wrote:
On Jun 27, 11:54 pm, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:54:25 -0700 (PDT),
" 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
If I'm not mistaken the remotes by design stop working if the photo
cells are mis-aligned or dirty.
The unit was a 1992 Craftsman brand opener. There are no dip switches.
The transmitters are "learned" into the receiver. There were two
remotes with this system. The photo cells were working, btw. One
remote she keeps in a drawer so it is rarely used. I made sure the
batteries were good and tried each transmitter. Neither remote
activated the onboard led on the receiver board. I then tried erasing
the codes and then reprogramming the receiver. It still wouldn't work.
With two transmitters doing this the problem is probably the receiver
however you can't really tell if the transmitters are putting out can
you? So how would you determine if both transmitters are good or if
the receiver were good? Without being able to duplicate the modulation
scheme, the best I could do if I could determine the operating
frequency would be to hit this thing with a burst of CW from a signal
generator. I know that this would not operate the door but would it
disturb the onboard led thereby indicating the presence of RF being
received? How about if I take the transmitters and put them in close
proximity to my counter and if the transmission duration is long
enough I should be able to read the carrier? Lenny.
It probaly is too short of a burst to read the actual frequency, but
it should show RF output. If you try it, used the fastest timbase
availible in your counter to improve your chances of reading.
I used a UHF mixer diode and a short piece of wire to the input on my
scope for a quick test, when I was repairing the equipment for a garage
door opener company. The Sears units made at that time used custom ICs
in the transmitters, so you might luck out and find a pwere supply
problem in the reciever. The success trate was very low in repairing
those systems. The standard repair was a new reciever, connected across
the push button controls, rather than buy another over priced control
board that couldn't be repaired.
The old '60s & '70s 'Linear' brand controls were very good, and easy
to repair. He had thousands of customers, and I did batches of them for
him, so he would have a spare in stock.
A Chamberlain Universal Radio Control Replacement Kit, with one remote
is $49.97. How much time do you want to spend on a dead 17 year old
unit with little chance of success?
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100431670&N=10000003+9 0401
---------
http://www.chamberlain-diy.com/doity...x?modelId=1477
is a prgrammable universal transmitter for garage door openers.
Clicker® Universal Remote Control
KLIK1U
If you need to replace a lost or broken remote control, or just want to
complement your existing garage access system, the new Clicker®
Universal Remote Control is the perfect single-source solution. It is
designed to work with a variety of brands of garage door openers to give
you convenient, secure access to your garage and home. With it, you can
operate two different garage door manufacturers and/or frequencies at
the same time, so it's like having two remote controls in one. A single
coin cell battery is included.
•Replaces lost garage door opener remote control, or adds an extra
remote for multi-car families
•Dual frequency/dual manufacturer design – operates 1 or 2 garage doors
even if they're different brands
•Attaches to your car visor
•Easy to program
•1-year limited warranty
Compatible with the following brands:
•Genie®
•Linear/Moore-o-Matic®
•Stanley®
•Overhead Door®
•Wayne-Dalton®
•Craftsman®
•Chamberlain®
•LiftMaster®
•300/310/315/372/390 MHz compatible
http://www.chamberlain-diy.com/doity...s/114A3485.pdf is the
manual.
http://www.chamberlain-diy.com/doityourself/CatalogResources/Docs/ProductModel/ClickerRemote.wmv
shows you how to program it.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100609179&N=10000003+9 0401
is priced $29.97.
--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!