Garage Door Opener Range.

My garage door came with a box to plug into my router and an app to trigger it over the Internet. Never installed the box so I don't know how well it works. I don't see the point in opening the garage door unless I'm close enough to see it.

;-)

Many thanks for the info.

"how to increase range of garage door opener" gets 34,300 hits on the search engine I use.

Sorry. Here's the missing link:

The VSWR and Efficiencies are show in the "Main" page. More on radiation and power efficiency:

Depending of your size constraints, even -10 dB or -20 dB antennas might be acceptable.

Of course, no such constraints should exist for a fixed, big (garage door) antenna.

I got one for my dad's gate, his Door remote was branded Dominator, so, probably uses a different code sequence to Genie. I can't spot the receiver modiule on-line (I got mine over the counter from the Dominator agent).

OTOH you could just get a 433MHz receiver module and a transmitter replace the transmitter antenna with something worse than what it comes with abd wire them together far enough apart that the receiver can't see the transmitter,

that confirms it's a "antenna in a metal box" problem

I'm thinking that be the eqivalent of about a 4" window in your door.

It'd work better if the indoor antenna was closer to the receiver. I'd be considering putting the indoor antenna in the near field of the receiver antenna. (but only after rejecting a direct connection to the receiver circuit)

You've got inverse square law losses between you and the outdoor antenna and again between the indooor antenna and the receiver.

Moving the indoor end of your passive repeater to where it does most good has got to be good for a 30db reduction in loss.

I like that one (for no obvious reason because there are no specs).

Is the metal part of the garage door insulated from the metal support frame? Usually, that requires rubber or plastic wheels in the door track. If so, you might be able to simply connect the antenna connection to the overhead track arm, which is connected to the door. The idea is to turn the metal door into an antenna. It won't be efficient, matched, kosher, elegant, or otherwise according to the textbook, but it will put the RF on the outside of the garage, which methinks is the basic problem. Try it with a clip lead and hope that the receiver tuning is sufficiently isolated from the antenna to not become detuned (or oscillatory). My only worry is that if someone dumps a static discharge into the door, it might blow up the receiver front end.

Oh-oh. Kinda looks like BFT no longer sells a BFT-1. Nothing on their web pile: No manuals or any reference to a BFT-1 on their site.

Suppose you're out of town and a trusted friend calls you and asks to borrow something that's accessible via your garage,

It's a peculiarity of the human psyche - to spend 10X effort to avoid 1X amount of work. Who hasn't circled around a parking lot, to get 50 feet closer to the front door of a grocer's?

The issue here is that the *next* stage of labor-saving device is a cart to carry you around, say from car to house.

I'm just saying, this level of labor saving seems nuts. I have to ask myself the question, when does technology like this have a destructive and deteriorating effect on people?

Probably right from the start. Diabetes, CVD, and Alzheimers are a real result.

Man vs. Machine: I read recently the life of Geronimo. This Apache considered horses a luxury, since he could run faster and much farther than the equus. That's why the cavalry could not catch him for 20 years, and they never did.

In that case, the Machine won, eventually, through sheer numbers. But what about other emblematic struggles of Man vs. Machine?

The issue with technology is that it makes people more and more passive, like sheep. Of course, they have this tendency anyway, and technology mostly just caters to it.

Modern technology, disconnected as it is from man's ultimate consciousness, will ultimately lead to destruction. There will likely be a massive destruction of civilization soon. Then your garage door opener won't matter, but your geographic isolation will delay the effects for a while, lucky you.

You electronic engineers like to exercise your craft - but the original impulse was to deal with nature and enemies.

Rather than get involved in some "doomer" emotion, allow me to present a simple syllogism to you, perfectly logical:

1. You have enough effete technologies like door openers.
2. The chance of collapse of civilization as we know it is NOT 0%. (A)
3. Therefore, develop technologies to survive by yourself.

That's all. jb

A. The reason is that those in charge of this civilization often do not share your values. See "cannon fodder."

probably the only good thing to come out of those annoying auto dialer recorded message PPI claim calls you get then :)

Interesting thought. A schematic of the controller board would be most helpful. ...Jim Thompson

How many have you worked on?

You might find a schematic on the FCC database. Some items include one in the OEM's filing.

Sounds like you are >:-}

If it worked reliably at 20' I'd be happy, but it often takes multiple attempts.

At the old, not so well insulated house, I could trip the door half way down the block.

Don't you fret over it now, I'll solve it :-D ...Jim Thompson

I have a good excuse for not losing yet another tool. ;-)

If you looked at the PDF I posted, it shows how to remove the controller/transmitter pcb. Take it out and see how complex it is. You know how to draw schematic, I can't read them, but you know how :-) Mikek Mikek

AFAIK, all horizontally polarised TV signals are generated with slot antennae, since it makes the construction of the masts much easier.