Garage door opener range issue

[vertguy]

Anyone experience a reduced range issue with an opener? I have Chamberlain Professional openers on both garages (~11 years old) and our main door just started having a range issue with all openers. Meaning you have to be right in front of the door for any to work and it does this with both the Chamberlain openers as well as the Homelink in the car.

I tried reprogramming all the openers and it seemed to help, but when we used it last night I had to pull the car up to where it was almost touching the door for the opener to work. The other door still works normal and nothing obviously different with the one in question as the antenna wire looks intact and hangs freely.

Also, nothing new in garage that might cause some interference as this just started out of the blue about a week ago.

Any ideas as I have been unsuccessful with finding anything thus far???

 

[Speedster29]

Many LED lights generate "RF noise". Any recently installed/replaced lighting?

 

[01-7700]

Not a solution to your problem, but an interesting tangent. On Car Talk there was a discussion on remotes and why they work at a further range if you point it at your open mouth instead of directly at the device you want to effect. Have you tried this?

The solution to your problem seems to point to a weak receiver.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Do your garage door openers have a single wire coming out of them for the antenna?

I had an issue the same as you do with one of my garage door openers last year. They are both Craftsman door openers that I bought at the same time about 5 years ago, and put up at the same time. But for some reason one of them, which was the one I used most often, started having issues with opening up at what used to be the normal range.

I saw that my openers have a single purple colored wire coming out of the back of them for the antenna. So I stripped about an inch off of the outer insulation from the end of the purple wire and attached a two foot long piece of the same gage wire to that and let it hang down.

That worked, and I can get the same range out of that door opener as I used to.

Now, this does not address why I lost the range in the first place on just that one opener, but it solved the problem for now. I think, in my case, it has something to do with the fact that the opener that lost the range was the one I use most often.

If your door opener has the wire antenna, maybe try adding a piece of wire to the end of it to extend it and see if that helps.

Jim

 

[peter2772000]

I always had issues with the door in Florida since buying the house in 2012. Did some research and followed the recommendation to attach the antenna wire to the metal bracketry supporting the door opener. Presto, fixed.

 

[pattenp]

With all the wifi stuff it could be a neighbor's stuff screwing up your signal. I've had wifi security cameras that killed my garage door remote signal range. I've also gone through the challenge of LEDs messing up the garage door remote light that sometimes it will work and other times not work. I went back to standard bulbs and no more problems with the light and I also seem to have better range with the remote.

 

[calif phil]

I was in an Overhead door company store a while back and they LED bulbs made for openers that promised no lack of range problems


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[vertguy]

Thanks for the input!

Mine does have the antenna wire, so I will try a couple of the recommendations to extend and or attach it to the metal support brackets.

 

[MikeF2316]

I had problems with range on my opener, right from day 1. I used the "extend the antenna wire" trick. I put a 3 foot long clipl ead on the antenna wire, banged a nail into a rafter, clipped the other end of the clip lead onto that. I didn't even strip the antenna wire, just put the clip lead on the insulation. Problem solved. That was just a temporary test, about 15 years ago. The clip lead is still there...

 

[maxmargin]

My Chamberlain opener is 6 years old and same range problem (only works using the factory remote while in the garage). Troubleshooted interference, replaced remote battery, extended antenna and checked sodder on the board all to no avail. Ordered a new board direct from Chamberlain for about $80, installed it and everything works fine now. Alot of wasted time. I hope I get more than 6 years out of the new board.