Garage Door Remotes Not Working? Here’s Why
Garage door remotes have replaced the front door key as the main entry into the home. Let’s take a look at why your remote is working properly.
Because the garage door has become the main entry point into many homes, it can be extremely frustrating when your remote doesn’t work. You’re so busy working and running the kids to soccer practice, the last thing you need is no access into the home. Let's take a look at the most common reasons why your garage door remote is not working.
Battery Needs to Be Replaced
Some garage door remotes have an LED light, while others do not. This is a nice feature that lets you know if the battery inside the unit is good. If there is no light at all, or it is dim, the battery most likely needs to be replaced.
There are many types of batteries for garage door remotes, but the most common type recently has been the 2032 coin battery. You can usually pry open the remote case by removing the visor clip and using it to separate the top and bottom. This will provide you with access to the inside where the battery resides.
Vacation Lock is Engaged
Most wall buttons on automatic garage door openers today feature a vacation lock. This lock will prevent your remotes from activating the opener, and often the unit will put off some type of signal letting you know, like a flashing light. On some brands, the vacation lock will also lock out the outside keypad, so this is something to keep in mind when using this feature.
Circuit Board Has Gone Out
Most garage door openers will have a wire hanging off the motor head that is connected to the circuit board. This is the antenna wire that is soldered to the receiver portion of the board. It is common for the receiver to go out on a circuit board and the unit still operates normally from the wall button inside the garage.
When a wireless receiver on the circuit board goes out, all your wireless devices (remotes, keypads, vehicles) will start to have intermittent range issues when trying to open the garage door. If you are fine with only running your opener using the physical wall button in the garage, it's ok to do so. You don’t necessarily need to replace the board until there is complete failure, which could be years down the road.
If you want to get your remotes working again, you have a few options. You can replace the circuit board, install an external receiver, or replace the whole unit. Circuit boards have become quite pricey, so if the unit is older, it might be in your best interest to replace the unit.
If you would rather go with an external receiver, Linear and LiftMaster make a few options. The only thing to keep in mind is you may have to buy new remotes and a keypad that are compatible with the new receiver if it uses a different frequency. This can get expensive, which is why most people don’t go this route.
Remote is Bad
Since garage door remotes have circuit boards inside, it is not uncommon for one to fail. Especially when you consider how often they are dropped or mishandled with daily use. If you have exhausted all other options, the next step is to replace the remote.
Generic Remotes on Amazon.com
If you have purchased a generic garage door remote on Amazon.com, and it stopped working after a few months, it’s most likely because it is not OEM. We have heard on many occasions from customers that the generic remotes fail prematurely regularly.
If you see the term “replacement for” in the title of a product on Amazon, then most likely it is not a genuine OEM part.
No Power to Your Garage Door Opener
If you have no power to your garage door opener, then you most likely need to call an electrician. But, before you do that, here are a few things to check.
First, check the breaker box to make sure the garage circuit is on. This is always the first place to start. It's good to flip the breaker back and forth because it can look as if it's not tripped, but it is.
Next, plug something into the ceiling outlet where the garage door opener is plugged in to see if there is power. If so, then your circuit board has most likely gone out on your opener. You can try unplugging the unit for a minute or so and reprogramming the limits to see if that resolves the issue.
Last, if there is no power at the ceiling outlet, check to see if you have GFCI outlets in the garage. Many times, the ceiling outlet for the garage door opener is wired into a GFCI outlet in the garage, and it just needs to be reset. It is common for the GFCI outlet to trip when a refrigerator or freezer is plugged into the outlet.
Remote Frequency Interference
Garage door remote frequency issues are some of the hardest to diagnose. We have encountered some weird problems while doing service calls, but your issue most likely is related to the light bulb.
If you are using an LED light bulb in your automatic opener, you want to make sure it is 60 watts or fewer. We have experienced on many occasions where a 75 watt or higher light bulb will cause the garage door remote range to be limited. This is because LED bulbs have circuit boards inside, and they can put out a frequency that interferes with garage door remotes.
Garage Door Opens a Few Inches and Stops
If your garage door only opens a few inches and stops, you most likely have a broken spring. This is one of the most common repairs on a garage door, since the spring is what does the heavy lifting. Springs on garage doors are rated to open and close your door about 10,000 cycles before they break.
Another reason your garage door won’t open is the force may need to be adjusted on the automatic opener. Older openers have manual dial adjustments to increase or decrease the pulling force of the automatic opener when it's running through the open and close cycle. This setting can get weak over time, therefore increasing it a little most likely will address the issue.
Keep in mind, you only want to increase the force on a garage door that is properly balanced. You first want to make sure your garage door opens fine manually and is balanced. After increasing the force, you can test it by following the testing procedures in the owner's manual.
Don’t Fully Rely on Your Garage Door
One thing I always stress to homeowners and tenants is do not rely on your garage door as the only way into your home. If the power is out in the home or your spring breaks on your garage door, you most likely won’t be able to enter through the garage. This is why you should always have a key to your front door.
Conclusion
When a garage door remote doesn’t work, most people don’t think of all the issues we mentioned in this article. These tips come from years of servicing residential garage doors and openers. The advice in this article will most likely resolve your issue, if not, you can click one of the articles we have linked to for a more thorough explanation.
