Garage door opening autonomously

go4donuts · Sep 20, 2013

I bought my house one year ago - it came complete with a 24x24 detached garage with a double door and garage door opener. Twice in the first couple of months when I came out to the garage in morning, I found the garage door wide open. How long it had been open is anybody's guess - perhaps as long as twelve hours. Fortunately I live in what seems so far to be a low-crime area and there is very little foot or car traffic down my alley on to which the garage opens. Since I had just moved, most of my tools and treasures were still in boxes, and as far as I know I didn't lose anything.

The garage, and presumably the garage door opener, are only a couple of years old so it would be a newer type opener employing the rolling code system instead of DIP switches. I opened one of the fobs and there are no dip switches inside.

I've since spoken to both of my next door neighbours and they both have experienced the same thing. Any ideas on why this is happening?

In order to prevent this, I wanted a way to disable the opener when I'm not actually operating the door. I found a pretty good solution. At Home Depot I found a remotely controlled outdoor outlet switch. You simply plug in your appliance through this device and you can control it remotely, just like your garage door. So, I have my garage door opener plugged into one of these. So whenever I close the door using the garage door remote, I then kill the power to the GDO with another remote. It works pretty good and lets me sleep at night.

HOTFR8 · Sep 20, 2013

Sounds like you have a fix for the issue. Could it be possible you door will open with a neighbors remote ? If so you could contact the door company and ask them about it. Fix may be as simple as resetting the power to the door opener.

upndown · Sep 20, 2013

Looks like you found a good solution! I would still reprogram all your transmitters, keyless entry..etc, just for extra peace of mind. The only way anyone else can open your door is if they were physically programed to your opener! Unless they have the same opener as you..That ain't happening. Good luck.

Tim The Tool Man · Sep 20, 2013

When I was a kid we lived in the suburbs of Buffalo right under a flight path for the airport. When my dad installed our first opener it would open or close itself when jets flew overhead. Re Programming the code fixed it.

ThreeJ97 · Sep 20, 2013

I was standing outside watching an approching storm. After I heard/saw lightning struck, a neighbors garage door opened up. I ran next door and closed it for them. Nobody was home, sorta weird and I have never witnessed it again.

lilredex · Sep 20, 2013

Mine opened randomly when the wind blew...wire running to the house through the soffit got sawed through by the aluminum (not my installation). Wire is now disconnected.

Lippyp · Sep 20, 2013

We got freaked when the TV started turning itself on randomly when no one was in the room. Eventually worked out one of my six year old twins has worked out how to set a reminder on the electronic programme guide on the TV and if the TV is off when the programme starts the ****** thing comes on by itself. First time it did it my wife was at home on her own working in her office upstairs which is right over the TV and she nearly freaked as she thought someone was in the house.

jkwilson · Sep 20, 2013

Go through the downforce adjusting procedure in the manual and check the switch that tells the door it is fully closed. They give safety a priority over security, and if the opener thinks the door is not down and senses excess pressure, it will open.

Bang around the wall switch and see if anything happens.

Gary S · Sep 20, 2013

If you had an opener with fixed codes, I'd say just change the code, and if your problem doesn't go away, the receiver is defective. Since you have rolling codes, I'd get a different opener with fixed codes. The rolling code system isn't securing your door.

mn_leaf_fan · Sep 20, 2013

I had a similar issue that when I opened my garage door, my neighors door would open too. I reprogrammed all my remotes and it fixed the problem.

upndown · Sep 20, 2013

Gary S said:
If you had an opener with fixed codes, I'd say just change the code, and if your problem doesn't go away, the receiver is defective. Since you have rolling codes, I'd get a different opener with fixed codes. The rolling code system isn't securing your door.

Not true! To my knowledge you can't even buy an opener with fixed codes. It wouldn't matter anyway, You still have to unlock the receiver to program..Smart Button..

If you look at the fine print on any opener radio control device..FCC and IC CERTIFIED.." this device must accept any interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device " Pretty much any opener is susceptible to Phantom operation!

If this continues I'd look more towards..Down limit adjustment, Sensitivity, or sensors.

Gary S · Sep 20, 2013

upndown said:
If you look at the fine print on any opener radio control device..FCC and IC CERTIFIED.." this device must accept any interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device "

Surely you know that quote is meaningless. It ain't working for him.

Quote says it "must" accept interference, but it doesn't. What is step #2 now that #1 has failed to work?

larry_g · Sep 20, 2013

Gary S said:
Surely you know that quote is meaningless. It ain't working for him.

Quote says it "must" accept interference, but it doesn't. What is step #2 now that #1 has failed to work?

Reminds me of this story;

A police officer in Penticton stops at a local ranch.
He talks with an old rancher, and tells him." I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs".
The rancher says, " OKay, but do not go in that field over there," as he is pointing out the location.

The police officer verbally explodes saying,
" Mister, I have the authority of the federal government with me".
Reaching into his rear pants pocket, and proudly displays it to the rancher.
" See the badge old man? this badge means I am allowed to go on any land ... have I made myself clear".

The rancher apologizes, nods and goes about his chores.

A short time later the old rancher hears loud screaming,
looks up and sees the police officer running in front of the farmers Santa Gertrudis bull.
With every step the officer makes the bull gains two, only seconds before the bull reaches him.
The rancher drops his tools and stands up and yells.

"Your badge, Show him your badge!"

lg
no neat sig line

sands35 · Sep 20, 2013

It could be radio interference. Basically the garage door opener people decided to use a part of the frequency spectrum that was allocated to the military. It was (apparently) not used by the government for some time. Then the military decided to use it - as it was allocated to them originally. So there are lots of garage doors out there that operate in the same frequency range as military radios. Hence the mystery garage door opening problem.

Low power, unlicensed, devices are OK to use some frequencies, but need to accept the consequences of that. (it's not illegal for garage door opener companies to produce these products - clearly since they still produce them).

http://www.army.mil/article/106123/Frequencies_conflict_with_garage_openers/

OR it could simply be that you or a neighbor has something that is noisy in the right radio frequency and doing this to your door opener. Try unplugging any electronics that you don't use regularly and see what happens. The problem is this issue is intermittent and will be really hard to diagnose.

woodrail · Sep 20, 2013

Overlooking the obvious. Bigfoot or ghosts.

But, I would bet on some power lines or a screwed up amateur radio operator. Since this is happening in bulk, I'm betting it's not something local to your hardware.

Just wondering, can you "shield" your receiving antenna to only look forward towards the driveway for a signal?

Old Steamer · Sep 20, 2013

I had the same issue with one of my two garage doors. I would come home and it would be wide open. I even had it open on its own one day while I was at home.

I have a hard wired open close button in the house for the garage doors, one for each door. I took the in question open/close button apart and found one of the wires coming to the button was partially skinned. It must have happened when the garage doors were installed. This skinned section was very close to the metal conduit the wires ran in. I cleaned this up by cutting it off and pulling enough slack to strip a new section and refasten to the lug. No more problems after that.

I'm no expert, but I've often thought voltage swings were causing a small arc across the naked wire and the conduit causing the door to open.

kbs2244 · Sep 20, 2013

I would bet on a nearby power company transformer slowly going bad and spewing all kinds of RF.
I would call the PC, tell them your story, and ask them to check any nearby transformers.

But I like his power off solution.
It isn’t going anywhere without power.
And the chances of two different devices, made by two different companies, reacting to the same pulse are pretty remote.

upndown · Sep 20, 2013

Gary S said:
Surely you know that quote is meaningless. It ain't working for him.

Quote says it "must" accept interference, but it doesn't. What is step #2 now that #1 has failed to work?

Why do you say"meaningless"? It's doing exactly what it states! Accepting outside interference, Causing Undesired Operation. Short of spending alot of time and money on different Freq. radio controls, that may or may not be compatible with his particular opener, I'd say he covered step #2 by purchasing the device he has. Works for him!

HOTFR8 · Sep 20, 2013

I would like to see more of this plug in remote / controller you have.

ZRX61 · Sep 20, 2013

Homes are obviously built on an old Indian burial ground, I assume you've seen Poltergeist?

fyrlt1 · Sep 20, 2013

I read about something just like this happening in south Fla. Turned out to be a pirate radio station broadcasting in the neighborhood.

Gary S · Sep 20, 2013

It is interesting that the opener is almost new, and the neighbors are having the same problem. I would look what brand and model of opener yours is, and what brand and model the neighbor's openers are. If this is new construction by a single contractor, and the openers are all alike and installed at the same time, you likely have one opener rolling its codes over the other openers next to it.
Again, I suggest finding an opener without rolling codes. Simpler always works better.

Stevie-Ray · Sep 20, 2013

I haven't yet experienced the trouble of stray signals opening my door. But, just in case, if I leave for more than a few hours or overnight, I unplug it. Better safe than sorry, and I normally don't park my daily driver in there anyway.

go4donuts · Sep 20, 2013

HOTFR8:

The pictures above show just about all there is to see, but I'll tell you a bit more. I'm usually pretty critical about many products available today - I find many things, especially electronic things - are disappointments. They are usually over-featured and unreliable. But this device seems solid. It's as simple as can be - no settings, no modes, no programming. Just plug it in and ... it's a switch.

As I said, I bought it at Home Depot, but I've seen similar devices sold elsewhere. I think it has many applications around the home/garage/shop, such as: ceiling fans, pumps, Christmas lights, pranks, etc. etc.

With this brand, there are approx. seven different 'codes', to lessen the chance that your neighbour has one with the same code and inadvertently operates your appliance. I wanted two remotes, so I bought two devices even though I am only using one - I bought the second device just to get the second remote. I just made sure both devices that I bought used the same code - the codes are labelled right on the package. I keep one remote in the truck and I hang the second remote beside the wall switch for the garage door opener. That way, if I want to operate the garage door when I am just putzing around the garage, I don't have to go digging in the truck to find the remote. I don't exactly remember the price...I think it was about $30 each.

go4donuts · Sep 20, 2013

Thanks to all for the suggests and interesting comments. I actually have suspected that there is some RF interference involved here. Another related problem is that my GDO remotes have very poor range. I have to be right at the garage door for them to work. A few times I've actually had to get out of the truck and do what my neighbours must have thought was a 'modern interpretive dance' in front of the garage door to find a sweet spot where the remote would work. The manufacturer's website and Google suggest that this could be due to RF interference. (Yes, I've changed the batteries and fiddled with the antenna). That would be a difficult problem to track down, me thinks. It would be nice if there was some kind of affordable scanner that would point at the offending source.

And, I don't know, but I doubt that my neighbours have the same model of GDO, because my garage is a new construction in an older area.

go4donuts · Sep 20, 2013

I think I'm going to start a new thread about garage door monitors.

shannonw · Sep 20, 2013

have an outside keypad? that's usually the cause water gets in shorts and open. Mine used to do that never did it again after i removed the pad. Keypads, remotes can do the same. I know a guy who always left his boat lift (remote control) keys on his boat dash. eventually rain shorted it out and ............

HOTFR8 · Sep 21, 2013

Go4donuts. Thank you for the information, they sound like good idea. Reason I asked is I have something similar but the remote must be able to see the controller that is you could not use it as you have.

BigCarbs · Sep 21, 2013

My old house did that and they finally put in a switch that runs on a totally different frequency and it never did it again

wood02 · Sep 21, 2013

My wife was walking home from a visit in our neighborhood and while coming up the street she saw a car stopped in front of our drive. The woman passenger was pointing a remote control at our garage trying to open the garage door. I have a 1/2 hp Genie. I installed it 20 yrs ago. I never changed the code (has dip switches). I bought a motorcycle and also bought a new small remote to carry with me. When I first used the remote without changing any setting it raised the door. The code was the same as the door opener. I changed the code thinking that someone may try and burglarize the garage. I have a remote controlled dust collection system also. It is remotely controlled by the Ranger II remote. Sometimes when opening the door the dust collector would come on. The code was close to the door opener code. I changed the code. I am not sure if it "helped or not", I now unplug the dust collector when I leave the shop. The dust collector remote never raised the garage door.

I should have as in the instructions for the door opener changed the code from the factory settings upon installation 20 years ago.

go4donuts · Sep 21, 2013

It seemed to me that there was a potentially humorous undertone to all these reports of garage doors opening spontaneously, so I Googled "Joke garage door opener". Google did not disappoint.

"The Register has posted a transcript of a BBC radio call-in show during which a man phoned up claiming to have a highly unusual medical problem. Following an operation in Turkey to treat his impotence, the man now finds that every time his neighbor opens the garage door, he gets an uncontrollable erection"

wfopete · Sep 21, 2013

Seems like this is a fix for opening/closing your garage door!

http://www.wimp.com/garageopener/

:thumbup:

jkwilson · Sep 23, 2013

go4donuts said:
Thanks to all for the suggests and interesting comments. I actually have suspected that there is some RF interference involved here. Another related problem is that my GDO remotes have very poor range. I have to be right at the garage door for them to work. A few times I've actually had to get out of the truck and do what my neighbours must have thought was a 'modern interpretive dance' in front of the garage door to find a sweet spot where the remote would work. The manufacturer's website and Google suggest that this could be due to RF interference. (Yes, I've changed the batteries and fiddled with the antenna). That would be a difficult problem to track down, me thinks. It would be nice if there was some kind of affordable scanner that would point at the offending source.

And, I don't know, but I doubt that my neighbours have the same model of GDO, because my garage is a new construction in an older area.

Does it help to turn your vehicle off? Bad plug wires can cause interference that will block the opener without causing noticable drivability issues.

go4donuts · Oct 14, 2013

Original poster here.

I just added another feature to this system which I really like - an on/off power indicator light.

As well as this remote device worked, it was still a bit of a pain because I couldn't tell from my vehicle if the power remote had successfully turned on the power - sometimes I have to click the button twice. So then, when I hit my door opener remote and the door didn't open, I wasn't sure if the power remote hadn't activated the power or if the door remote wasn't connecting with the door opener. I'd be stuck in the alley dancing between two remotes trying to get the door open.

So, I bought two small 12 volt automotive clearance lights (the kind you see defining the corners of large trucks). I mounted one above the garage door, visible from my vehicle when I am approaching the door. I mounted the other inside the garage window, but visible from the house. I powered these with a small 12 volt transformer that came with some now-defunct electronic device. I plugged the transformer into the output of the remote switch box along with the garage door opener.

So now, when I come home, I hit the power remote and I can see with certainty that the power for the GDO is on, and then hit the GDO remote.
And for those times when I forget to power down the GDO when I go in for the night, I can see a bright orange light in the garage window. Works great.

Garage door opening autonomously

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