Your garage door won’t open when you use your remote control from your car in the driveway? If your garage door opener is working properly in every other way but NOT receiving the signal from your remote when the garage door is closed, there are a few things you can do. (If your garage door button on the wall of your garage opens your garage door, then we know the door is working and must consider this as a communication issue.)
We are going to assume there is a communication problem from using your remote from outside with the garage door shut. There may be something interfering with the signal or possibly something else.
First make sure the batteries are in working order in your remote control. If so, go inside your garage with the remote you had in your car, and with the garage closed, test the remote to see if the door opens. If not then your remote is most likely broken and you need to replace it. We will assume this since the button on the garage door wall opened the door. Try another remote you know that works. Test it from inside the garage and then test it from outside the garage.
How to fix a Garage Door Opener – Remote not working
If the remote works from inside the garage but not from the outside, then most likely the antenna wire on the garage door opener itself may be damaged, broken, or not in visible range. Check to be sure the antenna is attached and if it is not hanging down from the unit, move the antenna so it can catch the beam being sent by the remote. Please note that the antenna on some garage door openers is encased inside the unit itself.
Garage Door Opener Antenna Extension
Another issue could be that there is some sort of interference from different wireless devices in use near your area. If this is the case then find the antenna mount point and add a wire to it to make it longer. If this does not work there are other solutions. There are extenders that allow you to send the signal from outside the house and it runs by a wire to the garage opener unit.
There are reliable units called universal garage door opener receivers. These are an optional add on unit if you have issues opening your garage door from the outside. These units are used because they improve the range of your remote. As most garage door remotes work only about 20 feet from the opener, this unit will make it so you can open your garage from up to 100 yards away. This unit is called the Liftmaster 850LM Universal Gate and Garage Door Opener Receiver and is available for right around $40 dollars and WILL solve your garage door opening issues.
There are now systems that link into your home WIFI wireless that let you open your garage door with your smartphone.
How To Open Your Garage Door With Your iPhone or Android Phone
Do you know of an easier method to allow a remote control to open a garage door with interference problems? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.
Written by Keith Schneerer
Certified Appliance Tech · Founder, RemoveAndReplace.com
Keith has spent 30+ years repairing machines, starting as a military mechanic and later maintaining food processing equipment before moving into appliance repair. He founded RemoveAndReplace.com to share field-tested repair advice.
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Nancy,
As a test to see what may be causing the issue, take the light bulb completely out and see if the garage door opens no matter what. There is most likely a timing issue in the garage door opener. Do you know how long the light on your garage door opener stays on before it turns off? 1 to 4 minutes or so? We do not know what type of garage door opener you have, but you can try resetting it by unplugging it for 5 minutes and plug back in to see if that may reset it. Can you also provide the make and model of your garage door opener and the type of remote you are using? Have you recently replaced your remote?
-RR
Here’s the problem:
Garage door opener will not work if the unit light is on. It works fine if the light is off. I tried changing the light bulb, put in the one made for garage door openers. It worked fine with the light on 3 times in a row and then now it is back to working only if the light is off. Any ideas?
Hic,
You may have an issue with the garage door opener receiving the proper signal to open the door. Either adjust the garage door switches and codes to sync with the remote, buy new battery for remote, or get a new remote.
-RR
I can’t open my garage door using remote. Even when I get close to the opener. But I can close it using remote (from inside or outside). When I push the button of remote to open the garage, light on the opener start blinking.
Only way to open the garage is by using the wall Button. I have Linear garage opener.
Matt,
We would suggest using another remote if you have a second one, getting ANOTHER new battery, or taking it into a home improvement store and buying a replacement remote that will be compatible with your garage door opener. You probably had a bad battery or possibly put it in upside down. Possible?
-RR
My garage door opener has been slowly dying over the past month. Based on the intensity of the LED in the remote I figured that the remote battery is dying. I’ve replaced the A23 battery with a brand new one – the remote LED indicates that power is being received, but the garage opener won’t respond. I’ve attempted to use the learn button on the opener but it won’t respond to the remote. As a last ditch effort I put in the old battery and it worked again! Since the old battery will be dead soon, what could be the issue with the new battery?
Kristen,
The only way that may have happened when your son was in the garage is… Either the actual garage door opener switches and or setting were moved or reset. You may need to change the garage door settings and do a complete reset to make the garage door opener work with your remotes. Also, the sensors near the bottom door tracks may have been bumped or moved. If they are not aligned correctly the garage door opener may think there is something in the way and for safety reasons it will not close or open in the manner it is designed too. Have a look at the sensors and be sure they are aligned properly.
-RR