GARAGE DOOR OPENER QUESTION

[frank_f15]

For the last 4 or 5 days my garage door has been opeing and closing by itself, not often but is happenning. there are no neighbors within 400 ft of me and they don't have a garage let alone an opener. Today i was working in the garage and the door statered to go down, only went a few ins. then stopped, then 2 min. later went back up. then it went all the way down, so i opened it and 5 min. later back down so i opened it again and turned the breaker off. i have the power back on for 5 hrs now and it has not moved. ANY IDEAS?

 

[texbaylea]

Are you in any aircraft flight path? I have heard of some openers being sensitive to aircraft radar and similar things. Poor filtration in the receivers.

Vernon

 

[GerardC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( For the last 4 or 5 days my garage door has been opeing and closing by itself, not often but is happenning. there are no neighbors within 400 ft of me and they don't have a garage let alone an opener. Today i was working in the garage and the door statered to go down, only went a few ins. then stopped, then 2 min. later went back up. then it went all the way down, so i opened it and 5 min. later back down so i opened it again and turned the breaker off. i have the power back on for 5 hrs now and it has not moved. ANY IDEAS? )</font>

What does the owners manual say?

 

[Av8r3400]

Check that the door is trying to go down too far.

Mine was doing that, the door thought that there was something in the way, just barely, and would open again. Check the down stop setting and the sensitivity of the pressure switch.

 

[frank_f15]

NO . the garage is 5 years old, same door and same opener, and can see nothing that has changed. airport is still 25 miles away.

 

[frank_f15]

don't think that is the problem, the dorr can be down for hours then all of a sudden it will go up. Today it was up for a few hours then it just went down,

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not much on chasing ghosts. You might get lucky and find it after a few hours, but you can spend years and still not figure it out.

First I'd do a simple test by unplugging it and reconnecting it to an extention cord plugged into a different circuit. I doubt that will change anything, but I'd still give it a try.

Electronics go bad, dust settles and caused problems, humidity, condensation and plain old time all add to there failure. For peace of mind, buy a new one. They are simple to install and it will work better then your current one.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I have 6 Craftsman garage door openers. One of them just started acting funny over the past month. Yesterday I got fed up of not being able to get in & out of my garage bay as needed so I just changed the opener. The other units are working perfectly. 2 others are on the same electrical circuit with the one that went crazy. It acted much the way yours did, random opening/closing, partial opening, partial closing, etc.

 

[Av8r3400]

Mine was 3 years old when it started doing goofy stuff like this. I re-set all the adjustments and it stopped. It could have been dirty, or corroded or who knows. Give it a try, what can it hurt?

BTW: Craftsman = Chamberlain

 

[GerardC]

<font color="blue"> Today it was up for a few hours then it just went down,
</font>

What were you doing at the time it went down?

 

[Gatorboy]

Have you tried changing the code on the opener? Not sure it will help any, but it's worth a try.

 

[Golfgar4]

Hmmmm, maybe my opener was built in the same lot as yours, Frank. Starting last summer, I'd never know when the door would close all the way or how many times it would take to get it to close. We could go for days without a problem, and then all of a sudden it would stop halfway down and go back up. It might take 6 or 8 tries to get it to close completely.

I did all of the things that have been mentioned. I opened things up and cleaned contacts and checked connections, I re-programmed our remotes, I changed all of the batteries, and I even had the garage door service man come out. That wasted $25.00! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

It seemed that we had more of a problem with this when the weather was over 50 degrees. The door worked fine all winter, but it's started doing it again now. So the other night, when we were out picking up new doorknobs and hardware at Home Depot, I told the wife we're buying a new opener and installing it this week. That's all I'd need once I had the house on the market come May 1st, a potential buyer is going through the house and can't get the garage door to go up or down. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Besides, it's one more thing that I can say is NEW to a potential buyer! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[heehaw]

my garage door opener quit working when it was raining..in fact, she wouldn't even discuss it, so i had to get out, get wet and do it myself..
heehaw

 

[frank_f15]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What were you doing at the time it went down?
)</font>
Was assemlying a toy for my Grandson, no power tools involved.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="red"> It seemed that we had more of a problem with this when the weather was over 50 degrees. The door worked fine all winter </font>


Mine seemed to be giving me the most trouble when it was below freezing. I think all these things might be hairline cracks in the circuit boards or some similar issue with the circuit boards that control them. Expansion and contraction can cause all sorts of grief and maybe the board just gave out. In my case the opener in question was 10 years old. I can't complain about 10 years of service so after trying the down pressure, and lift pressure adjustments, etc, I just figured I'd swap it out and be done with it.

I suppose the circuit board could be replaced?



<font color="red">
( What were you doing at the time it went down?) </font> <font color="green">
Was assemlying a toy for my Grandson, no power tools involved.
</font>

Frank, if no power tools were involved, then you were doing it all wrong! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif What if your wife caught you working without power tools, that could spell doom for all MANkind. Women can never see us toiling away unless there is at least the hum of an electric motor, or better yet the rumble of a diesel. I hope she was on a shopping trip into town or visiting the neighbors or some other place so that you couldn't have been caught that way...

 

[mathey]

Are you near a military base? This article says it shouldn't cause the opener to work on its own, just a reduced range for the remote.

Link to FCC article

I'd contact the manufacturer to see what they say.

 

[Golfgar4]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I can't complain about 10 years of service so after trying the down pressure, and lift pressure adjustments, etc, I just figured I'd swap it out and be done with it.

I suppose the circuit board could be replaced?
)</font>

Well, I've got 15 years on mine, so I'm not really complaining either. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Sure the circuit board could be replaced. That's what I'm doing.......

....replacing the circuit board with a whole new opener! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[PBMAX]

Some of the other folks have touched on this subject, but do you have neighbor with a new CB rig... (high power) I used to be able to open one of the 2 of my paw-in-laws (mouth full) garge doors with mine from about 1/8 mile away. funny to me... I guess some are more sensitive than others...

 

[kenmac]

I have a 2 way radio in my service truck and I could go by this house and push the button on the mic and the security gate on their drive way would open. I could do it again & the gate would close.

 

[dliston]

Might be off base, but I'd try popping the batteries out of the remote openers and see if the dang thing behaved. You may have an remote with a short. Pop the battery back in when you need to use it. Also, the push button in the garage may be at fault, but the battery powered ones are easier to check.

Doug