Liftmaster garage door

[tworley]

Any garage door experts here?

I have a LiftMaster. Fairly new by the looks of it. During the last three weeks it has been acting on its own. Opening on its own at random times of the day, fighting to go down when the button in the garage, the keypad or the remote opener itself is pressed.

Its linked to MyQ. When checking diagnostics, its not reporting any problems most of the time. When it does, it says the sensors are misaligned. I cleaned and checked the sensors. I also changed the 9v battery to the keypad (knowing the battery was low) thinking it was sending intermittent signals. It worked for a few days then opened up last night on its own again. Wires to and from the sensors and to the wall mounted opener in the garage appear fine (ie, no frayed/chewed/damaged wires) but that is not to say there isn't something wrong there.

Whats my next step?

 

[flyinfish]

It's possible that a neighbor is using the same frequency as your garage door opener is.

 

[tworley]

I don't think that is the issue, but I wont rule it out. I'm about 90% sure my model of opener has the rolling frequency feature. I'll dive into it though.

 

[06lj]

Have you checked if your opener was part of the recall? I believe it was due to faulty capacitors.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/C...-Panels-Due-to-Entrapment-Hazard-Recall-Alert

 

[flyinfish]

You might try and disconnect the wall remote unit from the opener itself and only use the wireless remotes (outside wall mount wireless remote and car remotes) to rule it out. Try it for a week or whatever timeline it opens by itself. You could also do the same diagnosis by eliminating one device at a time to find the possible faulty remote.

 

[tworley]

Have you checked if your opener was part of the recall? I believe it was due to faulty capacitors.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/C...-Panels-Due-to-Entrapment-Hazard-Recall-Alert

Will look into that and see if my opener is a part of the recall!

 

[tworley]

You might try and disconnect the wall remote unit from the opener itself and only use the wireless remotes (outside wall mount wireless remote and car remotes) to rule it out. Try it for a week or whatever timeline it opens by itself. You could also do the same diagnosis by eliminating one device at a time to find the possible faulty remote.

Hadn't thought of that and good idea. I've replaced the batteries in the keypad and the remote to see if that helped, but no change.

The first time it opened on its own was at 2am. Freaked me out as I ran downstairs with a gun thinking someone was in my garage . Its opened three other times since then. I know some people dislike apps, but having my phone ping me when the garage door is opened is a nice feature.

 

[Mike_H]

I wouldn’t rule out the neighbor thing, esp if they’ve just gotten a new door. When I build my barn, they installed a new opener (lift master, ironically) and my neighbors and mine were on the same frequency, even with the rolling feature. The builder has to install a different opener to make it go away.

 

[flyinfish]

Hadn't thought of that and good idea. I've replaced the batteries in the keypad and the remote to see if that helped, but no change.

The first time it opened on its own was at 2am. Freaked me out as I ran downstairs with gun thinking someone was in my garage . Its opened three other times since then. I know some people dislike apps, but having my phone ping me when the garage door is opened is a nice feature.

I'd be on red alert if that happened to me as well!

I have a few Chamberlain myQ openers for many years and haven't ever had any issues. The battery backup is nice when the power goes out and you can still open the door. I really like capability of closing automatically after a set amount of time. I set up notifications in app to let me know when it stays open for 2, 4 and 6hrs and to close at 8pm in case I forget. Since I have another house it's priceless to know if it opens and then a camera to see.

I've installed the MyQ device for friend's on other brands of openers just for the ability to see when it gets opened or closed but also nice to remotely open and close for something like a guest as well.
Just like coffee makers In the old days, you'd wonder if you turned the pot off and go back to make sure. Auto off changed the game.


I hope you find the gremlin causing the issue. If it's under recall, problem solved. If not, then a call to Chamberlain might also be an option.

 

[WestCoastDan]

Dig into the user manual for your opener and look for the steps needed to remove and relearn all of the remotes.

This saved me when our opener starting acting like Linda Blair.

 

[Zorba]

Another possibility - albeit remote - a Ham operator or an illegal over-powered CB somewhere nearby is overloading the opener's radio front end. Saw that happen one time with a perfectly legal VHF radio - when it was keyed, the next door neighbor's garage door opened.

 

[tworley]

So the door opened again on Wednesday night and all hell broke loose. The door came off the track, because of that the left side track became bent and all out of whack. The right side cable popped off the pulley and became a tangled mess. I ended up calling a company.

They took a look and determined the springs were shot. Resting while closed, my door was 25lbs, a fully supported and tuned door should be between 0-5lbs according to the tech. The left side spring was also becoming unraveled. So they did a complete tune up; replaced the damaged section of track, installed new heavy duty springs, new cables, and readjusted the sensors.

As to the door opening, its only a 5 year old motor. The tech spoke pretty highly of the model and couldn't find anything immediately wrong. They did a reset on the opener and put in a surge protector. The reset also erased anything that was potentially linked to the opener.

Hopefully no more issues.