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