Garage Door Opener Issues

Hey Everyone,

I have an older Craftsman Garage Door. Recently we have been having issues getting it to open. Only opens if we are super close to the garage door or inside the garage door. I have a newer craftsman garage door opener on my other grage door and it works perfectly fine. Its not batteries in the remotes, we also have the built in homelink in our vehicles. I've read online that LED bulbs can cause interferance with garage door openers. I have installed a led bulb inside the house, but when its off the garage door still does not work correctly. Then a read that a person had motion LED night lights in their hallway that caused inteferance with their garage door opener. Which I do have inside my daughters bedroom and the hallway upstairs which is near the garage. Those have been their for years though. Thoughts?

 

[BrooklynBay]

The unit should have a wire which acts as a built in antenna. See if you could find this wire, extend it outside the control box, and place it closer to the door.

 

[Raminator157]

I tried unplugging the motion LED night lights but It did not work I have also tried extending the antenna but did not run it near the garage door. I heard extending the antenna can harm the signal sometimes but I will give it a try tomorrow

 

[BrooklynBay]

I suspect that the older version might be similar to the old car alarm remotes. You had to go within a few feet of the car to open the doors or disable the alarm. Maybe they used the AM band just like the old cordless phones. Later on they came out with high frequency FM for an extended range & Spread Spectrum for higher security. Old baby monitors had the same issues. People on cordless phones would cross talk with them.

 

[Raminator157]

I have a analog baby monitor but I don't think it's causing an issue because it's been there for two years working. maybe the garage door opener is actually just starting to fail and I don't have any interference at all

 

[BrooklynBay]

Look into getting a replacement circuit board from a later model. The motor should have the same wiring (count the number of wires on the motor), and the current draw should be the same. The Genie ScrewDrive system should be an upgrade from a standard system if you choose to replace everything.

 

[Raminator157]

I replaced the gear inside it once so I think I might just replace the whole thing with a new garage door opener probably another craftsman if extending the antenna to the front of the garage doesn't work

 

[BrooklynBay]

Sears has daily sales with coupons online plus reward points. You might want to order one online, then pick it up in the store. Sometimes the stores don't apply the correct points & coupons plus the online price might be less than the store price. They have free shipping on orders over $59.

 

[tdavis]

I had a Craftsman garage door opener fail last year.. Ended needing a new circuit board. Replaced it with a version from Chamberlain, that looks exactly the same; it's this item. The replacement circuit board was close to $100, so I figure for a few more dollars, I could upgrade.

The new version has:

light/movement sensor on the wall switch; now when I walk into the garage, the lights turns on/off automatically.

timed closed - it will open for x minutes, then automatically close.

OnQ support - with the gateway, I can now open/close/check status of my garage door from anywhere in the world that has Internet access. This is really, really handy and nice feature.

 

[Raminator157]

Well the verdict seems to be the circuit board. Extended the antenna wire all the way to the front of the garage and it made zero difference. I used good copper wire. I noticed the wire that goes into the circuit board isn't even copper! wtf! So I went to Sears and they claim it is not a simple swap. The metal beam that runs with the chain needs to be replaced. They claim that it is not compatible with newer openers. My opener was made in 4/1998. Part Number 41A4315-7D. So its 17 years old. Guess might be time to have a new one put in.

 

[toypaseo]

One of my Lift-Master garage door openers died a few years ago. I am pretty sure they were original to the 1990 house. The main rail was one piece, so it makes me think it was contractor installed when the house was new. A local Menards had a Chamberlain Whisper Drive on sale for a killer price, so I snagged one of those. Super quiet operation. When I hear my other chain-drive Lift-Master operate, it seems super loud compared to the new one. Maybe consider looking at belt drive models.

 

[sloop]

i agree with toy - belt drives are MUCH quieter

my craftsman was chain drive and really loud

if this is a new problem, try to think if you have (or anyone close) anything new that emits rf - the fcc controls the frequency but newer receivers are more accurate

 

[Raminator157]

I installed a new surge protector in my computer room and a couple cfl bulbs in my basement. That is it. Don't think it's rf.

i agree with toy - belt drives are MUCH quieter

my craftsman was chain drive and really loud

if this is a new problem, try to think if you have (or anyone close) anything new that emits rf - the fcc controls the frequency but newer receivers are more accurate

 

[joecrna]

The Sears guys may be correct about what needs to be replaced but they are not so accurate about how difficult that is. I installed one on my own. Its not that bad. Also replaced parts ect in pre-existing one on the other door. All fairly easy. If you have no help to lift the motor portion up to the ceiling or hold the rod that runs from it to the door while you attach them it will be a bit more difficult. Get an installation estimate and decide if its worth it to have someone else do it in about 2 hours.

 

[toypaseo]

I installed a new surge protector in my computer room and a couple cfl bulbs in my basement.

Install a surge protector on your new opener. Cheap insurance. I ran across that idea somewhere while researching why my old opener died. I bought Coleman Cable 041151 six-outlet 450-joule suppressors from a local Menards store for under $6 each.

 

[Raminator157]

Turns out it is my daughters baby monitor. She went to stay at my parents. Unplugged it. The garage door worked perfect the whole time it was at my parents. Bring it home plug it in. Starts working like crap again. It's so damn weird we've had it for years in the same spot with no issues. Wtf!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Is it the older style analog monitor?

 

[tdavis]

It probably is using the same frequency.. I'll bet if you have one of the 900mhz cordless phones, it too will interfere.

 

[Raminator157]

I have newer cordless phones. The Baby monitor is one of the old Analog 900mhz video ones. Wonder why it would all of a sudden cause interferance.

It probably is using the same frequency.. I'll bet if you have one of the 900mhz cordless phones, it too will interfere.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Is the baby monitor on the same electrical circuit in the house (circuit breaker)? Try switching it to a different outlet or put a surge suppressor on it.