ET DC Blue Digital manual: the DC Blue, DC Blue Plus and Blue-Roll garage motors

If your motor has a two-character display and four buttons, it's the newer DC Blue Advanced: see the ET DC Blue Advanced manual.

All of them take ET's ET BLUE remotes, and ET BLU MIX remotes once the button is set to the old ET Blue code (on the Digital version 2, only where the receiver chip has no © logo on it).

The DC Blue's motor-head sits on a drawbar with a chain inside, and its limit switches are synchronised to the drawbar in the factory. ET's warning is plain: never run the motor-head without the drawbar attached, and never move the bobbin along the drawbar without the motor-head on it. Either throws the limits out.

ET's mounting measurements matter too. On a trackless tip-up door the drawbar's front sits 275 mm above the closed door, with the link arm at 180° to the door when it's open; on a sectional door the front mount sits 50 mm above the door's highest point of travel, with the bracket in line with the top rollers at the centre of the door. ET warns that ignoring them causes intermittent running and can damage the door and the motor.

To reach the limits, press and hold the red catch and pull the motor-head's bottom cover down and away. The two thumbwheels are side by side: the open limit on the left, the closed limit on the right.

ET is firm about the last row: a door left to stop on obstruction sensing at the top, rather than on its limit switch, can be damaged; it gives fibreglass doors being ripped as the example.

The DC Blue watches for resistance as the door moves. Closing, it stops and reverses; opening, it stops and waits for the next press. A small potentiometer on the card sets how much resistance it takes: clockwise makes it less sensitive.

ET asks owners to test it regularly: close the door onto a brick or a milk crate, as ET suggests, and check it reverses.

If it reverses for no reason, release the door and run the motor on its own. If it completes a full cycle without the door, the door needs servicing; if it never senses the test obstruction, the motor needs a technician. ET notes that an untreated wooden door gets heavier as it soaks up water in the rainy season, enough to trip it.

From a remote you already have, without opening anything, which is the owner's way: open the door fully, hold the button that works the light until the buzzer gives a continuous tone, then press the new remote's button before the tone stops. Two beeps means it worked; no beeps means it didn't; ten beeps means it worked but an older remote was deleted to make room.

From the control card, the installer's way, on the DC Blue, the Plus and the Digital version 2: hold the new remote's button and join the card's middle receiver pin to its BT pin (or L for a light button) until the buzzer beeps. One beep means the first remote in that memory, two that there's room left, ten that it's full and the last remote learnt may have been pushed out. On the Digital version 1, the RX Learn button replaces the pins and its light flashes instead of the buzzer. The pins sit beside the card's mains connections, so leave this one to a technician.

ET calls it a master erase and recommends it on every new installation. It's the only way to remove remotes: there's no deleting one at a time. With all power off, the middle and BT receiver pins are joined and the C and BT terminals shorted (on the DC Blue Plus, the test button held instead); with power back on, the buzzer beeps once a second, then gives one long tone, and the shorts come off before the power is restored and the remotes you're keeping are learnt again.

It's done on the control card beside the mains wiring, so it's a job for a technician. Book us if a remote is lost or stolen.

The original DC Blue's user pages list three:

The DC Blue Plus and the Blue-Roll have a fuller table:

Note the beeps before you call us: they tell a technician most of the story.

On the DC Blue Plus, ET's figures for the single 24 V, 3.5 Ah battery are:

• Standby: about 12 to 18 hours without running the door, with nothing extra connected; after that the door may not run properly.
• Recharging takes about 10 to 12 hours once the mains is back.

If the battery runs below its safe level, the motor protects it: on battery alone it gives 15 beeps and won't move, and once the mains returns it beeps every 16 seconds for about four to five hours while it recharges carefully. ET warns that long power failures shorten the battery's life, and advises never running this model without a battery. When yours no longer lasts, we replace it with the right 24 V battery.

To release it: pull down on the emergency release cord while you start moving the door with your other hand, then let go of the cord. The lever springs back and the door moves freely. If it locks into the drive again partway, repeat.

To re-engage: press the door's button. The drive runs and collects the door with a click; if the motor stops before it catches, press again so it collects the door going the other way. You can also move the door slowly by hand until it clicks onto the drive.

To lock the door in a power cut: with it released, close it fully until it locks in place. When the power is back, press the button and the drive picks it up.

Never release a door with anyone under it. Other makes are in how to open a garage door manually.

Holiday lockout stops every other remote and button, for example while you're away. With the door closed, hold the light button until the motor confirms: three rapid beeps on the original DC Blue, five on the DC Blue Plus and the Blue-Roll. To unlock, hold it again: three long beeps on the DC Blue, four on the Plus and the Blue-Roll.

Auto-close is switched on with a jumper on the card. The door then closes 20 seconds after opening, with three warning beeps first, and you can still close it sooner with the button. ET strongly recommends safety beams with auto-close, and for the Blue-Roll makes them compulsory: with beams fitted, a car or person in the doorway stops the close and sends the door back up.

The Blue-Roll drives a roll-up door from the end of its axle, like other roll-up motors. From ET's installation manual:

• Side room: 85 to 125 mm from the drum wheel's face to the inside of the door's support bracket.
• The door first: it must be balanced, stay put when stopped between 900 and 1,200 mm up, not bind in its guides, and need no more than about 15 kg to lift or lower.
• Limits are two cams on the drive, the inner for open and the outer for closed, locked with two wing-nuts.
• The obstruction test uses a 40 mm object under the door; the Blue-Roll sets its opening sensitivity from the closing one.
• Every month: the obstruction test, the door run by hand, the limits, and a battery test of about five full cycles with the mains off. Once a year: a professional door service, including the spring tension.
• Don't lubricate the motor or the door tracks.

ET's conditions for the manufacturer's warranty on the Blue-Roll and the DC Blue: one motor per door, never outdoors (carports included), and never on a busy entrance such as an apartment block's garage.

Call us for a DC Blue that won't learn remotes, needs every remote erased, beeps 15 times, reverses for no reason, or has a battery that no longer carries it through a power cut. We repair the older DC Blue range, replace batteries and learn ET remotes, and service the doors they drive. All our spare parts are genuine, and every repair carries our six-month guarantee on our repairs.

When a new motor makes more sense, our installed kits use the current DC Blue Advanced. Prices checked October 2026. Your exact price is set in a free quote before any work starts. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies.

• ET DC Blue garage door operator (original), installer manual: the original DC Blue, for installers
• ET DC Blue garage door operator (original), user manual: the original DC Blue, for owners
• ET DC Blue garage door operator, remote programming sheet: adding remotes to the DC Blue
• ET DC Blue Digital garage door operator, installer manual: published by ET as the DC Blue Digital manual; written for the DC Blue Plus
• ET DC Blue Digital V1 and V2, remote programming sheet: adding remotes to the DC Blue Digital versions 1 and 2
• ET DC Blue roll-up door operator (2008), installer manual: the ET BLUE-ROLL motor for roll-up doors

ET's gate motors are on the ET gate motor manual, and the whole brand on ET.