Garade door openers

[Mike in Ohio]

I have an out building with 3 garage doors and no man door, all 3 have craftsman openers that are at least 30 years old. This morning the middle one was open when I left for work, neither the remote or the wall switch would make it move. Since Mom and Dad are here right now I went to work.

Dad was mowing this afternoon and the top and middle doors were going up and down at random times, the bottom was not (garage was built on a hill and has 3 levels). When I came home tonight the middle was halfway open, the top closed. I went in the house for a few minutes and went back out and it was closed. It opened while I was walking down there, and opened and closed twice while I was there, the wall button nor the remote would make it go up or down.

I unplugged both the top and middle for the night, and put a lamp timer on the bottom door so it won't get power during the night even though it doesn't seem to be a problem right now.

Any ideas what would cause these openers to lose their minds?

 

[Coolabah]

I have an out building with 3 garage doors and no man door, all 3 have craftsman openers that are at least 30 years old. This morning the middle one was open when I left for work, neither the remote or the wall switch would make it move. Since Mom and Dad are here right now I went to work.

Dad was mowing this afternoon and the top and middle doors were going up and down at random times, the bottom was not (garage was built on a hill and has 3 levels). When I came home tonight the middle was halfway open, the top closed. I went in the house for a few minutes and went back out and it was closed. It opened while I was walking down there, and opened and closed twice while I was there, the wall button nor the remote would make it go up or down.

I unplugged both the top and middle for the night, and put a lamp timer on the bottom door so it won't get power during the night even though it doesn't seem to be a problem right now.

Any ideas what would cause these openers to lose their minds?

Well, so far no-one has replied so it might be up to me to be the old uncle that no-one else in their right minds listens to , then shoves with astounding speed into an aged nursing facility, then steals my pristine "66 "Stang...
but , sonny , whilst I am still here , typing with my nose, as much as I love the electronics from 30 years ago - that was then and this is now. The ICBM missiles from 30 years ago have been de-commissioned. Heck , I am not even sure if electrons were known about 30 years ago, Pretty sure Max Planck was in my class at junior school.......
my 2 cents.... might be time to spring for something this millenium ???

 

[RWorth]

If it was one door I'd say the electronics in the door, but if it's two or more doors, it's either somebody screwing with you, or some outside source sending a signal.

Got any neighbors that are jokesters??

 

[jako]

When I was a kid my buddy's folks had one of the first tv's with a wireless remote
It worked on sound waves, like a tuning fork.
When the dog would walk in and scratch at his chain collar the tv would go nuts.
My buddy would then beat the dog.

I'm sure this is of no use to you but, don't look at the dog.

 

[66Caprice]

Leave them like that for Halloween!!!!

 

[CJ7VFR]

Here are a few questions for you.

Are there any issues with the power going to the building with the garage doors that just started happening at the same time the doors started acting funny?

Where are the remotes kept? In the house or in the garage building?

When was the last time you replaced the batteries in the remotes?

Do you have any keypads installed on the outside of the garage doors to open them when you don't have the remote handy? If so, are these key pads hard wired into inside door opening button, or do they use batteries? And if they are battery operated, when was the last time they were changed?

Jim

 

[-Brent-]

First thing I'd try is resetting the openers/controllers although I doubt it will work. There's some sort of interference nearby. Any new electronic items at home, HDTV perhaps?

 

[upndown]

Any power outages, storms lately? Power spikes will do strange things to the electronics. Doors that open and close randomly but won't operate from a transmitter or wall button are usually a pretty good indicator. Try disconnecting the low voltage wires from the operator (note where wires were connected) see what happens. While you're at it check wiring, critters love chewing insulation.

Might be a good time for replacement, given their age I'd say they owe you nothing. Good luck!

 

[77thor]

Wow, those openers are over 30 yrs old??

I would also suspect a power issue. Possible lightening strike nearby?

Might be time to replace.

 

[Angelfire]

Got kids?

Seriously, sounds like something has scrambled them. If a power down doesn't fix, then honestly, I'd be looking to replace. The liftmaster 8500 is what replaced my ancient opener and I couldn't be happier.
Cheers

 

[ajj]

Here's something to check...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garage_door_opener

Older garage door openers operate at 390 mhz. This was an unused frequency until recently. Newer Land Mobile Radio systems used by the fed and military started cause interference. The problem is so wide spread that they are now selling a retrofit kit for openers to work on 315mhz. I had to install one earlier this year.

You may want to check with your neighbors to see if they are having similar problems.

 

[kbuhagiar]

If it was one door I'd say the electronics in the door, but if it's two or more doors, it's either somebody screwing with you, or some outside source sending a signal.

Got any neighbors that are jokesters??

Mike in Ohio,

Any updates?

I would have to agree with RWorth...unless you have experienced some catastrophic power surge or electronic disturbance, it is extremely unlikely that all three openers would malfunction at once.

Perhaps you are the unwitting victim of some neighborhood youngsters, who have learned how to hack old remote control devices..

The weird thing is, you should at least be able to control the openers with the hardwired buttons, even if someone did hack the opener codes...are you sure it isn't an inside job?

In any case, good luck.

 

[DeliveryGuy]

Take your remote out of your jacket before you lump it in the corner. Or, stop carrying the remote in your pocket. Tell your wife to stop carrying it in her purse. Take the battery out of the remote you smashed the other day and electrical taped back up, the button is jammed. And finally, stop letting your kids play with the remotes.

These are all legitimate reasons customers have paid me to find out why their door operates randomly.

 

[kbs2244]

I would vote for the need for a frequency change.
As the link mentioned the older 390 MHz has become much more used lately.
If you have a military base, hospital, fire or police station nearby it is an almost certainty.

If the openers are mechanically ok I would go for the frequency change kit.
You will get the new rolling code update as well.

 

[Dirtydan69]

I had an automatic pet door operated by a motor in my last house. The trigger was a magnet the dogs wore on their collars. When they would come in close proximity to the door the magnet would trigger a switch and it would operate. I noticed sometime when landscapers cut the lawn and passed by the door it would operate. Obviously the mower was creating a magnetic field which triggered the door. Wonder if you have a similar situation.

 

[Mike in Ohio]

Sorry guys was a way from the computer for a couple of days.

Two of the three doors were acting up the third never did. We plugged them back in Thursday morning and they have not acted up since.

No neighbors close enough to be playing jokes, no kids either.

The remotes are all over the place, vehicles,house, etc. We have 6 or 7 of them. Some of them probably haven't had batteries changed in a long time.

No keypads on the building.

Ordered a blue-tooth operated switch that I am going to install so I can remotely kill the power for the night and when nobody is home

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Dragfluid]

If you've got them "all over the place", perhaps one is sitting on the dash of a vehicle, getting cooked by the sun, and moving things around?

 

[matt_i]

I had this happen once as a kid when a small aircraft flew over. Garage door was going nuts. The plane in our area was not common.