Customer Reviews

Genie GER-2 Garage Door Opener Universal Emergency Release Kit

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As my garage has no service door, the loss of power makes my electric garage door opener useless. How does one get in? This emergency release kit makes it possible to enter the garage without issue. A simple cable pulls the door release, allowing the door to be manually lifted. This cable is protected from unauthorized entry by a key lock.
Simple to install, and inexpensive, this little piece of insurance allows easy access in case of a power failure, or garage door opener malfunction. I recommend this item to anyone who owns a garage like mine.

This is a must have for any electric opened garage that does not have entry by separate door and is fast to install. In the event of a planned or unplanned power outage you can still get in.

Received product in the expected amount of time. The only slight issue I have is the photo they show is not what you will be getting. The photo shows a type of key that is usually thought as being a slightly higher security type of lock. The unit received has the basic type of low security key lock. Another issue I have is that I ordered two of them and when both arrived they both used the same key. Once again not a very good purchase if you need several for garage doors that belong to different, adjacent, tennants of two or more condos with detached garages. I have a feeling that all of the units sold are the same key.

Drill a 3/4" center hole, and use the 3/16" aluminum face for aligning the other two holes, spaced 1-1/2" from center each. Thread through stainless carriage bolts (which cannot be removed from the front due to the square interlock with the faceplate) and secure on backside with washers. Connect release cable to carriage. And that's it. A really, really well-made and nice-looking unit when installed correctly with the supplied hardware.

I recently bought a foreclosed condo with a detached garage, no interior access and no openers or keys for the emergency release lock. I called a locksmith who said he had no replacement, couldn't make a key and would have to destroy the lock the get into the garage. It took him an hour to drill the lock and fish out the emergency cable which had been tied to a knot to the lock cable by some previous installer. Since the lock was destroyed I needed a replacement and couldn't find one anywhere locally. I was able to buy new remotes locally and pair them with the opener, but I still had a hole in the door. Amazon came to the rescue with an overnight delivery of this lock set. Installation was pretty easy. I had to unscrew the new lock from the mounting plate once because I hadn't threaded the cable and its fastener from the end of the lock through a hole in a metal C beam behind the lockset. It was off to the side of the beam, and there wasn't enough room to thread it back though the hold in the beam behind the lock. But it was easy to reach the screws and nuts with the door retracted using a ladder to reach over the top of the door. The screws are small and they don't come with nyloc nuts or lock washers. The metal for the door is very light gauge as is the c beam. They bend very easily. So be careful when you tighten down the nuts, or you'll distort the door or beam or both. I used a 1/4 inch ratchet and could not tighten the nuts as much as I would have liked. I'll probably replace the nuts with nylocs when I get a chance as the door vibrates when the screw drive moves it, and I"m sure over time the nuts will come loose.

After installation, I tested the lock a couple of times. It worked OK, although sometimes I had to try a few times to get the lock cylinder to turn with the key. They're not machined to the tightest tolerances, but for the price, it's good enough.

The lock works by being attached to a cable. When you unlock the lock cylinder, you pull it out and the cable detaches the j arm from the opener trolley, allowing you to pull the door up. SInce I don't have interior access, the only way to get into the condo garage during a power failure is to have the emergency release lock. Most or the garages in this condo have this feature. I don't have it on my home garage door, because I can access the garage from inside the house and I don't need it at home.

Now I can open garage door even when power fails or GFI circuit trips. Easy to install.

Installation was easy and I tested that it works properly. The lock is on the cheap side. One tip: make absolutely certain that you install it such that the teeth of the keys face up when you insert the key into the lock. Otherwise, the key may not be able to turn in the lock because gravity is going against the springs inside. At least, that was my experience. Once I installed it with the correct side up, I tested it to work a bunch of times with no problems.

Edit: okay, now I realize the actual problem with the lock not turning. The instructions tell you to cut down the bolts that attach the lock to the door, but they don't tell you why. The reason is that when the cylinder on the lock turns, it also causes the steel cable to rotate. If the bolts are long enough, they block the cable from rotating, which blocks the cylinder from rotating. So it is important to cut them short or rig up some other solution to that problem. I used a Dremel cut off wheel.

It was easy to install and worked as promise and the vendor had it to my with in 3 days. The only thing was that the cable was about 6" to short.

Great product - a must for those with a detached garage. I realized the need after loosing power for more than a week in the October storm that struck the northeast. The product comes with directions and is very easy to install. Well worth the investment!

This item was a pretty cheap buy, but shipping cost just about the same as the item itself. As for the item, this is not a Genie product. It is a cheap knockoff. It seems to work just fine...at least brand new...only time will tell.