Garage Door Opener Damaged by HF RF?

[ultravista]

Yeah, this is a crazy one.

My wife's garage door opener stopped working yesterday. I replaced the battery and it works when very close to the garage door receiver, like underneath.

Today, my son tells me his garage door opener isn't working. His is 2 weeks old and opens a different door (not the same as my wife). It works when you elevate it to the window and a few feet from the receiver.

So I tested mine, the same door as my son, and it took has a extremely limited range. I could not open the door unless I held the opener up high @ the window.

Previously, we could open the door at the top of the driveway, at least 30 feet away. Now, unless it is in line-of-sight with the receiver, the receiver doesn't receive.

The only thing different is my operating an end-fed @ 100 watts on 40 meters. Prior to my operating @ 40 meters, the garage door receiver had a decent +30 foot range. Now, it's practically deaf.

The low receive occurs when not transmitting, like tonight, when we went out to eat. This is when my son told me his door opener doesn't work.

So ... did my amateur radio operation permanently damage the garage door receivers?

 

[KevinC]

Any possibility that a military 390 mHz trunked system has popped up close to you?

 

[mitbr]

Is the garage door light LED they have been known to cause problems with the controllers.

 

[mmckenna]

High RF levels could absolutely wipe out the receiver, but since most of these operate in the upper 300MHz band, it would take a lot of 40 meter band juice to make it fail.

If your antenna is really close to the garage door opener, then yeah, it's possible.

But I agree with others, things like cheap LED lamps can absolutely wipe out radios.
I'd look closely at what you added/changed in the area and see if there is correlation.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Any new cars?

 

[GlobalNorth]

My sawbuck is on replacement LED bulbs.

 

[ultravista]

Any possibility that a military 390 mHz trunked system has popped up close to you?

I don't think so ...

 

[ultravista]

The only thing new is my transmitting. The garage LEDs have been there for at least a year. Nothing that I am aware of changed, I am the person who would make changes to the environment. It is odd, coincidental, that both garage door openers now have very limited range, including a new remote that is less than a few weeks old. It is as-if the receiver is degraded and only capable of very close signals.

Again, this occurs without an active transceiver.

 

[mmckenna]

Well, it's either the receiver in both garage doors failed the same way at the same time, or something is wiping out that part of the band.

I'd probably start with a radio receiver/SDR and see what you can see. Might not be something you did. Might be a neighbor with noisy Christmas lights.

 

[chief21]

For what it's worth, I had a similar situation some months ago. It turned out that my tankless water heater, which is mounted on the garage wall, was emitting a signal that effectively overwhelmed the garage door receiver. The moral of this story is that almost any electrical device could be an unintentional RF source that could negatively affect simple receivers. Check around for any possible source.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

My sawbuck is on replacement LED bulbs.

One of the major door opener manufacturers published a list of recommended LED lamps. I think Philips was recommended.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

These remotes work on ISM band and there are many possible deliberate radiators in the band.

I had a weird problem some time back. I have a pair of wireless thermometers inside a deep freezer in my shed. The receiver, that has two channels suddenly went into alarm on both channels. Knowing that it worked on about 433.920 MHz I turned on my HP8920 and sure enough a strong dead carrier on the spectrum analyser. I have a portable SABER radio that tunes that freq, so I turned it on and went around. It was stronger outside. Then I realized I have a remote thermometer for the weather feature of my clock inside the house. I took down the thermometer and pulled the batteries. They were weak and causing the transmitter to lock up. I would check the FCC certification for the garage door, note the operating frequency and turn on a receiver on or near (frequency stability is not a given).

 

[ka3aaa]

move the antennas for the garage door opener outside the garage up tight to the overhang or soffit and see if that helps, its not that hard to do.

 

[mitbr]

If your garage door opener light bulb is LED and not a garage door friendly bulb it's very likely this is the culprit. This is a very common problem and it is unlikely
both remote controls would fail at the same time. Trust me this is the problem. The existing LED bulb may have gone bad.
Tim

 

[belvdr]

If your garage door opener light bulb is LED and not a garage door friendly bulb it's very likely this is the culprit. This is a very common problem and it is unlikely
both remote controls would fail at the same time. Trust me this is the problem. The existing LED bulb may have gone bad.
Tim

Easy test: remove the bulb.

 

[ultravista]

If your garage door opener light bulb is LED and not a garage door friendly bulb it's very likely this is the culprit. This is a very common problem and it is unlikely
both remote controls would fail at the same time. Trust me this is the problem. The existing LED bulb may have gone bad.
Tim

Would a non-powered light emit RF? This happens with all of the garage lights off.

 

[ultravista]

I have not replaced anything in the house for a while, no new electronics, nothing new at all.

This is very strange. I understand that some devices may act-up when transmitting, but my two door openers are practically deaf now. I bought new batteries today and the door won't open unless the remote opener is a few feet from the receiver. The wire buttons of course open/close the door perfectly.

Last night when we returned home, the garage door bulbs were off, the garage was dark, and it still wouldn't open - I waived the remote around in the air with the button pressed and it eventually opened.

On a perhaps related note, my Vizio soundbar mysteriously died Friday night while watching a movie. It is dead. I opened it and didn't see any blown/bulging capacitors. Googling the problem, I see many others have similar problems with the Vizio soundbars crapping out after a few years. It is coincidental that the garage door openers and soundbar are both affected the same day.

I was not transmitting when the soundbar died - the radio was off and we were watching a movie.

As I lead-off, very strange.

Could the front-end of the garage door receiver be damaged? I presume it either works or doesn't work. It doesn't make sense that it works but only when the opener is a few feet from the receiver.

 

[mitbr]

Would a non-powered light emit RF? This happens with all of the garage lights off.

Hmm remove the bulb completely and see.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I have not replaced anything in the house for a while, no new electronics, nothing new at all.

This is very strange. I understand that some devices may act-up when transmitting, but my two door openers are practically deaf now. I bought new batteries today and the door won't open unless the remote opener is a few feet from the receiver. The wire buttons of course open/close the door perfectly.

Last night when we returned home, the garage door bulbs were off, the garage was dark, and it still wouldn't open - I waived the remote around in the air with the button pressed and it eventually opened.

On a perhaps related note, my Vizio soundbar mysteriously died Friday night while watching a movie. It is dead. I opened it and didn't see any blown/bulging capacitors. Googling the problem, I see many others have similar problems with the Vizio soundbars crapping out after a few years. It is coincidental that the garage door openers and soundbar are both affected the same day.

I was not transmitting when the soundbar died - the radio was off and we were watching a movie.

As I lead-off, very strange.

Could the front-end of the garage door receiver be damaged? I presume it either works or doesn't work. It doesn't make sense that it works but only when the opener is a few feet from the receiver.

see my post #12....

 

[mmckenna]

Could the front-end of the garage door receiver be damaged? I presume it either works or doesn't work. It doesn't make sense that it works but only when the opener is a few feet from the receiver.

It could be damaged.
However, for it to still work when you are close enough, the receiver is probably swamped from noise from something else.
For both of them to suffer from this at the same time, it suggests a common noise source.

As several people have pointed out, something changed, and RFI is a very likely and proven source.

From reading your posts, it seems like you are a bit fixated on the 40 meter antenna being the cause. Don't assume that's the only possible cause.

You need to do some basic troubleshooting. None of us can do that for you.

Figure out what circuit breaker the garage door openers are on.
One at a time, shut off the -other- circuit breakers in your home. If/when you find one that resolves the issue, start looking at -every- device that is plugged into that circuit. Don't overlook anything, and don't assume something can't cause interference.

I've had cheap USB chargers in vehicles cause a lot of RFI and interfere with tire pressure monitoring systems. It might be a USB charger in one or all of your vehicles causing this.

Don't rule out devices at your neighbors homes.

Don't run out and buy all new garage door openers, or call in a repair service without doing some basic troubleshooting. Often, these things are a simple cause and easily fixed.