" wrote:

I was asked to look at an old lady's garage door opener. She says that
the opener works from the button inside the garage but the remote does
not. It just happened yesterday and it seems like we've had some
lightning come through the area over the pasr few days as well. Her
failure may be more than coincidental. I recall working on a couple of
openers several years ago during the Summer months that had damaged
photoelectrics after a storm. What I can't remember though is how to
positively determine that the photos are bad and not the radio system.
I don't know which brand opener we're dealing with if it matters. Can
anyone familiar with these systems please offer some insight into
this. Thanks very much. Lenny


You can buy replacement transmitters & receivers at Home Depot.
Older electronics were repairable, but the newer units use proprietary
ICs, with rolling security codes.

I repaired a lot of the older, tone modulated analog systems 25 to 30
years ago. Dried out electrolytics and shorted rectifiers were the
biggest failures, followed by the units drifting out of tune.

The receivers I repaired used a dual gate MOSFET in the front end,
and lighting popped a lot of them. When they died, you couldn't operate
them for more than an inch or two separation.

If her battery went dead, it might need reprogrammed so the units are
in sync, like remote car door locks.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!