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.
I am having similar issues after just installing new LED bulbs. They seem to be brighter and I think that is why I can’t close the door after I pull out of my garage. It works when I approach the door if the lights are out so that has to be the reason. I’m going to buy older lower wattage bulbs and try that.
Lou, Your post has helped me immensely!! I have a Chamberlain power drive garage door opener and it was working flawlessly up until a week ago when I put in new LED bulbs. If you use the remote in your hand (while inside the garage) or use the keypad on the wall, the garage door goes up and down perfect. Step outside the garage or use the remote from inside the car while in the driveway, the door won’t work!
As soon as I removed the LED bulbs from the garage door light sockets and put in regular curly cue bulbs the door works perfectly!! Thank You so Much for your post!
Jeff,
I just started to have the same issue today with both of my remotes (LiftMaster Elite: 3800PLD). I replaced the batteries in the the first remote thinking that was the issue. When that didn’t work, I tried reprogramming. Eventually I got them to work, but ONLY when held inches away from the main unit. Did you ever find the cause/solution?
I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY LIFTMASTER PROFESSIONAL 1/3 HP GARAGE DOOR UNIT.
The garage door opener will operate from the inside push button. But will not operate from keypad outside or the remote. I have reset the unit and remote and light flashes but still will not open or closed door.
I took remote and used it on my other door and it works.
Seems like something wrong with that one unit as far as keypad and remote.
Other than that the unit and door works good.
What could be the issues.
I clean the antenna and its like it has always been, unit was purchased in 2005.
I cannot get any of your remotes to work and the keypad won’t work. It all started about the same time.
My garage doors won’t open from my cars remote control system. The doors open from the wall buttons and the regular remote control.
I have a Craftsman garage door opener and purchased a brand new remote. I followed the installation instructions. The door will go up and down by the wall button and the remote as long as I am standing “in” the garage. If I exit the garage, the remote will not work (open or close the door).
Jeff,
You may have interference from a newly installed tower or similar…
When this happens, it is best to just reset the codes for your garage door opener and reset the remotes to a new frequency.
-RR
i have 2 garages. I can’t open one of the garages with the remote. The other one works fine and i am able to program both remotes with it without any problems so i know its not the remote. The one that doesn’t work with the remote has been like this since we moved in. The hard wired buttons work fine though. The issue seems to be with the receiver but i am not 100% sure. Any ideas what it could be ? They are both chamberlain 0.5 HP units nothing fancy. I tried soldering a heavier gauge wire for the antenna but that didn’t do anything..
My Liftmaster openers will only work when in the garage under the actual opener. Both car homelink buttons also stopped working. Wall button works, key pad outside works, but remotes will not work outside of the garage. My neighbors are also having the exact same issues. All were working fine until last Friday and now everyone has the same issues. Any thoughts? Any recommendations to remedy this situation?