My overhead garage door opens by the usual hand-held "clicker", but
there's also a box affixed to the garage with push-buttons numbered 1
through 0. There's no "people door", so at present I can't walk up to
the garage and open it, but I have to go into the house for the
clicker. I'd like to keep a house key in the garage -- in case I lock
myself out I could punch in the garage combination and get to the
house key that way.

At closing last August, the seller was not present but the seller's
agent promised to get me the combination to the garage door. Despite
repeated reminders that information is not forthcoming, and the
seller has left the country. Any idea how I can find out the
combination, or reset it?

Description:

The box itself is dark green, about the size of a pack of cigarettes.
It seems to be mounted on a slightly larger plate of the same color
with the legend "Supra", but I haven't been able to figure out how to
remove it from the plate and it might be just one piece. The push
buttons are in two columns 1-5 and 6-0, with two slide switches
"open" and "clear" between them. Each button is a pin about the
diameter of a Q-tip shaft. When I push a button, I can feel a click
though the button doesn't stay pushed in. When I slide the "clear"
switch there's a faint but audible click.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

"Stan Brown" wrote...

My overhead garage door opens by the usual hand-held "clicker", but
there's also a box affixed to the garage with push-buttons numbered 1
through 0. There's no "people door", so at present I can't walk up to
the garage and open it, but I have to go into the house for the
clicker. I'd like to keep a house key in the garage -- in case I lock
myself out I could punch in the garage combination and get to the
house key that way.

At closing last August, the seller was not present but the seller's
agent promised to get me the combination to the garage door. Despite
repeated reminders that information is not forthcoming, and the
seller has left the country. Any idea how I can find out the
combination, or reset it?

Description:

The box itself is dark green, about the size of a pack of cigarettes.
It seems to be mounted on a slightly larger plate of the same color
with the legend "Supra", but I haven't been able to figure out how to
remove it from the plate and it might be just one piece. The push
buttons are in two columns 1-5 and 6-0, with two slide switches
"open" and "clear" between them. Each button is a pin about the
diameter of a Q-tip shaft. When I push a button, I can feel a click
though the button doesn't stay pushed in. When I slide the "clear"
switch there's a faint but audible click.

What brand is the garage door opener? Could it be this?

http://www.swrgaragedoors.com/brochu...apatagelos.pdf

If so, you should be able to contact them to learn how to program your own
combination to the remote opener, which is even better than getting the old
combo from the previous owner. If not that brand, once you have the brand of
garage door opener inside your garage, you should be able to Google the
manufacturer's site and obtain info on the outdoor combo opener, including
programming your own combination.

Once you have the manufacturer of garage door opener, even if you're unable
to program a new code for your existing mystery green Supra device, you
should be able to buy a new programmable device with instructions for
programming it. Note: programming will probably include pushing somewhat
hidden "program" button on your receiver, which is most likely a part of the
opener itself, on the ceiling of your garage.

Here's a method used to program Genies:

http://www.geniedoor.com/content/pro...structions.htm

Does your opener look like any of these 16 keyless remotes?

http://www.geniedoor.com/product-cat...less-entry.htm

PS--Luckily, when I moved into my townhouse a couple years ago, I found it
had a Genie (Intellicode) opener--and I was easily able to buy and program
an outdoor battery-powered combination keyless remote. With it and a hidden
house key in the garage as you envision, you won't ever lock yourself out of
your home. Good luck.

Craig

Sun, 27 May 2007 15:06:11 GMT from Craig :

"Stan Brown" wrote...

[seller didn't disclose combination to garage-door opener]

Craig,

Thanks so much for your very comprehensive answer. As soon as you
suggested looking at the opener inside the garage, I said to myself
"Duh! How could I not have thought of that?"

My combination box doesn't look like any of the ones in the Supra
brochure nor on the Genie page, but that could be just because it's
old (i.e., model not made any more). First step is to look at the
opener itself on the garage ceiling and see what I can see.

Thanks again! I feel pretty stupid for missing the obvious, but now
at least I have an avenue to investigate. I'll save the URLs in case
I end up having to buy a new combo pad.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

"Stan Brown" wrote...

Sun, 27 May 2007 15:06:11 GMT from Craig :

"Stan Brown" wrote...

[seller didn't disclose combination to garage-door opener]

Craig,

Thanks so much for your very comprehensive answer. As soon as you
suggested looking at the opener inside the garage, I said to myself
"Duh! How could I not have thought of that?"

My combination box doesn't look like any of the ones in the Supra
brochure nor on the Genie page, but that could be just because it's
old (i.e., model not made any more).

You're welcome.

One more thought to consider, Stan, if your current opener is quite old.
Back in the old days, openers could be programmed for up to maybe 256 or 512
different codes, but the code always stayed the same. Given one of those,
the possibility of a neighbor's opener causing interference--or a determined
hacker trying to break into your garage didn't have too much work to do to
get your garage door opened since it wouldn't take that long to go through
every conceivable combination.

The newer openers have millions of possible combinations and the code
changes after every opening/closing, so it's virtually impossible to have a
neighbor/thief conflict. If your opener is of the ancient variety, it may be
worth looking into having the whole opener system replaced with a new one.
Overkill, maybe--but that will solve your current problem ;-)

Craig

Sun, 27 May 2007 19:38:53 GMT from Craig :
The newer openers have millions of possible combinations and the code
changes after every opening/closing, so it's virtually impossible to have a
neighbor/thief conflict. If your opener is of the ancient variety, it may be
worth looking into having the whole opener system replaced with a new one.
Overkill, maybe--but that will solve your current problem ;-)

:-) indeed. It's a detached garage, so access to the garage doesn't
automatically give access to the house. And in nine months I've never
seen the door open when I wasn't the one opening it, so I don't think
interference from other openers is a worry.

The opener says "Overhead Door model 65B ½HP". There's an Overhead
Door company in Cortland. I had thought they were simply installers
but apparently it's an actual brand name, like Genie.

Following your suggestion, I've Googled
http://www.google.com/search?num=30&...ge&btnG=Search
and it doesn't seem the company has a Web page for this model. The
few references I did have make it sound like this is a 10- or 12-
year-old model. But I'll call the Cortland office during business
hours and see what they can tell me. At this point I suspect that the
number pad is from an even older installation and was never
functional with this door, since it's a different brand.

I was interested to see that the company does sell a "non-insulted"
door. Go to http://www.overheaddoor.com/Residential.aspx and scroll
down to product 281.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Mon, 28 May 2007 07:32:29 -0400 from Stan Brown
:
The opener says "Overhead Door model 65B ½HP". There's an Overhead
Door company in Cortland. I had thought they were simply installers
but apparently it's an actual brand name, like Genie.

For anyone who may be wondering, I called the company and they *did*
have records. The door was installed in 1990, and the numeric keypad
wasn't connected to it in any way. So that's that.

Thanks again, Craig. Your suggestions were obvious in retrospect, but
I needed them because I wasn't thinking of them on my own.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/