Craftsman Garage Door Opener

We own two Craftsman screw drive garage door openers. They are less than 4 years old. They are the exact same model. This week, one of the openers will not open with the remote unless you are inside the garage. The other opener functions as normal. We have tested all of the remotes, and the condition remains the same. We have also replaced the batteries in one of the remotes, but it makes no difference. The antenna is hanging down as specified in the user manual. Does anyone know what would make the reception become so poor? We have checked the photo eyes on the safety switches and those do not seem to have any issues.

sam01, welcome to the forum

I must admit I have no experience with Craftsman garage door openers, but heard something about checking your drive gear? It is said that some stardust-like build-up might get in the way for full reception..

Hey Sam01. I am having the EXACT same problem with one of my Craftsman door openers. One works fine while the other is having the same reception problems that yours is having. Yes, like you I have also played the battery replacement game with no results. Did you have any luck finding what the problem with you opener was? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!! Jim

I think it is something with the logic board. I took the logic board out of the working opener and swapped it with logic board out of the bad opener. After this, both openers worked fine for a few days. Then, the opener with the bad logic board(The original working opener) has stopped working. It is intermittent at best. You have to put the remote immediately next to the opener to get it to open. You can buy the logic boards from Sears, but I think they are about $95.00. For now, we just use the remote on the one side where my wife parks her car and use the wall mounted button to operate the other opener as needed. As for the star dust theory, I did see a litte dirt in the unit, but it was not near the logic board and I did not think this would affect anything.

Sam01 thank you very much for updating us, this is good information and I hope tman2576 will take advantage of it.


btw: tman2576 welcome to the forum

It sounds like the receiver on the circuit board has gone bad. You either need to put in a new circuit board or a separate receiver.
Visit http://ddmgaragedoors.com/residential/ troubleshooting.cgi for more troubleshooting options.

UPDATE!!! I read on another forum that interference from some electrical items can cause the symptoms that are described above. These items include battery chargers, timers and several other plug-in items. About the time that my problem started, I had plugged in a battery charger for Christmas gift that I had purchased for my boy. After reading this new information I unplugged the battery charger and within a half hour my door openers were back to normal. About a week later I plugged the battery charger back in to test the cure. My door openers immediately started to malfunction again. When I then unplugged the charger, the openers reverted back to normal and have been fine ever since. I should note that the charger was being operated in our upstairs bedroom which is about as far away from the garage as it can get…..Shrug….I hope this helps. Jim

Huh?? Something that far away can get the function of those doors distorted?

Thank you for informing us of that, who could have thought

Had and still have the same problem where the remotes refuse to work unless directly underneath the opener. Sears refuses to fix, but acknowledged that the problem is caused by rf interference with their 315 mhz frequency use by motion sensors, etc... They insist that the frequncy change was mandated by the FCC. They will not post the possibility of rf interference with their openers on a web site or any advertisement. They will not post it in their stores, and they do not advise their sales people. Both Sears and Chamberlain also will not and have not put this information in any instruction manual, nor do they have any fix. I took off and threw out a motion sensor on my light and initially fixed the problem. This past month I recently installed a water fountain bird bath with six small LED lights in a front garden, which I found again shut down my remotes AND my home links in my cars. I was able to isolate the problem directly to the LED lights (NOT the transformer for the fountain, and not the water pump)! After refusing to assist, Sears advised that Chamberlain makes their garage door openers. I contacted Chamberlain, and they also said the interference is caused by RF interference, with no explanation as to why they do not advise the consumer in any publication with their openers. Chamberlain blamed the water fountain manufacturer, and suggested that I call them and have them fix their manufatcturing defect! . Both Sears and Chamberlain refused to fix, refused top assist, and suggested that I throw out the birdbath. I have spoken to several techs about LED lighting, including Sears' own technician, all whom who have never heard of any interference caused by LED lights.
You can find out what is interfering with your remotes by either disconnecting anything with a remote or motion sensor, or by turning off a circuit breaker one at a time until you find which circuit has the problem. You would then find anything on the circuit which causes the problem. OR... you can take it back to Sears or wherever you bought the Chamberlain, and buy a different brand. According to Genie, they only have rf interference with openers installed close to major airports, and they in fact manufacture dual frequency equipment to defeat this problem, on the rare occasion that it occurs. I am ripping out my Craftsman and switching to a Genie which operates at 390 mhz.

Soccerobsession, welcome to the forum It's great you have joined us. And, thank you so much for this detailed information. Much appreciated.

had all the same problems with my garage door opener. after reading you help i found out that the clock radio in the master bedroom was causing the interference. its crazy. it knocked out the clickers on my neighbors on both sides and across the street. Unplugged it and everyone's clickers work now. wish i would of read this before getting a new logic board, new batteries and then a brand new opener.

Glad to see you got the problem taken care of this happens quite alot

Replacing the logic board seems to be the fix for a multitude of problems - and it becomes very expensive. I have had to do this 2X. I would not recommend anyone buy a Craftsman.

Hello all,
I couldnt resist but to involve myself in this forum.....I have a Genie opener with the 390 MHZ frequency and myself and 5 neighbors up the street involving several different garage openers are curently having problems with the remotes. Genie seems to be no better than Chamberlain....

The problem w/ a clock radio comes from the transformer inside, and depending on a variety of factors (like type of wiring, length of circuit wiring, same/different circuits, same/different pole side, quality of transformer, line noise restriction (up or down stream), other equipment on shared circuits, etc, etc.....those are just a few...), can cause significant radio interference (or none at all!). It can be a real PITA to troubleshoot.

Just replaced the logic board after both remotes would not work, and then after trying to reprogram them, the car and keyless pad would not reprogram either. In addition, after installing the new board, I do not have any lights on the garage wall remote (no power?) even though the 'learn button' indication light illuminates. Is the new board faulty, the door unit? The original unit is about 11 years old

In reply to soccerobsessions rant, there IS a fix for the interference problems on liftmaster, chamberlain, and craftsmen garage door openers on the 315 mhz frequency. The fix is to get off that frequency. Before I give you the how to, for you DIYers and which products you will need to use to accomplish this,I have to say I completely agree with Sears tech support guys who said the FCC mandates which products can interfere or more importantly cannot interfere with other RF products. Although soccerobsession is correct by saying Sears doesnt splash some huge warning on the garage door openers box stating this product may not work in your neighborhood because someone may have plugged in a digital clock radio, it DOES say on every remote control right next to the FCC ID # THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES. OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING 2 CONDITIONS (1) THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE, AND (2) THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY INTERFERENCE RECIEVED, INCLUDING (SOCCEROBSESSION) INTERFERENCE THAT MAY CAUSE UNDESIRED OPERATION.

As a person with a boatload of experience in the field in this industry I can tell you two things (1) there is definitely lots of random RF interference that causes undesireable operation to garage door and automated gate openers and (2) Genie products are certainly not the answer to this problem either.

The fix as promissed is to get off competing frequencies in the surrounding area. Since you cannot control your neighbors satelite dish, wifi modems or battery charger usage, you can however control the purchase of after market products which accomplish the objectives you want them to, namely just opening the freekin garage door. One of the many products to do this is the 635LM. After 2005 homeland security started using 390 mhz and laws were passed disallowing manufacturers to make RF products (NEW PRODUCTS)in that frequency so their would not be unneccesary competition on the radio waves. Grandfathered products like the 635LM plug in reciever however, still operate on 390 mhz and can be purchased to work with existing equipment.
This 635LM plugs into a standard wall outlet and serves as your 390 mhz reciever. Installation for the DIY guy is fairly simple, a two lead 24 awg wire usually red and white go from the red and white terminals on the 635LM to the red and white terminals on the garage door openers motor head. You will also need remote controls which speak the same language (390mhz) specifically. A 971LM will do the trick.(there are several 390mhz remote controls out there). There is a simple two button programming procedure to sync the remotes to the 635LM reciever and away you go. In my experience when something doesnt work on 315mhz and you make the switch to 390mhz I have always had success, and vica versa, when 390mhz did not work for some reason I switched to 315mhz and had success there too.
Well happy hunting and good luck to all you back yard garage door mechanics, I think I'll go watch some American football now, to help me get rid of my soccer obsession.

Very detailed and excellent reply spottz14. This should help clear up some of the issues people are having.

Spottz14, I certainly do appreciate all your technical expertise. Gosh, you really sound like you know your stuff! I am so impressed! I know, like so many other buyers of brand new failing garage door openers, purchased new and yet unable to work due to the inadequacies and unwillingness of manufacturers of openers (i.e. Chamberlain)to rectify the problem by supplying the equipment you so ACCURATELY describe, that I would CERTAINLY like to spend an average of 25 to 40 dollars per remote to replace the uncooperative remotes that came with the garage door opener I purchased, along with who knows how much for that other "technical" device that you again so accurately described. Just think, for an extra 50-200 dollars, I can get my BRAND NEW garage door opener to work. And maybe...just maybe, I can sell my original brand new remotes that no longer work with my new garage door opener, at a yard sale to recoup some of the money that I had to spend on spottz14's equipment! Go figure. But hey, since spottz14 is able to provide us DIY's the information and expertise, can he provide us all his credit card number to save us the money? Seriously spottzy, thanks for the advice...useless, and certainly not cost effective, but advice just the same. Incidentally, I certainly do hope that you can shake your "soccer obsession" by watching football. May I suggest one thing however... please invest in spell check, or at least a dictionary, so that when you do attempt to ridicule someone who provides information to guide people towards viable troubleshooting solutions, you don't seem as foolish and petty. Enjoy the game, remote king. And to all others...HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

spottz14 wrote:

....

Spottz14, please contact me (by either PM or the contact email form on this site). I would like to ask you a question (off topic tho).

Just got thru installing the 390mhz plug in receiver. I have replaced the logic board, transmitters, and now the 390mhz receiver. Still have the same problem.....but the range is now about 15ft instead of 3 ft. I have plugged in my garage door opener with an extension cord to my neighbors house after completely shutting down the electricity to my house. I still have a problem. The technician who installed my gagage door opener says that he has installed over 10,000 garage door openers and never been stumped like this. We ordered a 433mhz setup today when the 390 fix failed. This all happened 14 days ago and is driving us crazy.

Joe,
Plugging our garage door opener into your neighbor's outlet won't eliminate the RF interference your remotes are experiencing, as the rf interference is in the air and interfering with your opener's ability to read signal from your remotes. (layman's terms, I am not an expert). Try shutting down each circuit in your breaker panel one at a time to try ro isolate and determine what circuit has something plugged into it which is generating the interference. If you can identify the circuit, than by process of elimination you should be able to figure out what appliance, light, etc... is causing the problem. I was told by a tech that it could be motion sensors, etc... My problem was l.e.d. lighting in my birdbath that aren't supposed to emit any type of rf. If after all is said and done, you still haven't identified the culprit, other posters have said, as well as the tech that I had dealt with, that interference can come from a neigbor's sensors, etc... A previous poster also determined his problem came fropm a clock radio transformer. Good Luck!

ATTN SPOTZ14... I am on the board in a townhome community that is having RFI problems...Is it possible for you to contact me??...

I read your post with interest because I have the very same problem of no range with the remote door opener which I believe is caused by RF interference. We had an Overhead Door opener and replaced the motherboard. This worked for a year and the same problem came back. This time rather than dealing with the issue I simply bought and installed a new Chamberlain opener from Lowes. I was really surprised to find the very same problem with the new unit. This is when I realized, after researching the Internet, that the problem is RF interference. Our Overhead Door operates on 390 mhz and Chamberlain on 315 mhz, so I don't think simply changing to another mhz range is the answer in all cases. I am in the process of troubleshooting and have not been able to identify the problem yet. Telephone support from Chamberlain was helpful but they step away after you have gone through their checklist. I have powered down the circuit breakers and brought them back up one at a time - no result. I am wondering if our satellite dish and the associated coax cable could be the culprit, or if the wireless phone system could have an effect. It may be something from a neighbor or even from the neighborhood. It is a frustrating problem that I will continue to work on by the process of elimination now that I understand the problem is from RF interference. Chamberlain support informed me that some garage door installation companies have equipment that can locate the source of RF interference and that the cost of a service call is not prohibitive because the detection equipment pinpoints the location of the interference quickly.