Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Garage Door Opener

Status
Not open for further replies.
OutToLunch said:
just a thought cuz i'm not entirely sure how the rolling security codes work (or if your opener even has them), but maybe you should read the owners manual for the opener and reset the transmitter with the receiver. It's been awhile since I installed mine and did this, but I remember having to put the opener into some kind of mode and then pressing the transmitter button so the opener knew what code the transmitter was at. Then when the transmitter was pressed, they could both roll to the next code together.

Like I said, just a thought - maybe the transmitter has rolled it's codes too far from what the opener is at...
Nah, my opener is old school. It has the DIP switches that you set.

There's no resetting going on! Haha. Thanks for the idea though.
 
prolly just a bad or "going bad" receiver. Try swapping it out. Maybe a local garage door dealer has a used receiver you can buy or temp. use to confirm things. Afterall, the receiver is the most complex item in the scheme of it all. Odds are problems "should" occur there first.
 
HiTech said:
prolly just a bad or "going bad" receiver. Try swapping it out. Maybe a local garage door dealer has a used receiver you can buy or temp. use to confirm things. Afterall, the receiver is the most complex item in the scheme of it all. Odds are problems "should" occur there first.

The receiver might just have de-tuned itself slightly. Most likely since both transmitters are acting the same. To optimize the xmitters; get to the little tuning coil (or cap) through the little hole under the back-side label or take the cower off to get to it. Make a small screwdriver from wood or plastic and move to a point just past were the door operates (make sure you can get back to your starting point on the cap/coil) turn the adjustment left and try it. I that did not help move it to the right (clockwise) of the starting point about the same amount. Alternate the tuning and moving away from the door, until no further improvements are made. I have never seen one I could not at least double the range on.
 
Rolf said:
The receiver might just have de-tuned itself slightly. Most likely since both transmitters are acting the same. To optimize the xmitters; get to the little tuning coil (or cap) through the little hole under the back-side label or take the cower off to get to it. Make a small screwdriver from wood or plastic and move to a point just past were the door operates (make sure you can get back to your starting point on the cap/coil) turn the adjustment left and try it. I that did not help move it to the right (clockwise) of the starting point about the same amount. Alternate the tuning and moving away from the door, until no further improvements are made. I have never seen one I could not at least double the range on.
Why does the screwdriver have to be made from wood or plastic? Can't I just use my small metal eyeglass screwdriver set?
 
Because you'll ack as a ground plane and effect the operation of the oscillator if you make electrical contact with the screw on the coil or capacitor.
 
Hero999 said:
Because you'll ack as a ground plane and effect the operation of the oscillator if you make electrical contact with the screw on the coil or capacitor.
Yeah, but I thought that I'd turn the cap, remove the metal screwdriver, try the button, turn the cap some more, remove the metal screwdriver, etc....

There wouldn't be a problem if I tuned it using this method, right?
 
poopeater said:
Why does the screwdriver have to be made from wood or plastic? Can't I just use my small metal eyeglass screwdriver set?

It doesn't if you remove it some distance away (maybe an inch) while you test the opener. However the slugs in the coils are powder iron and are quite fragile, it is easy to damage (brake off) part of the slot that is needed to turn it. So I always felt it was prudent to use a softer material than steel. It also makes it easier if you are operating blind through a hole, you don't have to search for the slot every time.
With a trim cap you don't have any problems with anything breaking. Just remember to try a little bit bough cw and ccw until you establish the correct direction.
 
Last edited:
you better scribe a thin indicator line on the coil or trimmer before you go fiddling with it so you can return it to original position if needed.
 
HiTech said:
you better scribe a thin indicator line on the coil or trimmer before you go fiddling with it so you can return it to original position if needed.

You are a brain surgeon correct? :)
The trim cap (or coils) we are talking about are (I just checked mine) about 3/16" in diameter with a access hole of about 1/16"!
I would love to se you try to mark that.
Trust me, I have about 10 years of repair experience on airborne HF, VHF and UHF communication equipment. ;)
 
Rolf said:
You are a brain surgeon correct? :)
The trim cap (or coils) we are talking about are (I just checked mine) about 3/16" in diameter with a access hole of about 1/16"!
I would love to se you try to mark that.
Trust me, I have about 10 years of repair experience on airborne HF, VHF and UHF communication equipment. ;)
Is there any chance you could snap some pics of your transmitter so that I know kinda what to look for when I go fiddle with mine?
 
I took some pictures of my transmitters, and I don't see anywhere to put a screwdriver to tune anything. Am I missing something, or does my transmitter lack this function?

These two are different transmitters, but look to be the exact same circuit, just laid out differently.
 

Attachments

  • xmitter.jpg
    xmitter.jpg
    111.4 KB · Views: 158
Shouldn't it be on the receiver? It would make more sense. :)
 
I am sorry, but i have to disagree with Rolf. It wouldn't think that the POT would be the receiver. If you don't believe me, then just pop the lid off of the receiver. I bet it is in there.
 
poopeater said:
No, Rolf specifically said to tune the transmitters.

The only tuned circuit I see is the coil wound over the white tube.
Is there a slug inside? If it is you are lucky, because you will have to tune it slightly.
If not, the only way is to compress or lengthen the space between the windings. To determine what to do, you need a tuning tool, it is a small dia. stick with a powdered iron slug in one end and a brass one the other. But it is almost impossible to use without proper test equipment. Sorry about that.
I don't know what else to suggest.
The type of receivers used I have no experience with but maybe, if this don't work (please do not play with both of your openers) you could post a picture and we could work from there.

PS. As a temporary fix you could double the length of your antenna, that should help some.

Here is what mine looks like but it is almost 20 years old.

**broken link removed**
 
Last edited:
Rolf said:
You are a brain surgeon correct? :)
The trim cap (or coils) we are talking about are (I just checked mine) about 3/16" in diameter with a access hole of about 1/16"!
I would love to se you try to mark that.
Trust me, I have about 10 years of repair experience on airborne HF, VHF and UHF communication equipment. ;)
Been marking trimpots and tiny trimmer caps for years with no problems. The only trimpots that are tricky would be the multi-turn, helical drive ones. Every hear of a very fine point Sharpie marker? WalMart has dozens of them on the shelf in the office supplies section! A steady hand and knowing where to scribe a line on the component are the keys to success. This isn't rocket science..... er, uh excuse me, brain surgery.:rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Look, this whole thread is getting carried away and darn silly if you ask me (2 pages of theoretical troubleshooting??). Let's top thinking about individual components going out of tune and instead locate the source of the problem logically. Copy this post of mine, take it out into your garage and get to work and don't report back here until you have some definitive results for us!

1. his vehicle transmitter's design does not provide for tweaking and poopeater states that both units operate the opener with the same results (basically disregard xmttrs. as the fault then)

2. receiver has far more components to affect proper operation so that should be suspect. First ensure that all connections terminals or wires to receiver are of good electrical integrity. Test thinngs once again to note any improvements. If not proceed to #3

3. Remove receiver module and inspect for poor solder connections, cracked foil traces, or electrically loose components. Test once again and if poor reception still exists, proceed to #4

4. swap out receiver to determine if that module is the culprit. If so, then case closed. If not proceed to #5

5. at this point if the system still isn't working properly, switch to raising and lowering the door manually!!:eek:

We need to realize that a garage door opener is an electro-mechanical device that uses a high-torque motor, mechanical linkage all interfaced to a circuit board. Mechanical vibrations over time can and have caused problems with the receiver control module. However most of the time it's been faulty xmtter packs since they get tossed about and are exposed to temperature extremes.
 
Last edited:
Rolf said:
The only tuned circuit I see is the coil wound over the white tube.
Is there a slug inside? If it is you are lucky, because you will have to tune it slightly.
If not, the only way is to compress or lengthen the space between the windings. To determine what to do, you need a tuning tool, it is a small dia. stick with a powdered iron slug in one end and a brass one the other. But it is almost impossible to use without proper test equipment. Sorry about that.
I don't know what else to suggest.
The type of receivers used I have no experience with but maybe, if this don't work (please do not play with both of your openers) you could post a picture and we could work from there.

PS. As a temporary fix you could double the length of your antenna, that should help some.

Here is what mine looks like but it is almost 20 years old.
Yes, there is a metal slug inside the white tube. It's not powdered iron, and doesn't appear to be very fragile. How would I go about tuning the coil using this slug?
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top