My garage door opener remote only works when it is within 12" of the motor unit. What can I do?

B B Garage door EXPERT July 27, 2009

First did you buy anything electronic the day of or before the opener stopped working fine? It could be a computer down to a blender. Openers are made by fcc regulations to receive interference, but some electronic devices do cause them trouble though. Even if they are plugged in but not on. This includes remotes and your keyless entry as well. If you have recently purchased any device that is messing with the opener you need to chose which one to keep. Re plug each device in , or install batteries again to see if there is interfearence. Look at the back or the side of the opener to see if the led is constantly blinking or on. This means you are receiving interfearence.

You could purchase an external antenna to boost the signal. This works sometimes but not always.

You can purchase an external receiver on a different frequency to solve this problem. Although you would need to buy remotes and so on to match frequencies too.

You could buy a new opener on a different frequency, and it would come with remotes. New generation of openers do really well as they have advanced in this area. We recommend a surge protector 900 joules or higher.

Any of these can be found at sears.com, have the model number ready. Thanks BB

EC August 01, 2010

I am having the same problem and have checked the antena connection as well. I added new electronics about 2 weeks before noticing any problems with the openers, so I'm skeptical that this is the problem. I even turned off most electronics in my house to test the theory but still no solution. Freebrian - did this fix your problem or did you find a different solution? I'm totally frustrated.