Question:
We have an older Craftsman 1/2 hp garage door opener with one wired
control in the garage and two remotes. With one remote one has to be
within 15 feet or so of the opener to make the opener work. With the
other I have to get out of the car and wave the remote in front of the
window of the garage door (standing roughly 6-8 feet from the opener
itself). I have tried replacing the batteries in both remotes to no
effect, i.e., we still have to be very close to the opener in order for
the remotes to work. This is very irritating given that our next door
neighbors' remote seems to work on their opener from two or three
houses away. Is there any adjustment that can be made without
complicated test equipment to possibly remedy this problem or am I
better off getting a professional to look at this?
Answer:
Check the antenna. It's a length of single-strand wire, about a foot long,
and it just sort of hangs there from the unit. If it's tucked up out of
the way, maybe that is part of the problem. Pull it down, so it's pointing
down away from the opener.
There's no rhyme or reason to the antenna adjustment -- just screw around
with it until things seem to work ok.
The universal remotes that work with the existing receiver have some
limitations as to which openers they will work with, so you'll need to
look at the garage door opener itself (not the remote) to figure out the
brand and model number. I.e. the link I gave says that it won't work
with Genie or Stanley Intellicode models.
