by "BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
Published 02/04/2017 at 11:01
by "BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
Published 02/04/2017 at 11:01
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STARS: 0
This is starting to weird me out. Twice, since moving into our new (to us) house, the garage door has opened, and it wasn’t one of us that did it. The first time that it happened, we hadn’t moved anything in yet, and we figured that one of us had hit the door button by accident instead of the light switch (or something to that effect). I wasn’t too worried about it because we literally had nothing in the garage, as we hadn’t moved anything in yet. We kind of brushed it off, as we thought it was one of us.
Fast-forward roughly two months, and it has now happened again. This time, we’ve got a bunch of stuff in the garage, though. I came home from work, pulled into the alley, and hit the garage door opener button from my car. As I pulled up I was surprised to see how much light was coming from the garage - and realized that the door was open, and was now closing. Judging from the amount of snow that had blown in, I’m guessing it had been open for an hour or more.
This makes me want to get rid of the wireless remotes and install a keypad. Having to get in/out of my car is a minor inconvenience compared to having to replace all my tools because someone sees my garage door open and steals them. But it seems like several of the keypads that I’ve seen are also wireless, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of getting one.
I’m going to see if I can reset the door and openers this morning, but failing that, is it possible to somehow disable the wireless part of the garage door opener and replace it with a fixed keypad that isn’t wireless?
"X37.9XXS" (x379xxs)
02/04/2017 at 11:06, STARS: 0
Have a Snickers bar, and see what happens
"Tekamul" (tekamulburner)
02/04/2017 at 11:07, STARS: 0
It’s probably not the transmitter. It may be on the edge of the travel limit. Try calibrating the UP/DOWN limits and see if that resolves it.
"tpw_rules" (tpwrules)
02/04/2017 at 11:20, STARS: 0
Seconded. No one watches to make sure their door closed all the way and stays closed. Watch to see if it encounters any stiff points while traveling. Check to make sure the limits are set correctly and the safety beam is well-aligned and not blocked.
How old is the motor? Since 1996, I believe, garage doors must have rolling code systems. They’re still pretty trivial to spoof if someone wanted to, but they’re much less susceptible to random interference or your neighbor’s clicker.
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/04/2017 at 11:21, STARS: 0
The thing is, I always wait to make sure that the door is closed, and sits closed for a few seconds before I leave. That was my first thought as well, but given that the door was most definitely shut when I left yesterday morning, it makes me think more transmitter.
"Tristan" (casselts)
02/04/2017 at 11:22, STARS: 2
I had this issue a couple weeks ago. It ended up being the hard wired button in the garage. The contacts were mashed together so closely that they world just randomly make contact. It certainly freaked me out when I heard the garage door open while I was sitting on the sofa at 11 pm.
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/04/2017 at 11:25, STARS: 0
When it started happening to you, how frequent was it?
"Tristan" (casselts)
02/04/2017 at 11:37, STARS: 0
It happened the first time- I went and investigated, closed it and went back to the sofa... maybe an hour to half hour later it hastened again, so I unplugged the opener and figured out that the button was faulty.
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/04/2017 at 11:48, STARS: 0
So I just had a look, for kicks. The hard-wired button is pretty poorly done. Wiggling it around on the wall, the light on it turns on and off but the door doesn’t open. I can’t figure out how they fixed it into the wall, though. I’m almost tempted to rip it off, replace it, and do it (and the wiring) right.
That doesn’t exactly instill confidence in me. Then again, the way the whole garage was built isn’t fantastic. I’ve already had several pieces of eavestrough blow out on me. The garage door rollers were in desperate need of lubrication, and several of the bolts holding the hinges on garage door itself had worked themselves loose. Several of the holes they fit into are stripped as well. My plan was to wait for a few warm days, fill the holes in the door with epoxy, wait until it sets, then re-drill and tap them.
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/04/2017 at 11:51, STARS: 0
Eh, I already had biscuits and sausage gravy this morning. I probably don’t need a Snickers...
"Tristan" (casselts)
02/04/2017 at 11:52, STARS: 0
Repairing someone else’s shoddy work is always satisfying.
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/04/2017 at 11:56, STARS: 1
Like looking at the wiring for the door opener. About 3 feet above the hard-wired switch, one of the wires has been cut, and twisted back together. Just one wire. The wires are in a pair, so the wire that wasn’t cut now loops out a ways. Why not just do it right - cut both to the same length, twist them, and tape or Marret them together? It boggles the mind.
Unfortunately the garage is also unheated, and it’s -14 C outside (~7 F), so I’m not really inclined to do much out there today. But Saturdays are pretty much my only day to get out there, so I might just have to suck it up.
"LOREM IPSUM" (lorem---ipsum)
02/04/2017 at 13:08, STARS: 0
Does your garage door have a physical key lock accessible from the outside, or a regular door you can use to access the garage?
If so, I would pull the release cable to disconnect the door from the opener and manually raise and lower the door until you figure out exactly what the issue is. This way you can troubleshoot things without fear of your door sitting open and unattended. Fix whatever you think needs fixing, then keep an eye on the doors quick release to see if it’s moved since you last looked at it. If it keeps moving on its own, keep fixing stuff until it doesn’t.
"E92M3" (E46M3)
02/04/2017 at 14:03, STARS: 0
This happened to me a while back. One of the neighbors had something interfering with the signal. I don’t think it was another garage door, because I tried to use my remote to see if any of theirs would open to figure whos it was.
There’s a procedure to reset the opener and have it use a different rolling code. IIRC it was hold down the programing button for 30 secs right after plugging it into power. Then reprogram your remotes with the new code. Never happened to me again after that.
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/04/2017 at 14:52, STARS: 0
I just got back in from doing exactly that. In my case, hold the purple button for five seconds to reset all codes, then press it for one second then the button on the remove. Both remotes are working now. It’ll be interesting to see if it happens again.
Something else I discovered: the little cubby where I put the remote it my car might be tighter than I thought. I wonder if it somehow squished the button down when I put it in there after I drove away yesterday morning. Either way, I’ll be keeping a much closer eye on things.
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/04/2017 at 15:29, STARS: 0
It’s a detached garage, so it does have a separate door. I’m not super-worried about it as my wife is home most of the day, so she can keep an eye on things as well.
If it comes to it, I’ll certainly do what you mentioned.
"E92M3" (E46M3)
02/04/2017 at 15:44, STARS: 0
I thought the homelink module in my car was going wonky. The first few times it happened in the middle of the night while we were sleeping. Then it started doing it when I wasn’t home.
"Tristan" (casselts)
02/05/2017 at 00:26, STARS: 1
I’m thankful my wife talked me out of moving back to Minnesota... I can’t even with those temperatures any more...
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/09/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 1
Earlier this week it was a consistent -30 C (-22 F). That’s cold.