Garage Door Opener Range.

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Extend the antenna on the receiver. To the outside if possible.

tm

Retune the receiver? 30 years ago, I repaired several brands as a sideline. Some worked reliable for well over two blocks after a careful alignment.

Here's a gut that added coax and put the antenna outside.

ISTR some one added a reflector wire behind the antenna to solve his problem. And why not a director. Mikek

You could work on improving the antenna, or you could just put the receiver outside and run a wire to it from the opener. I believe the "antenna" on the units I have seen is just a piece of wire hanging from the unit a foot or so. Not much to work with there... at least I would find it easier to just move the receiver to the outside of the house.

If the receiver is a separate unit, or if the antenna input is obvious, do as already suggested and move the receiver or connect an external antenna.

If not, and if for some reason you don't want to rip into the thing to get at the antenna terminals, find out what frequency it works at (probably 400-ish MHz), hang a simple dipole antenna outside your garage with coax or twin-lead going to another antenna right at the opener.

Maybe a gamma-match >:-} ...Jim Thompson

There is little advantage in wireless locks having a large range. You want a useable range and no more, because it is more secure that way. Twenty feet is fine.

You need an engineer!

Always have to go out of your way to be a turd, don't you... sad specimen you are. ...Jim Thompson

Pot, Kettle, Black, call ?

The Sears brand have kits,

I see a pattern developing....

Cheers

I assume the garage door is insulated with foil backed foam or fiberglass. Therefore, RF through the garage door is a difficult path.

First, try a simple experiment. Open the garage door wide and test the range of your unspecified model garage door opener radio. If you get normal ranges (200ft or more), then the problem is the garage door shielding. However, if the range is the same, the tuning on either the transmitter or receiver is off frequency.

Punching a big hole in the aluminum door insulation might help, but methinks adding some coax cable to the antenna, punch a hole somewhere in the garage wall (not the roof), and bring the antenna outside, will work best. I'm not sure what frequency your unspecified model garage door opener operates (probably 315 or 390 MHz) but the coax cable should be specified to have the minimum loss at the operating frequency. Satellite grade CATV coax cable (RG-6/u) is both cheap and low loss.

Garage Door Opener Antenna Extension (Ignore his comments on how RF travels better when it's cold and wet. His receiver is drifting with temperature. Also, you do need to ground the shield of the coax at the receiver ground).

A wired push button switch on a vertical pipe somewhere along the driveway approach? If that's too primitive, a 2nd remote receiver somewhere along the driveway.

My own 10m illegal transmitter and receiver and a relay... ought to give me a full block's range >:-} ...Jim Thompson

Sigh. 10m as in 28 MHz? Were you planning on operating the garage door from the adjacent state? Transistor, tube, or spark gap? 28 MHz requires a fairly large 2.5 meter antenna on both ends, or something somewhat shorter with a loading coil. Even so, the aluminum foil in the garage door, is a fairly effective barrier to RF. Move the receive antenna outside, and the foil will not be a problem. Also, you might want to measure the receiver sensitivity and tx power output to make sure your range prediction is not based on bad assumptions.

Geez, you have an antenna inside a metal box, and you need advice?

I have some old 455kHz ceramic filters... maybe that's the way to do it >:-} ...Jim Thompson

Buy a second receiver and wire it into the button curcuit and place it in a non-sheielded location. (bare receivers are available for use on electric gates etc)

Put a better antenna on your remote, *

Use some UHF coax to move the reveiver antenna to a better location. *

(*) probably void the warranty

If you do that, just call me, I'll open the door for you, From Florida ;-) Mikek

Ummm.... no. I suggest that you give up on building your own and purchase something that has a chance of actually working: Look for 315 MHz and something with a momentary/timed/latch output jumper for the relay(s). Install the receiver antenna or the entire receiver outside your shielded garage for optimum range.