Finding a short-circuit in a remote control garage door opener

Home Depot has entire garage door opener systems for less than $200; you might want to consider it.

$700 for a garage door opener? You can buy the whole damned door for that! More like $150 for a good opener. Put it in yourself. They're easy to install, even easier to replace and existing. All the hard work is done. You can likely replace the transmitter and receiver for $50.

Don't bother. A opener that old won't have replacement parts. The FCC changed their frequency allocation so old parts have been withdrawn from the market.

DO NOT BUY a Genie Screw Drive.

I have Liftmaster belt drive openers... love 'em, and they're very quiet.

Only problem I have is that the house has steel lath for the stucco, and steel garage doors, so the range is not what I'd like... got to figure out some way to extend the antennas into the attic ;-)

...Jim Thompson

I never liked the idea of a screw drive opener. I bought plain-jane chain openers. The garages I put them in are on the end of the house so the noise isn't objectionable. They're simple and cheap.

Mine is all OSB and wood. Works great. ;-)

you could try replacing any chips wich are connected to the area where the bug got fried, also probably more to the point bug goo is probably conductive, make sure you well and truly remove all trace of it. isoprop alchol / water soap scrub with distilled water rinse + thoroughly dry.

Colin =^.^=

Do it the way they do passive cell phone repeaters. A pair of yagi antennas cut for the right frequency and some coax.

Most switches are modifications of leaf microswitches which cost only a few dollars; the modifications (large clunky cast iron boxes) at lotza bux to the cost of the assembly, so see if a little ingenuity and a cheap microswitch will do the trick.

First find the bug, clean the area out; soap and water does wonders, with isopropyl wash afterwards. Use Q-tips or equivalent for scrubbing small areas. Wait at least an hour to get it dry before testing...

If you can post a link to a picture of the circuit board, maybe we can help?

Suggestion: Clean the circuit board (rubbing or denatured alcohol will probably suffice, but not a cleanser or water). Then check to see if anything is obviously "broken". Like a cracked component, lifted traces, or ??? A good visual inspection is often better than the most expensive multimeter a good percentage of the time!!

You did not say how old the door opener was, so ignore comments about parts availability. It is equally likely the store just didn't want to bother. (It's easier to sell new.)

Also, don't jump to the conclusion that the cockroach is the culprit. It is possible the cockroach was BBQ'ed long before the door quit functioning!

On mine (note: $2300 garage door & opener because of local building codes and hurricane coastline! --again ignore the wild assumptions and assertions of others), there is a light beam sensor that shines across the bottom of the door opening. Presumably, this is to avoid crushing kids, small animals, (slow drivers?).... I wouldn't expect an "old" system to have this, but if yours does, you might check it for alignment. If misaligned, it would cause the exact symptom that you describe.

The radio receiver likely uses the same hardware for "up", "down" and "lock/disable" commands. Thus, I doubt it's the receiver. Do you have a pushbutton switch attached as well? Does this work in both directions??

Check for a "reset" switch and try that. (If you haven't already). Lastly, if you do end up digging in the hardware, write down all the numbers on the chips (and transistors if you can read them). Then Google search the part numbers. The symptom you describe would lead me to believe a "driver" could be bad. An older until would probably use a discrete part for this, but maybe not. If your search results give a description containing "dual"-package widget, then again, I would overlook that for now and continue your search - but there's no guarantee that ONLY 1/2 of a dual pack whatever isn't actually the problem. Just somewhat unlikely.(?) Mostly, you'd be looking for a part that would function as a current driver, or isolator. Not seeing it in-person, that's the best advice I can give.

Good luck.

-mpm

Now that you mention it, I once fixed one by _cleaning_ the light-beam sensor - this was 10 or 20 years ago, so any decent opener should have them these days.

Cheers! Rich

Derek, you are in Oz? What make/model/series is it?

To be blunt, if you are challenged by a DMM then your fault-finding prospects aren't flash, but we *may* be able to talk you through it.

buy a bare receiver module from the makers (or switch brands and get new transmitters too) and wire it to the external button circuit, locate it somewhere suitable (like the attic if there's not much metal in the roof).

Bye. Jasen

You do love overkill, don't you?

If it is the infrared receiver, can't he temporarily "override this interrupter to prove it ?