Customer Reviews

Chamberlain WD962KD Premium Whisper Drive 3/4-Horsepower Garage Door Opener with Standby Power

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I didn't know what to expect when I ordered this garage door opener. I did a lot of research and new that I was getting a good product, but I have never installed a garage door opener before.

I received the product in a timely fashion, but it sat for a week before I could get to it. I recruited my brother and father to help me install it. The install was very easy. I had to improvise a bit since the installation requires additional lumbar and hardware that doesn't come in the box. That is acceptable though, since every installation is different.

Besides that, it took me about four hours to install. The product is AMAZING! Quiet, fast, and safe. Everyone who hears it, comments about how quiet it is. The sensor on the control unit turns the lights on when I walk into the garage. No need to reach for the light switch.

This unit came with a battery (in case of a power failure), and I was able to use it the other day when the power was out. How about that! No one in my neighborhood could open their garage door, except ME!!

I would highly recommend this to anyone interested.

I've owned this opener for about 6 months. It was easy to install and I'm very pleased with the quiet operation. However, after about one month of use, the battery became completely discharged. This would not be a big deal since I really don't care about this feature but the opener beeps every 30 seconds to let you know of the issue. So, now I have to remove the battery on a monthly basis (not an easy task by the way) and recharge it just to get the opener to quit beepeing. The most disappointing part is that I emailed Chamberlain customer service several times but never got a response. Without this issue and the poor customer service, the opener would have received 4 stars.

This is in my opinion the best door opener on the market. It really is very quiet in comparison to chain door openers and people have commented about it. It features a heavy duty belt drive, two remotes, a keypad, a sensor that turns on the light for you, and best of all, battery backup operation. So if the power goes out this ones still works. I don't believe any other unit on the market has this feature. I got my unit on sale at Menards for $189.
There are some potential cons. I had someone install it for me, and even though he routinely installs garage door openers, he had a fair amount of trouble getting the remotes programmed, although everything else went smoothly. The 800, number's automated menues left me with the impression that this is a common problem.
I have had the power go out twice since I got this, and the first time the battery backup inexplicably didn't work, but the second time it worked flawlessly.
I was a little miffed I could not locate the 800 customer service number on chamberlain's site, and had to find it elsewhere online. But as I think of it, even on Amazon, you have to look elsewhere online to find Amazon's customer service number too.
The most serious issue, is the sensors, that you install near the base of the garage door, appear to glitch after awhile and need to be reset. I have recently had this happen twice now, where the door goes down three quarters of the way and then goes backup, with the light blinking. According to the help I got on the phone, this is a frequent problem, but easily fixed by resetting the sensors. I'm not sure if this is going to be a reocurring issue. Besides this, the unit has worked great.

UPDATE 9/5/2009- The battery backup has done it's job about 4 times now, lifting and closing the door during power outages. It's really a usefull feature. I'm also still impressed by how quiet this unit is, especially when I hear the noise made from someone else's door.
The sensors on this unit really are too sensitive. If your door tracks vibrate alot or there is any debris at all in the way, the door will lift back up. You really have to watch to make sure the door closes all the way and stays closed, before you leave. I've come home more then once to find my door wide open. Sometimes it will go all the way down and then go back up and blinks its lights. If you don't tighten your sensors down enough the problem will be worse.

Purchased this unit at Lowes this past Saturday. It was cheaper than Amazon. Had Lowes install it with their third party installers. The installation crew came out yesterday and installed the thing. Wife tested it after installation. In one test unit refused to close the garage door. Wife thought nothing of it. I arrive last evening. Park SUV in garage. Use wall mounted console to shut garage door. Unit would not close the door. Lots of ticking and light flashing. After a number of tries, I got the manual to troubleshoot. I've installed three units over the past 25 years: 1 Sears, 2 Genies. Typically when the thing will not close garage door, it's a problem with the safety sensors being out of adjustment. You loosen the screws, joggle one or both sensors until lights are on in each, tighten the screws, and door goes down.

Tried joggling the sensors. Door would not go down. Moved car out of garage. Door went down down. Brought car back in garage. Door would not go down. WTF?? Ok enough of this, called Chamberlain support line. After 30 - 45 minute wait finally got a human. She had me go through a series of tests -- including pulling car out of garage and driving it back in --which were pretty much what I did prior to calling. She finally said this was strange. Asked if sun or sun's reflection was hitting sensors. No because house has a southern exposure. There was no sunlight in the darkened garage.

She put me on hold for 10 - 15 minutes. Asked then to disconnect sensors and lay on the ground. WTF? But did it to no avail. After reconnecting sensors. Door would go down 50% of time. Other times it would not -- but a lot of ticking and flashing lights would entertain me. Asked how many times the button light on the power unit flashed we repeatedly indicated four. Technician finally said we need to do more tests, after 1.5 hours of tests. I indicated no, please direct me to your manager. Another 10 minutes of holding. Supervisor comes on. I indicate I have no confidence in unit and want Chamberlain to replace unit and have it installed. Supervisor said that is not their policy. After 10 more minutes of discussion the best they would do is overnight a new set of sensors. Who would pay for the installation of sensors, I ask. I'm already out almost $400 for the unit and installation of something that does not work. Supervisor says to contain Lowes.

I call Lowes this morning. Repeat my tale and ask if they would pay for the installation of the senors. No. Well can 3rd party installer bill Chamberlain. No. Can 3rd party installer bill Lowes? No, Lowes asks who would they bill? Can Lowes call the Chamberlain supervisor and ask if Lowes can bill Chamberlain? Lowes asks for number as I did yesterday when speaking with Supervisor. Supervisor would not give out the number instead indicating I should call support line and go through the interactive voice response menus again. The Chamberlain IVR is especially long and slow. I provide Lowes with the IVR sequence provided by the supervisor.

I'm waiting for Lowes to call back. My expectation is I will have to pay for the installation. (Back and leg problems prevent me from getting on a ladder any more or I would install the things when they arrive.) Maybe the new sensors will fix problem. Maybe not.

Sorry for the length of this narrative. I guess the moral of the story is to be absolutely certain that Chamberlain product works before it is installed by Lowes 3rd party installers.

One caveat. Chamberlain's support people were each polite with no language problems. Support group is in Arizona. But despite that the consumer, me, is stuck as usual.

Update. Chamberlain told Lowes they would foot the expense of installing the new sensors. Chamberlain would reimburse Lowes. Initially Lowes stated that had to wait until they received the paperwork. That would be a minimum of two weeks.

Two days later Lowes called and indicated their manager had approved the installation. I got the sensors overnight from Chamberlain. Lowes called and the installers are due out on Thursday.

Chamberlain and Lowes are commended for their follow through and customer support.

I changed the number of stars to 3 from 1.

I replaced a Craftsman 1/2 horse chain drive with this. The old opener finaly gave out. I spent the extra money for this 3/4 opener with the battery backup. Install took me and only me about 3hrs. I reused the brackets from the ceiling. No real problems with then install. I spent time to read the instruction carefully so that I understood them well. This is very quiet and works great. The wife complains that she can't here me come home now. Easy to program. My wife loves the battery backup as power goes out once in awhile. We also really like the wireless keypad. Well I will update this review after a year of using the opener. I really like this one, we had the power go out a couple of times this past year and this opener was nice to have when that happens with the battery backup. It worked great. I do not have any complaints, it still is quiet and smooth.

I just replaced 2 11-year old Genie screw drive garage door openers with the Home Depot branded version of this opener. Assembly of both openers took 3 hours (1.5 hours each) and installation took 2.5-3 hours for each one. I saved some time because I had most of the necessary wiring in place from the previous openers as well as some ceiling brackets.

You will want to do your homework on what brackets you might need to attach the opener to the ceiling since they do not include the parts for this step. It would be a wise investment to pick up some straight and 90 degree brackets if you don't have any on hand before you start installation.

I ran into one glitch during assembly when I was assembling the Trolly Threaded Shaft. It did not fit into its intended hole, so I tried widening the hole to fix the issue. The instruction state clearly (twice, in bold) "Be sure the belt is not twisted and the FLAT side of the trolly threaded shaft faces the rail" but I stopped reading after "belt is not twisted". So I messed up the threads on the shaft which caused me some aggravation that I ultimately worked through. If my experience prevents someone else from making that mistake, it will be worth it.

Once installed, the openers were remarkably quiet. Our bedrooms are above our garage, so this is a welcome change from 11 years of rattling every time someone came home.

Programming the units to my Honda Homelink was tricky, but I finally got it. Here were the steps:

1. Cleared previous codes from homelink by holding 2 outer buttons (steady flash, fast flashes, no flashes)
2. Pressed and held programmed remote and desired homelink button together (fast flashes, slow flashes, no flashes)
3. Pressed learn button on opener
4. Within 30 seconds, and 10 feet from opener, press and hold desired homelink button until light bulbs on opener blink

My unit came with a security + device that lets you turn on a light or a tv when a programmed button on the garage door remote is pressed. Honestly, I could have done without this. I'll keep thinking of a practical use, but so far, nada.

Finally, I had some issues with the signal of the remotes either requiring that I get very close or not working at all. I was very upset that this unit had all of these cool features, but then didn't do its primary function of opening the garage door. I made two changes, one of which corrected the issue.

1. I stripped about 1" of insulation from teh end of the antenna wire that hangs out of the opener and braided it to some extra wire I had from the installation. I ran that wire along my ceiling across the width of my garage (essentially increasing the size of the antenna)

2. I unplugged the security + device that was plugged into the outlet that the opener was plugged into. (maybe it was causing some sort of interference)

Afterwards, I could open both doors reliably from the street.

All in all, I am happy with these openers and hope they last at least as long as my previous openers.

I'm 77 years old, and even I was able to install this great opener! Of course, it took me longer than the normal time of 4 - 5 hours, but this was because I really took my time, with lots of breaks. The performance of this opener is extremely quiet, and the instructions that come with the opener are complete. Again, it's a great opener!

I got this unit at Lowes for $188. It is a pleasure to open the garage door and still be able to continue a conversation at the same time. I especially like the motion sensor that turns on the light when anyone enters the garage from the house or the street. I also purchased the 8' extension unit at the same time and it works flawlessly.

I purchased a pair of these units to replace two aged openers. They are whisper quiet, and slow near the end of travel. Very gentle. Easy to install. Includes a full compliment of remotes, even a motion detector to turn on the light.

I bought two of these for both of my garage doors. I probably *should* have bought the extension kit, but the doors open to almost full height which is much taller than either of my vehicles so all was well in the end. One has been installed for over 3 months and the other for 1 month. So far there have been no problems with either.

The first time installing, it took me (on the handyman scale I'd be a 7) and my 10 yr old son about 5 hours. With regular tools and a decent ladder we followed the instructions box by box and had it perfectly working. My son did the programming of the exterior keypad himself without my knowing until it was done.

We have a room above the garage so I went upstairs to listen to how loud it was when a car drives in and out of the garage. It wasn't silent, but compared to the noise of the car engine (a CR-V) and the garage door itself, you had to strain to hear the opener. More than adequate for Mom&Dad in-law's visits.

The other VERY nice feature is the "sensing technology" for resistance. Infrared beams are only as useful as the bumper that goes over it or the kids foot sliding under it. To test it, I took the beams out of the equation and put half of the cardboard box that it came in under the door and hit the shut button. The door made contact with the box, made a minor dent and went right back up. Perfect. Then I tested it on my foot (Kids: DON'T DO THIS AT HOME) and felt a slight pressure and the door went right back up. I wasn't that brave, I had heavy duty winter boots on, but you get the point. No one would break a bone or get a bruise.

Also, if you locate the motion sensor attached to the wall mounted control close enough to the door to the house, you quickly learn that you never need to turn the original garage lights on (which invariably leads to leaving them on the entire time you're at work). This way the opener's lights will auto shutoff and pop back on when you come home and open the garage again.

Having two of the same model, I was hoping there would be a way of getting both remotes to work for both openers, but there were no instructions for that. Also, as is usual for garage door openers, you have to use a regular incandescent bulb, not an energy efficient CFL. Not a big deal, as they auto turn off after a short period.