you can buy universal recievers for about $50. Cheaper than a whole new opener. THey hook up to the push button wire (you say that works?).
See here for one.
I have a garage door opener from Craftsman, I don't know the model. It is about 10 years old. It will open from the manual switch, but not from the remotes. I know how to re-program them, but that has not helped. This has been a problem for a while, it seems off and on as to whether the remotes will work. I assume the receiver in the opener to be defective, and I doubt it is replaceable. The mechanical part of the opener seems fine.
What is your recommendation on a new opener ?? Another Craftsman? What about Genie ? The one I have is a chain driven type, and I wonder if the belt driven types are better??
Thanks for any tips or advice !!
--James--
Yes the receiver is replaceable but it is built onto the main logic board. However there's a good chance the receiver isn't the problem. Usually receiver problems don't come & go. When they're bad, they stay bad until they are replaced.
It sounds like it's an interference problem that comes & goes as something is being turned on & off. The interference could be inside or outside your home. Common causes are police scanners, ham radios, cell phone towers, older large satellite dishes, and more recently military radios. So changing the receiver or even replacing the opener may not solve the problem if it is on the same 390 frequency that your opener is currently on. Genie, Liftmaster, Chamberlain, Craftsman & others have been using this freq for years in the US. The Liftmaster openers that have just started to come out recently (last couple of months) are now on the 315 freq (used in Central & South America for years) to get away from the military radio interference problem. I do not know if the other brands are on the new freq yet or not but some places may not have ran out of the 390 freq units yet.
Unfortunately if the interference is outside of the home it can sometimes be difficult for the average person to determine where the problem is coming from. Do other people in your area have the same problem or is it only your house? If you are the only one turn off every breaker in your house except for the opener circuit & see if the problem goes away. If so turn them back on one at a time & see what circuit(s) causes the problem & then what is on the circuit.
You wouldn't be the first to spend money & then find out the money spent didn't solve the problem.
A more drastic test is to take the opener down & take it to a different area. Plug it in & see if the problem goes away.
Doordoc
I replaced my 15 year old craftsman with a new craftsman and like the salesman said most the noise is from the door not the opener. Both craftsman were made by chamberlain. Chamberlain also owns Liftmaster.
THe universal receive is a good idea. I had to buy one because my car's buttons were not compatible with my garage door opener. The universal receiver from HD or Lowes did the trick.
Genie worm drive is a good unit. it's about $150-175. and you can get an outside keypad to open from outside the garage. I'd stay away from Crapsman. Rich
I recently installed a new Chamberlain 1/2 hp belt-drive opener. It was somewhat pricey but is absolutely silent when operating. You can hear the sound the door makes on the tracks, etc. but no noise from the Chamberlain.
I had a Craftsman chain drive in my last garage. It worked fine. I forget now who makes them for Craftsman, but it may be Chamberlain.
I now have a screw drive from LiftMaster and it works fine as well. I think it is a little quieter, but I can't say if it is really any better than the chain drive. I've never owned a belt drive so I have no comment.
Matt
Interference is an interesting possibility, as is an intermitent battery connection.....as battery contacts corrode or otherwise make inadequate coupling. If you know a Ham nearby, or somehow can ask one for help, a good resource might have a spectrum analyzer to survey the RF band of interest and give you an idea if this is in fact the issue. By taking a reading over a period of time, a ham could clear this question up. And remember, Hams love to help others with technical questions like yours.
Les KA9GLW
PS..one trick to eliminate interference is to realign, or tune the antenna. Sometime attenuating the signal works too. In your case, IF IT IS interference, shortening the antenna might be the trick, as it prevents overloading the front-end of the receiver. This reduces the performance of the receiver as well, but increases the odds of near-field reception which you seek. However, this is the theory. DON'T adjust the antenna until you know for SURE that this is the reason.
Regarding the type of drive,, If you are in an area of harsh Winters, go with the chain.
I really doubt it is interference related. It has gone for five weeks now and not worked one single time. It works perfectly on the button, hard-wired control.
It did this same thing about 3 months ago. Would not work for about a week (three different remotes would not work) , and then it worked again for 3 months until now.
The universal remote looks like a good idea. Did someone say they have them at Lowe's or Home Depot ? If so, I wonder what department to look in................
--James-
With the garage door openers p[erhaps??
You may want to check out Wayne-Dalton's I-Drive an innovative design that came out about 2 years ago, have it on mine 2 years and have had no trouble. It installs above the garage door, and pulls the garage up using wires that are wound around drums at the end of a rod. It does away with the installation of a unit in the center of your garage and looks a lot neater. However it does not use sensors, the motors are designed to reverse if the doors encounter some resistance
You may want to check out Wayne-Dalton's I-Drive an innovative design that came out about 2 years ago, have it on mine 2 years and have had no trouble. It installs above the garage door, and pulls the garage up using wires that are wound around drums at the end of a rod. It does away with the installation of a unit in the center of your garage and looks a lot neater. However it does not use sensors, the motors are designed to reverse if the doors encounter some resistance
Why?
Matt
we use promax . they can be had from shops that put up doors. a super good opener . we had em put on our 10x16 insulated doors about 9 years ago and they are used alot and still work fine.lucas
Put in a Genie Excelerator a few months ago to replace an old chain drive opener-- installation was relatively straightforward and simple. Would have been simpler if the guy who put up the first opener hadn't torqued down the bolts so tightly... first time I've ever wrung the post off a socket wrench. The hardest part of the installation was connecting the wiring to the terminals in the head of the opener; they're pretty small to be easy, especially when working overhead. And I have skinny fingers.
Anyhow, it's been quiet and opens very quickly.
Kay
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