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Garage door opener help


smokin5s

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I have a Craftsman Garage door opener. It is about 4 years old. for the past month or so, when opening the door it opens fine, but when closing it, half the time, you have to hit the remote 5 or 6 times before it will close. If I use the button by the house it works fine. At first I was thinking the sensors just weren't aligned right but they are fine and the lights stay lit and flash when something crosses in front of it.

 

Any idea what it could be? It is with all remotes including the key pad.

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I found something online talking about the bulbs in the garage door opener can cause the problem (completely weird) http://www.doityourself.com/forum/garages-garage-door-openers-work-shops-sheds-breezeways-carports/398711-cant-close-garage-door-remote.html#b

 

I'll try that tonight and see if it works or not I guess....

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Given your time line and inconsistency in function, here are my thoughts from experience. With the weather change, something has either flexed or come out of alignment. There is likely a tension point or gumming up of the grease. Get some garage door lube and spray the track down. Our other garage does the same as what you are saying. When I hit it with the lube, the issue is gone. I do this 2-3 times a year and have had no issues now.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/WD-40-3-In-1-11-oz-Garage-Door-Lubricant-100584/202319356

 

I know you say it works fine with the house controller. But, the signal is the same, so long as it get the door to move. I would stay with the safety sensor being tripped.

 

If it is mechanical, check if you have one or two springs, if you have two make sure one did not snap. If one has, it probably wouldn't open the door at all.

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Mine did the same, turned out to be uneven wear on the gear in the unit. Replaced the gear, made sure everything was adjusted and bam, works like new. Point being, just give it a good look over and see if something needs adjusted or replaced.
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Mine is 2 years old and started doing the same thing about 2 weeks ago. Used to be able to open it from up the street, but now I can park in front of the door and it won't open for a while. It's driving me nuts, but I found some forums talking about electrical interference causing issues on this frequency. Everything from appliances, LED bulbs, clock radios, and fans have been mentioned. It could even be something at a neighbors house.

 

This weekend I am shutting down everything in my house except the garage to try and track down if it's in the house.

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I looked tonight and it had LED bulbs in it... I replaced them with regular bulbs and we'll see if the issue continues or not... I have high hopes that it's something as silly as a light bulb. I have a hard time with it being gears since it goes up and down no problem with the house button but remotes cause an issue...
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Given your time line and inconsistency in function, here are my thoughts from experience. With the weather change, something has either flexed or come out of alignment. There is likely a tension point or gumming up of the grease. Get some garage door lube and spray the track down. Our other garage does the same as what you are saying. When I hit it with the lube, the issue is gone. I do this 2-3 times a year and have had no issues now.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/WD-40-3-In-1-11-oz-Garage-Door-Lubricant-100584/202319356

 

I know you say it works fine with the house controller. But, the signal is the same, so long as it get the door to move. I would stay with the safety sensor being tripped.

 

If it is mechanical, check if you have one or two springs, if you have two make sure one did not snap. If one has, it probably wouldn't open the door at all.

I spray lube on it once a month.... after the spring broke after only being 3 years old, the tech recommended keeping everything lubed well so that's one thing I always stay on top of.

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Fml.......I have been fighting with my opener for a year. Worked great for few months when purchased. But then.... Opens great, but trying to get it closed was a bitch. Had to be right next to the house or it would not work. Had several garage door guys out to look into it, they just scratched their heads. Then I read this. Changed the bulbs, works great again. Damn, just so simple. Smokin5s..... Thanks for the info!
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If replacing the bulbs doesn't make it any better, extend the antenna.

 

The opener head has a small piece of wire hanging down from it(the antenna). Connect another piece of small wire to that and run it to the header above the spring, down the header behind the spring. Then put the door up and take a small screwdriver to pull the trim down enough to poke the wire outside a couple of inches. I've had openers that won't open from the outside with the door down at all, work from a pretty good distance by doing this. It has always fixed the problem of bad transmitter range.

 

Metal street signs in a garage, for some reason, cause big problems sometimes too.

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Fml.......I have been fighting with my opener for a year. Worked great for few months when purchased. But then.... Opens great, but trying to get it closed was a bitch. Had to be right next to the house or it would not work. Had several garage door guys out to look into it, they just scratched their heads. Then I read this. Changed the bulbs, works great again. Damn, just so simple. Smokin5s..... Thanks for the info!

Glad it helped! I accept tips in the form of rides *cough drive cough* in the Lamborghini

 

As far as extending the antenna, I have no need to... works great as is... I don't want to be able to open the door down the street.

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must be a different issue, but I popped a new battery in my opener (in my car) and it works fine again. no clue why it would only open before and not close, but everything is good now.

because Opening you are in the garage and close to the opener, when you close you are farther away from the antenna and the remote battery didn't have enough power to transmit the signal that far? Just a guess...

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because Opening you are in the garage and close to the opener, when you close you are farther away from the antenna and the remote battery didn't have enough power to transmit the signal that far? Just a guess...

 

I don't think so, because it would open as I was driving up to the house, but it would not close while I was sitting in the driveway. It was dumb and pissed me off to have to get out of the car to close the garage.

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Fml.......I have been fighting with my opener for a year. Worked great for few months when purchased. But then.... Opens great, but trying to get it closed was a bitch. Had to be right next to the house or it would not work. Had several garage door guys out to look into it, they just scratched their heads. Then I read this. Changed the bulbs, works great again. Damn, just so simple. Smokin5s..... Thanks for the info!

 

:lol:

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If replacing the bulbs doesn't make it any better, extend the antenna.

 

The opener head has a small piece of wire hanging down from it(the antenna). Connect another piece of small wire to that and run it to the header above the spring, down the header behind the spring. Then put the door up and take a small screwdriver to pull the trim down enough to poke the wire outside a couple of inches. I've had openers that won't open from the outside with the door down at all, work from a pretty good distance by doing this. It has always fixed the problem of bad transmitter range.

 

Metal street signs in a garage, for some reason, cause big problems sometimes too.

For over a year and a half we could open the garage from up the street, then one day the range drops to zero. I can sit with the bumper almost touching the door and it won't open. Even with the wireless key pad on the door frame it will only open 50% of the time. Same results with both Homelink in the car and the remote that came with the opener.

 

This weekend I shut everything off at the breaker (except the garage) to see if it's interference coming from inside the house. No change. So either the antenna took a dump or something at a neighbors house is causing interference.

 

Others say that the frequency is shared with Homeland Security and if you live within 50 miles of a military base you may have issues. I'm not that far from Selfridge AFB, so maybe something changed after the first of the year. Ugh.

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