VSB opener /closer

[charliefox]

Hi all me again some advice needed do any of you have a vsb pophole open/closer as ive had one for eighteen months now and in that time batteries lasted six months from what ive read they should last a lot longer .next time they failed tried new ones the closer would not work so i contacted vendor send it back he said so i have hes had it for ten days and nothing made a phone call after six days only to be told he hadnt got round to it yet these things have two years warranty and are over 100 ponuds to buy is that after sales or what i would like your comments .charlie fox

 

[foxy]

I have six of them charliefox and have found on average the batteries last arounf 1 year to about 18mths. If the string has broken for what ever reason the motor may continue to run this would drain the batteries? 19 I have noticed that the older models are the better ones, we have a couple which are about 7 years old. I have had a problem strangely with later ones, must investigate that now I think of it.

 

[Sue]

I have two of them. The one I had on my first house has had to be replaced twice since March last year!! Each time I have had to wait for a new one to be sent from Germany, but they didn't question it, just sent the new ones. The other one I have hasn't been any trouble so far. I am still using the original batteries on the first one, so they have lasted 14 months so far. I have taken them out at the moment anyway to leave the doors open all night as it's so hot (girls are in a secure run). I never found out what the problem was with the first two as they never got back to me. The problem I was having with both faulty doors was either the door was partially opening and stopping or just not opening at all. It wasn't the batteries though, but a fault in the circuit board apparently, but as I said this was never confirmed.

 

[Tim]

I have 4 VSBi openers and have found them to be very reliable. Yes, the cord will break eventually and the batteries need changing ( I put a note on my calendar to change them every year regardless and always use good quality Duracell batteries) but other than that I haven't had any serious problems.

@Sue I would check your door moves freely and doesn't stick on the way down or the motor will stop. I had one light ply wood door that used to do that sometimes and I had to loosen the rails and add a little more weight to the door so that it was more reliable.

@Charlifox I assume the customer service you are speaking about is with a distributor / shop rather than AXT in Germany? I have gone back direct to AXT and although you have to explain carefully as their English is only basic and you have the increased postage to send it back to Germany, I have found them to be very responsive. They sent me a new PCB before I had sent the old one back... You can imagine my embarrassment when I discovered the fault was the cord wound on the wrong way!

The battery life varies according to the weight of the door it is lifting, so I would check your pop hole weight and that it moves freely.

 

[charliefox]

hi all since my post on the vsb opener it has been returned and it works however there was no note in with it to say if it had been repaired or replaced it seems to me that after sales for this vendor doesnt count well they wont get my custom again on a different note can anyone tell me is it possible to buy them direct from germany all the best uncle fox