extending range of remote control Options

[realolman]

My garage door opener quit working with any of the remotes. I took it apart and looked online, and there is no replacement circuit board available... obsolete.

The opener still works with the button on the wall, so I ordered three remotes and a receiver that is hooked in parallel with the button on the wall.

It seems to work OK except, it doesn't have much range. I used to be able to operate it from my house ( the garage is not attatched ) and now it will only operate about half way between garage and house.


The receiver has a wire about 8 - 12" long for an antenna.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I may be able to extend the range so I can operate it from the house?

Would it help to extend the antenna wire outside the building?

WOuld it help to move the receiver up into the peak of the roof instead of down inside the garage behind the aluminum clad door?

Would X10 devices work at about 300' (wiring length) since the house and garage are both fed from same panel?

Thanks in advance

[Jensen Beach]

The antenna length is fixed for the operating frequency, added wire will cause reflections, which are bad. Make sure the antenna is as straight as possible. I zip-tied 1/2" a nut to the end of mine, it seemed to help. Maybe try repositioning the receiver. Higher and out of line with metal or dense objects is always better.

[Dan (electron)]

Did you order one of those universal garage door opener kits, or some surplus remote+receiver kit? The universal garage door opener kits usually work pretty well.

Do you have any high resolution pictures of the circuit board? Maybe it's something as simple as a bad capacitor.

[realolman]

Thist. is what I got


The garage door opener looks good otherwise... new ones don't cost that much, but I hate to trash what seems to be mostly very good shape stuff... I am pretty knowlegeable about electronics, but i thought for the price, I'd just buy the remote/ receiver.

One thing I'm not knowlegeable about is radio transmission.

I did think the length of the antenna had something to do with it... If I was to shield the antenna that is there now, and splice a piece of coax to it, and run it outside, and skin the end of the coax off the same length as the existing antenna, would that possibly work better?

If you wanted to locate your antenna away from the receiver, how would it be done?

[gatchel]

Thist. is what I got


The garage door opener looks good otherwise... new ones don't cost that much, but I hate to trash what seems to be mostly very good shape stuff... I am pretty knowlegeable about electronics, but i thought for the price, I'd just buy the remote/ receiver.

One thing I'm not knowlegeable about is radio transmission.

I did think the length of the antenna had something to do with it... If I was to shield the antenna that is there now, and splice a piece of coax to it, and run it outside, and skin the end of the coax off the same length as the existing antenna, would that possibly work better?

If you wanted to locate your antenna away from the receiver, how would it be done?

I have done exactly that for some people I know with similar issues. I'm not saying that it's the best way or it even follows proper RF techniques and such but it did work in more than one instance. I used the antenna length on the receiver unit as the length of coax center conductor to leave exposed. I tied the coax outer shield to the receiver ground. Simple, easy, not necessarily correct but very effective.

This suggestion is " As Is, No Warranty".

I also have no idea what the long term ramifications may be to the receiver.
All I can say is one of my "set up's" has been working for more than 5 years now.

This post has been edited by gatchel: Nov 5 2009, 04:32 PM

[realolman]

Thist. is what I got


The garage door opener looks good otherwise... new ones don't cost that much, but I hate to trash what seems to be mostly very good shape stuff... I am pretty knowlegeable about electronics, but i thought for the price, I'd just buy the remote/ receiver.

One thing I'm not knowlegeable about is radio transmission.

I did think the length of the antenna had something to do with it... If I was to shield the antenna that is there now, and splice a piece of coax to it, and run it outside, and skin the end of the coax off the same length as the existing antenna, would that possibly work better?

If you wanted to locate your antenna away from the receiver, how would it be done?

I have done exactly that for some people I know with similar issues. I'm not saying that it's the best way or it even follows proper RF techniques and such but it did work in more than one instance. I used the antenna length on the receiver unit as the length of coax center conductor to leave exposed. I tied the coax outer shield to the receiver ground. Simple, easy, not necessarily correct but very effective.

This suggestion is " As Is, No Warranty".

I also have no idea what the long term ramifications may be to the receiver.
All I can say is one of my "set up's" has been working for more than 5 years now.

I think I'm gonna try it.... thanks to everybody who responded.