Garage Door Opener Range

[rworkman98]

I recently put a Craftsman 3/4 HP 315mHz Garage Door opener in my new garage. However, I’ve noticed the range is atrocious. The remotes work infrequently when they’re only 20’-30’ away. Part of my problem may be that I have a 7’ Garage Door Opening, but raised tracks. Therefore, the garage door opener is sitting at ~10’ from the floor, so it may be getting increased interference from the wall above my garage door.

Has anyone here ever tried to increase the range on their garage door openers? If so, what did you try? I was thinking of lengthening the little wire antenna that hangs down from the opener. I was also considering trying to tie this antenna into my EMT conduit, in an effort to vastly increase the size of the antenna. Would either of these work? What else should I try?

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/[email protected]/detail?.dir=dda1re2&.dnm=a95ere2.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/[email protected]/detail?.dir=dda1re2&.dnm=d6c7re2.jpg&.src=ph

 

[nova65ss]

I don't think the length of the wire will help a whole lot. Just make sure it is hanging down and not tucked up in the cover. One thing I can suggest is to hold the remote button down for a few seconds rather than just a short touch. I can't tell you how many times we get called back for Liftmaster remote problems and I ask them to show me what it's doing and the customer will hit the button so fast it never responds.

They used to make a range extender years ago but haven't seen one in a long time. You can also try and clear it all out and reprogram it fresh and see if that helps any. Let us know,

Jimmy

 

[volvo]

Instead of just pressing the remote button from inside the car in the drive way, I could double the opening distance from way down the street by, A: cleaning the contacts and installing new high quality batteries, B: Moving the remote into a plastic zip loc bag ( wire tie it to a brace) out to the front of the car just under the grill and running some wire to a intermitant switch at the dash. Worked for me.....H

 

[Charles (in GA)]

If its inside a metal building, it may need an outdoor antenna to get full range, one of my neighbors had this problem and that is what he did, installed an outdoor antenna. Mine is a metal building, but it has a large glass door so the signal is not completely blocked.

Charles

 

[Andamo]

I have a 3 car garage behind the house. Two of the doors have Sears openers on them, and the middle bay has a Genie. On the 2 Sears openers, you have to hold the button in the car for it to work and sometimes you have to wait till the door opens completely to put the car in. On the Genie, one push of the button at 100' away, and it's opening.
I've also noticed in the warm weather they open sooner than in winter. This applies to the Sears only.The middle bay of the garage had a Sears also, but the board went out and a replacement board was almost as much as a complete opener. NEVER, NEVER will I ever buy anything from Sears other than hand tools. I don't even want to start about the radial arm saw from Sears !!!

 

[Willy Victor]

I have a 3 car garage behind the house. Two of the doors have Sears openers on them, and the middle bay has a Genie. On the 2 Sears openers, you have to hold the button in the car for it to work and sometimes you have to wait till the door opens completely to put the car in. On the Genie, one push of the button at 100' away, and it's opening.
I've also noticed in the warm weather they open sooner than in winter. This applies to the Sears only.The middle bay of the garage had a Sears also, but the board went out and a replacement board was almost as much as a complete opener. NEVER, NEVER will I ever buy anything from Sears other than hand tools. I don't even want to start about the radial arm saw from Sears !!!

Andamo tell me about your RAS.

Willy

 

[drmarkr]

I recently put a Craftsman 3/4 HP 315mHz Garage Door opener in my new garage. However, I’ve noticed the range is atrocious. The remotes work infrequently when they’re only 20’-30’ away. Part of my problem may be that I have a 7’ Garage Door Opening, but raised tracks. Therefore, the garage door opener is sitting at ~10’ from the floor, so it may be getting increased interference from the wall above my garage door.

Has anyone here ever tried to increase the range on their garage door openers? If so, what did you try? I was thinking of lengthening the little wire antenna that hangs down from the opener. I was also considering trying to tie this antenna into my EMT conduit, in an effort to vastly increase the size of the antenna. Would either of these work? What else should I try?

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/[email protected]/detail?.dir=dda1re2&.dnm=a95ere2.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/[email protected]/detail?.dir=dda1re2&.dnm=d6c7re2.jpg&.src=ph

About 20 years ago when the first car door openers were hitting the market, a rep from one of the companies told me to put the opener against my chin and it would increase the range.... something about your body acting as an antennae?? Now, I'm pretty skeptical about such crapola, but there's been lots of times that I couldn't get my GD (that's GARAGE DOOR, not G@ddamm) door to open, and when I took the opener and stuck it against my skin, the GD thing opened. Go figure...

MR

 

[MAINIAC]

MY sears does the same thing. new batteries and all the antenna extentions did nothing, now I am just living with it. My dad's works from 300 feet down his street. same opened, same age, same everything. Go Figure!

 

[nelson]

I have noticed some opener ranges are severely decreased while my bluetooth handsfree kit is powered on.

 

[mike944]

Some cars have metallic coating on the windshield that severely reduces the radio transmission through them. try holding the remote out the window at longer distances. it may be your car, not your opener.

 

[cc_rider]

I have a Liftmaster on my Overhead Door. The range IS small; it really only works about three car lengths away. Maybe because the door is all metal, I don't know. But I see it as something of a safety feature, so stray signals from whatever source don't accidentally activate it. In my old house sometimes I'd come home to find the garage open, and no, I didn't forget to close it. I'd rather have a short range than accidental openings.

c.

 

[CraigFL]

Check this article: http://www.buseynet.com/blog/index....rage-Door-Opener-Good-Garage-Door-Opener.html

 

[mjw930]

About 2 years ago everyone moved to the new 315 mhz frequency and away from the 390 mhz. Also, these units have about 1/10th the range of the older systems. Most of this is due to the defense department's use of the 390 mhz frequency

Lincolnshire, Illinois, March 16, 2005. — The Department of Defense is in the process of activating its Motorola "Smart Zone LMR" radio system which has been designed for use in national security and military communications throughout the continental United States (please see attached Public Notice”). Additionally, this communication system will be used by all police and fire departments throughout the U.S.. The system, which utilizes the 390 MHz frequency band, may conflict with the operation of garage door openers operating at this MHz band. The government is not accepting any financial responsibility for garage door openers made potentially inoperable by the national rollout of this system. Already there have been instances where the switch by the government has taken place with corresponding problems of performance of 390MHz garage door openers.

I lost about 100 ft of range with the new opener and sometimes it won't open until I hold the button down for 5 or 10 seconds. It's possible I'm getting interference but I suspect it's more a lack of range due to the new frequency / power output.

The extended putton press usually happens when I tap the button and the door doesn't open. I think it has to resync the codes so holding it down does that.

 

[rworkman98]

Check this article: http://www.buseynet.com/blog/index....rage-Door-Opener-Good-Garage-Door-Opener.html

Interesting. I have 4 remotes, however, so I'd much rather make a change to my actual opener. I'd like to simply lenghten the antenna on the garage door opener, but want to know if anyone else has tried it...

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Interesting. I have 4 remotes, however, so I'd much rather make a change to my actual opener. I'd like to simply lenghten the antenna on the garage door opener, but want to know if anyone else has tried it...

The length of an antenna is determined by the frequency it is operating on. The length must be a mutiple of the frequencies wavelength, basically, it has to resonate properly. Altering the length of an antenna will NOT improve its ability to receive, actually probably hinder it. What does help is... (when the antenna is, like the ones in the remotes, all coiled up, to get the required length in as little space as possible) .... is to "straighten the antenna out" which is what was done in the link about altering the remote. The antenna on your opener in the garage is probably a wire dangling from it, thus is is already "straightened out" and altering the length of it won't help the situation at all.

Charles

 

[sbrian2]

I have 2 liftmaster door openers and one has got to the point that my front bumber almost has to be touching it for it to work. The other can be activated from 150' using the same remote. It used to work fine, but now it *****. I have cleared the memory and re-taught the remotes nad straightened the antenna, but no dice.

 

[CraigFL]

The length of an antenna is determined by the frequency it is operating on. The length must be a mutiple of the frequencies wavelength, basically, it has to resonate properly. Altering the length of an antenna will NOT improve its ability to receive, actually probably hinder it. What does help is... (when the antenna is, like the ones in the remotes, all coiled up, to get the required length in as little space as possible) .... is to "straighten the antenna out" which is what was done in the link about altering the remote. The antenna on your opener in the garage is probably a wire dangling from it, thus is is already "straightened out" and altering the length of it won't help the situation at all.

Charles

I know that's what RF theory teaches you but there are other things that can make a difference. First, it is possible to "match" (the impedance) of almost any length of antenna and improve performance over a simple 1/2 or 1/4 wavelength antenna. Second, a lot of these antennas(both the receiver and transmitter), are less than ideal. They're not straight, don't have good ground planes, polarization is not always the same. So reality says that you might hit on a cut & try combination that works better than the original.

 

[nova65ss]

I've never been able to add length to an antenna and get a remote to work better. On our old house we had two doors and my side would work from down the street and the other would only work when you were right up on it

I've had some door openers that had the frequency "float" off of its set freq. before, but usually the receiver will "float" with it. On the older ones there is a screw that you can turn inside the remote and it will adjust the freq. but it is a trying process and takes some patience. You could always buy an external receiver to add to it and it may help with the range, they usually plug in to an outlet and have two wires that run to the wall control terminals on the back of the operator.

Jimmy

 

[logical]

I just installed some Overhead Doors DC drive openers (Lowes sells them) with their Code-Dodger remote system (same as Genie Intellicode I believe). I hit the button out on the road before I turned into my driveway last night....thats about 250 feet from the garage. The door opened right up. These things are fast too...and quiet.

 

[DaveL.]

I live near a U.S. Naval Supply Depot. We get interference on our garage door openers from their communications equipment. Sometimes my remote works from 200'+, other times during the day I have to be directly in front of the door(s). It's a common problem many homeowners have in our area. A local garage door company can install a device to 'cure' the problem but it costs $150-$200 per garage door.

 

[rworkman98]

Thanks for all the good ideas. Since it was under warranty, I had Sears come out and take a look. It turns out that my receiving board on the opener was less than optimal. He installed a new one on Monday, and I haven't had any problem since.