Roller shutters usually give plenty of warning before they stop dead — a strange graunching noise, the remote taking a second press, a slat that rubs on the guide. When they finally refuse to budge, panic sets in: the contents of your shopfront or the security of your home suddenly feel exposed. Take a breath. Most faults come down to power, alignment or worn components that can be checked in a few minutes with basic tools.

This guide walks you through 15 clear diagnostics, starting with the simplest DIY checks and ending with the jobs best left to a licensed technician. Whether your shutter is a manual strap model on a bedroom window or a three-metre electric curtain guarding a warehouse roller door, you’ll find step-by-step fixes, safety notes and handy work-arounds. Isolate the power, grab a torch and your non-contact tester, and let’s get your roller shutter moving again.

1. Confirm the Power Supply and Circuit Protection

On electric models, a silent curtain is rarely a motor failure; nine times out of ten the supply has vanished thanks to a tripped breaker, blown fuse or switched-off isolator. A quick check with torch and voltage pen solves most “roller shutter not working” jobs.

Signs the Shutter Has No Power

• LED on switch off
• Receiver dark
• Motor silent
• Stoppage after storm/power cut

Safe Steps to Test and Restore Power – need help call us on 0414611662

Reset the ‘ROLLER’ breaker or RCD at the board, or swap the 10 A fuse common in SA homes. Confirm 230 V with tester; never bypass damaged flex.

Temporary Work-arounds Until Proper Repair

Use the crank eye-bolt to move curtain, or lock it down securely.

2. Reset the Motor or Control Unit

Electric roller shutters protect themselves with thermal cut-outs and electronic fault locks. After a few hard cycles, or when voltage dips, the controller simply freezes. If your curtain is stuck mid-travel but you can still hear a faint click when you press the switch, try a reset before pulling the pelmet apart.

Universal Motor Reset Sequence – need help call us on 0414611662

1. Isolate power for 30 s
2. Restore for 8 s
3. Repeat the off/on cycle three times – the curtain should “jog” once to confirm the reset.

When a Reset Won’t Work

No jog, burnt smell, or breaker trips again? Suspect a blown capacitor, seized gearbox or shorted windings – skip to Way 15 and book a tech.

3. Replace Remote-Control Batteries or Re-Pair the Handset

When the wall switch still drives the curtain but the hand held remote handset does nothing, chances are the CR2032 coin cell is flat or the rolling code was lost in a power cut. Both fixes take two minutes.

Quick Battery Swap Guide

• Slide a thin flat-blade screwdriver under the seam, twist gently
• Match the ‘+’ side to the diagram; avoid touching with bare fingers

Re-Pairing Procedures

Hold PROG on the receiver for three seconds, press UP on the remote; the LED blinks twice to confirm pairing.

4. Inspect and Clean the Tracks and Side Guides

Before blaming the motor or springs, rule out the simple stuff: grime in the side guides stops both electric and manual curtains dead, overheating motors and fraying straps in the process. Adelaide wind regularly blows red dust, leaf litter and tiny stones into the U-shaped channels, so a five-minute clean often restores smooth travel.

Cleaning Without Dismantling

• Run the curtain halfway, unplug power.
• Vacuum the guides with a crevice tool, then brush down with a soft nylon paintbrush.
• or in warm weather, wash the inner guides with warm water to break down the dirt build up, clean thoroughly and allow to completely dry
• Finish with a light silicone spray; avoid pressure-washing which dents aluminium.

Spotting Physical Obstructions

Look for bulged slat ends, protruding screw tips, toys, or hardened paint drips. Gently pry the blockage clear with a plastic trim tool—metal screwdrivers gouge the powder-coat. If a slat edge is curled, straighten or replace it before running the shutter again.

5. Realign or Replace Jammed or Damaged Slats

A single kinked slat is enough to stall the whole curtain, forcing the roll to snake sideways and wedge in the guides. Act quickly—running the motor against the jam can snap hangers or blow the gearbox. Thankfully, aluminium slats slide out individually, so you rarely need to dismantle the entire shutter to set things straight.

How to Remove a Single Slat – need help with this call us on 0414611662

1. Lower the curtain to waist height and isolate power.
2. Prop a timber batten under the bottom bar to carry the weight.
3. Push the suspect slat sideways until one end clears the guide, then ease it out of the track.
4. Mark its original position with masking tape for trouble-free reassembly.

Straightening vs Replacing

• Minor “banana” bends: lay the slat on a flat board and tap gently with a rubber mallet until true.
• Crushed, creased or cracked profiles: order a matching colour-coded replacement and slide it in, tongue-into-groove, before removing the support batten.
  Either way, cycle the shutter twice to confirm smooth, centered travel.

6. Lubricate Moving Components Correctly

Dry, powdery tracks and a high-pitched squeal as the curtain moves are your shutter’s way of begging for lube. Ignore it and the drag overloads the motor, turning a roller shutter not working into a gearbox swap.

Best Lubricants for Roller Shutters

Spray silicone in the guides and on slat edges; use white lithium grease for torsion springs, axle bushes and bearings.

Application Steps

Mask the brickwork, hold the nozzle 150 mm away, mist a thin film top-to-bottom, then cycle the shutter thrice.

7. Tighten or Replace Loose Fasteners and Brackets

A shutter that clangs against the wall or drags in the guides is usually hanging off one or two loose screws. Aluminium vibrates every time the motor starts, so even factory-tight bolts can back out over a few seasons. A five-minute spanner check stops the movement before it tears an end plate or bends a track.

Checklist of Fasteners to Inspect

• Box end-plate bolts
• Guide-rail mounting screws
• Curtain hanger rivets
• Bottom-bar alloy caps
• Pelmet cover clips

Correct Torque and Thread Treatments

Re-seat each fixing until firm—about one extra quarter-turn after initial bite. Into brick or block, pre-drill 4 mm and fit nylon wall plugs; into metal, add a dab of medium-strength Loctite to stainless self-drillers. Replace stripped screws with the next size up rather than over-tightening and cracking the substrate.

8. Adjust Counter-Balance Springs (Manual Systems)

Manual shutters rely on hidden torsion springs to offset the curtain’s weight. If the balance is wrong the shutter either drops like a guillotine or feels welded shut. Re-tensioning the axle normally takes just a screwdriver and the supplied crank rod.

Identifying Over- or Under-Tension

The sweet spot is when the curtain rests on its own about one-third open—dropping means under-tension, drifting upward signals over-tension.

Step-by-Step Tensioning

• Lock curtain down
• Insert rod, rotate axle one notch
• Test balance, repeat

9. Replace Worn Straps, Cords or Tape Winders

A frayed lift-strap is a classic “roller shutter not working” culprit. As the webbing stretches it slips on the winder drum, leaving the curtain stuck half-way or refusing to budge at all. Fortunately, swapping a strap is cheap and takes under half an hour on a typical window shutter.

Measuring and Ordering the Right Replacement – need help with this call us on 0414611662

• Measure strap width with calipers: common sizes are 14 mm (domestic) and 23 mm (bigger doors).
• Add 10 % to existing length so the drum winds smoothly.
• Match colour and UV rating; grey polyester lasts longer than old cotton webbing.

Fitting a New Strap Without Dropping the Curtain

1. Tape the curtain to the headbox so it can’t fall.
2. Unscrew the tape-box cover and let the drum unwind slowly.
3. Cut the old strap near the knot, thread the new one through the guide slot, tie a reef knot and melt the ends.
4. Rewind the drum evenly, refit the cover, then test full travel twice.

10. Re-Set Upper and Lower Limit Settings

When a shutter stops short of closing or winds into the pelmet, the travel limits have drifted. These limits tell the motor where to stop; re-setting them usually needs only a screwdriver.

Locating Limit Screws or Electronic Buttons

Inside the box you’ll find two colour-coded grub screws—yellow (UP) and white (DOWN). Somfy RTS swaps them for recessed SET buttons operated with a slim wand.

Fine-Tuning for Smooth Operation

Turn the screw a quarter at a time—clockwise shortens travel, anticlockwise extends. Cycle the shutter after each tweak until the bottom bar seats perfectly.

CAUTION: not knowing what you are doing here can cause irreparable damage – do not atempt this if you do not know how. call us on 0414611662 we can do this for you

11. Test and Cool Down the Thermal Overload Protector

A motor that suddenly dies then magically revives 20–30 minutes later is almost certainly protecting itself, not failing outright. The thermal overload opens when the winding tops roughly 120 °C; patience is the simplest test.

Causes of Overheating

Heavy curtains, jammed tracks, rapid up-down cycling, or a sizzling roof space on a 40 °C Adelaide day can all shove winding temperature past the cut-off point.

Preventive Measures

Allow five minutes between runs, improve pelmet ventilation, and service sticking components annually.

12. Inspect Safety Sensors and Bottom Bar Edge (Commercial & Garage Shutters)

Commercial roller doors and oversized home garage shutters are usually protected by photocell beams or a rubber pressure edge along the bottom bar. When either device stops reporting “all clear”, the motor locks out and the roller shutter not working complaint appears. A two-minute visual check often saves an expensive call-out.

Sensor Alignment and Cleaning

• Make sure the two infra-red eyes face each other squarely; tweak the brackets until their LEDs glow steady.
• Wipe lenses with a microfibre cloth—dust, cobwebs and drizzle spots are enough to break the beam.
• Confirm the beam path is clear of bikes, bins or hanging tools before retesting the door.

Fault-Finding with a Multimeter

1. Isolate power, remove the control box lid.
2. Set meter to DC volts; a healthy safety loop in most AU systems reads 24 V.
3. If voltage is absent, bridge the sensor terminals with a jumper wire—door should now run, proving the sensor faulty.
4. Replace the damaged photocell or pressure edge, re-test, then restore covers and power.

13. Bypass or Replace a Faulty Wall Switch or Key Switch

A common reason for a roller shutter not working from the wall control is a cooked contact inside the rocker or key switch. If the shutter still runs from the remote, or the switch feels sloppy, crunches, or shows black scorch marks, it’s time to test and swap it out. Need an electrican call us on 0414611662

Safe Isolation and Testing

1. Switch off the breaker and confirm zero volts with a non-contact tester.
2. Remove the fascia plate and pull the switch clear.
3. Use a continuity meter: press UP and DOWN while probing the common and output poles—no beep means the switch is open-circuit.
4. For an urgent close, join the brown (active) and up-feed wires temporarily with a Wago connector, then isolate again.

Selecting a Compatible Replacement

• 240 V shutters: fit a momentary DPDT centre-off rocker so the motor never receives simultaneous UP/DOWN power.
• Shopfront or commercial doors: use a spring-return key switch for security.
  Label wires, transfer one at a time, tighten terminals, refit plate, restore power and test full travel.

14. Use the Manual Override and Re-Engage the Clutch

When the lights go out you’re not stuck—most electric shutters hide a manual override so you can shift the curtain without mains power.

Locating and Operating the Override

Flip the cap on the pelmet to expose the eye-bolt or 7 mm hex. Insert the crank and turn clockwise to lift, anti-clockwise to drop.

Re-Synching After Power Returns

Wind the shutter fully down, pull out the handle, restore power and press UP. The clutch snaps back and limits stay intact.

15. Know When to Call a Professional Technician

Some faults simply sit outside safe DIY territory. If the pelmet frame is bent, the axle has sheared, the shutter box contains friable asbestos lining (common in pre-1990 builds), or the motor hums but won’t turn even after a reset, step away and grab the phone. Licensed techs carry calibrated torque tools, insulated test gear and public-liability cover—things the average homeowner doesn’t. They’ll also issue compliance paperwork required by insurers and commercial leases.

Typical Costs and What to Expect

Expect a written quote, 12-month parts warranty and same-day completion for stock items.

Questions to Ask Before Booking

1. Are you SA-licensed and insured?
2. Is the quoted figure fixed or hourly?
3. Which brand of parts will you install?
4. How soon can you attend and carry spares?
5. Will the repair keep my current limit settings intact?
   Have those answers ready and you’ll avoid surprises—and a second “roller shutter not working” episode.

Get Your Shutter Moving Again

A frozen roller shutter is rarely a death sentence. Run through the checklist: power, reset, batteries, track debris, bent slats, lube, loose screws—by the time you’ve ticked off item 7 the vast majority of curtains spring back to life. The later steps exist for the oddball faults and the big-ticket repairs, not for everyday breakdowns.

Keep the basics on hand (torch, voltage pen, silicone spray) and treat grinds or slow travel as early warning signs rather than background noise. A five-minute clean and squirt today beats a seized gearbox tomorrow.

Still staring at a stubborn shutter? Adelaide homeowners can call in the cavalry—our techs offer same-day attendance, genuine parts and zero call-out fees. Book your rescue through Roller Shutter Repairs Adelaide and get rolling again.