Extend the garage door range..?

psa_psa

New Member
This is my first post....I've done a forum search but have not found any info regarding how to extend the range of my remote that opens the garage door.

I have a basic Genie Garage door opener and I'd like to figure out how to extend the operating range of my remote. Either by attaching a "extension" to the current antenna that is attached to the main unit or some other method of increasing the operating range.

Any help would be much appreciated....
 
might not be what you're looking for, but if you have an Elk M1 , you could add their new crystal wireless receiver and use a keyfob with it. Probably pricey for that purpose alone, but if you had other uses as i do, i got a ton of range out of it... (all the way down the street and would go further with the plane antennas
 
Welcome to CT!

Funny you mention this tho, I had the same range issues, and I now use my Elk M1 with a keyfob which gets a much longer range. Good question tho, hopefully someone has a good solution.
 
might not be what you're looking for, but if you have an Elk M1 , you could add their new crystal wireless receiver and use a keyfob with it. Probably pricey for that purpose alone, but if you had other uses as i do, i got a ton of range out of it... (all the way down the street and would go further with the plane antennas

Yeah I think the Elk M1 is not what I'm looking for....it might be something I'd look into in the future...
 

I thought about trying that...but I was looking for something that I could try that would NOT involve the possibility of me destroying my remote. :huh: Plus I didn't want to have to do that to ALL my remotes....

I did find this write up...http://www.edn.com/archives/1998/021698/04di.htm scroll down to...(Antenna extension provides open-door policy)

So I might go ahead and give this a try and see how it works....
 
Make sure that your antenna is not coiled up and is positioned well avoiding any sharp bends.

If you have a newer opener they use Homelink frequencies so you may be able to find a better remote.

Try extending with coax like in the link you listed.

Use a different receiver. I have one like this that woks very well. You'd also need to get the remotes. which would add up $$.
 
Make sure that your antenna is not coiled up and is positioned well avoiding any sharp bends.

If you have a newer opener they use Homelink frequencies so you may be able to find a better remote.

Try extending with coax like in the link you listed.

Use a different receiver. I have one like this that woks very well. You'd also need to get the remotes. which would add up $$.


The frequency is 390....I have Homelink (universal remote) in my one car and still have range issues. Also there is currently NO coax on my Genie....only astandard short black 6 inch antenna.

I also have this.....(Valiant Garage Door Control) but I think I have a bad relay that needs to be replaced. But since this unit is totally seperate from my Genie unit it has does not seem to have any affect on my range / antenna issues.
 
The frequency is 390....
If you feel like playing around a little you could do this.

The 1/4" wavelength of 390 MHZ is 7.5" (refer to THIS How-To for details). I would first try getting a brass rod and cut it to that length, then try to solder it on the small antenna wire extending down from the opener (have the brass rod hang vertical). If that made a marginal improvement, maybe try building that antenna using the 7.5" lengths.

Of course I realize this is a lot of fooling around for something that might not even work! :p
 
The frequency is 390....
If you feel like playing around a little you could do this.

The 1/4" wavelength of 390 MHZ is 7.5" (refer to THIS How-To for details). I would first try getting a brass rod and cut it to that length, then try to solder it on the small antenna wire extending down from the opener (have the brass rod hang vertical). If that made a marginal improvement, maybe try building that antenna using the 7.5" lengths.

Of course I realize this is a lot of fooling around for something that might not even work! :p


I might give that a try......thx for the info....:)
 
I had this problem with the opener in my shop and the garage door guy just gave me some of the low voltage cable they use for all their stuff and I spliced it onto the antenna and ran it 20' or so the front of the shop. Problem solved. Not sure what the electrical characteristics of that particular wire is so you might just pick up some "garage door" lv wire and give that a shot.
 
The frequency is 390....
If you feel like playing around a little you could do this.

The 1/4" wavelength of 390 MHZ is 7.5" (refer to THIS How-To for details). I would first try getting a brass rod and cut it to that length, then try to solder it on the small antenna wire extending down from the opener (have the brass rod hang vertical). If that made a marginal improvement, maybe try building that antenna using the 7.5" lengths.

Of course I realize this is a lot of fooling around for something that might not even work! :p


In reality it is only a receiver so the exact length is not critical no mismatch issues with final amplifier or such.... I think I would go with Randy's thought extend the wire really long and if it gets worse range start cutting it back. it could take a few tries though to get it....
 
Not sure what the electrical characteristics of that particular wire is so you might just pick up some "garage door" lv wire and give that a shot.


DO NOT use Cat5. :p

I have done it a few times with the speaker wire that comes with recievers, worked well but I wasn't measuring or anything.
 
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