to my garage door sensors are green/yellow, and the newer brands connect to black/white wires.

If I buy the Chamberlain sensors, would they even work if I try to power them with green/yellow wires? If not, what can I do besides needing to replace the whole garage opener? Thank you, any help would be appreciated.

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  • Sears only "recently" started sticking the Craftsman name on all the Bob Vila/Mike Rowe/tinkerer sort of products. Before that it was confined to tools (not least Craftsman==lifetime warranty). Don't worry about that, just equate Craftsman to Sears. It was solid stuff in that age; wouldn't know about today's products.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Oct 23 '19 at 14:22
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    Check where the sensors connect to the unit to see if there are "+" and "-". Then check for that on the new sensors.
    – JACK
    Oct 23 '19 at 14:37
  • Will the green/yellow wires work on a black/white wire connection? If yes, do I connect green to black and yellow to black or vice versa?
    – GTS Joe
    Oct 23 '19 at 15:27
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    See @JACK's suggestion. Somewhere they will likely be labeled + and -. Simply connect the + wire on the new sensor to the + screw on the old connection and the other wire to the other screw. Color of insulation is irrelevant to the flow of electricity inside the wire. When you're done, wrap a bit of green & yellow electrical tape (as appropriate) around the new black & white wires to help out the next person who has to work on this.
    – FreeMan
    Oct 23 '19 at 15:45
  • Craftsman were not just "compatible" with Chamberlain, they ARE Chamberlain. Sears didn't manufacture anything, it was all "brand-label" agreements with other manufacturers. In this case, Chamberlain has made the Craftsman brand openers all along. So yes, the products and accessories are all going to be compatible. As others have said, it's all just Low Voltage DC circuits, so you just need to figure out what is + and - so that they match.
    – JRaef
    Oct 24 '19 at 1:27

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