Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

Read the installation manual for the opener. I installed a "Genie" at my
last house. The logic for the wired button and the remote control are
quite different. The door adjusts its speed and torque by learning from
using the wired control. There is a torque sensor which detects
blockage of the door as well. Again read the manual, it could be the
installer does not RTFM!

Dick wrote:

T(snip) The door does
operate perfectly with the wall button. (snip)
Dick




--
Joe Leikhim K4SAT
"The RFI-EMI-GUY"©

"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."

"Follow The Money" ;-P

Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

Let's forget about the door, its springs and torque adjustments. This
is an RF problem! Neither a new remote nor the original remotes will
actuate either the new receiver or the old receiver. Has nothing to
do with the door itself or the closer. There is something near that
physical location that prevents the receivers from getting a valid
signal from the remotes. I am looking for ideas as to what that might
be. This is an all-house neighborhood. No businesses of any kind.
Nearest thing other than houses is a high school two blocks away.
Power lines are overhead, not buried.

Dick - W6CCD

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 02:21:37 GMT, **THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**
wrote:

Read the installation manual for the opener. I installed a "Genie" at my
last house. The logic for the wired button and the remote control are
quite different. The door adjusts its speed and torque by learning from
using the wired control. There is a torque sensor which detects
blockage of the door as well. Again read the manual, it could be the
installer does not RTFM!

Dick wrote:

T(snip) The door does
operate perfectly with the wall button. (snip)
Dick

Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

Let's forget about the door, its springs and torque adjustments. This
is an RF problem! Neither a new remote nor the original remotes will
actuate either the new receiver or the old receiver. Has nothing to
do with the door itself or the closer. There is something near that
physical location that prevents the receivers from getting a valid
signal from the remotes. I am looking for ideas as to what that might
be. This is an all-house neighborhood. No businesses of any kind.
Nearest thing other than houses is a high school two blocks away.
Power lines are overhead, not buried.

I think you're going to have to find something that's capable of
acting as a spectrum analyzer (or at least a crudely-tuned RF
sensor/signal-strength-meter) and start DF'ing.

A ham HT with 70 cm capability, and a 'scan' feature, might be enough
to find the signal frequency fairly quickly if it's strong enough to
interfere with Part 15 devices. Then, start hunting. A simple
hold-it-near-the-chest-and-spin-on-your-heels 'body fade' might be
enough to allow you to triangulate in on the source.

A two- or three-element Yagi hooked to a real spectrum analyzer would
probably be rather faster.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 06:20:31 -0000, (Dave Platt)
wrote:

Let's forget about the door, its springs and torque adjustments. This
is an RF problem! Neither a new remote nor the original remotes will
actuate either the new receiver or the old receiver. Has nothing to
do with the door itself or the closer. There is something near that
physical location that prevents the receivers from getting a valid
signal from the remotes. I am looking for ideas as to what that might
be. This is an all-house neighborhood. No businesses of any kind.
Nearest thing other than houses is a high school two blocks away.
Power lines are overhead, not buried.

I think you're going to have to find something that's capable of
acting as a spectrum analyzer (or at least a crudely-tuned RF
sensor/signal-strength-meter) and start DF'ing.

A ham HT with 70 cm capability, and a 'scan' feature, might be enough
to find the signal frequency fairly quickly if it's strong enough to
interfere with Part 15 devices. Then, start hunting. A simple
hold-it-near-the-chest-and-spin-on-your-heels 'body fade' might be
enough to allow you to triangulate in on the source.

A two- or three-element Yagi hooked to a real spectrum analyzer would
probably be rather faster.

I agree with you Dave. I have everything that would be needed to
trace out the interference. Unfortunately, I live 500 miles away. I
am trying to find ideas that I can offer to my 80 year-old aunt that
she can use in discussions with service people, utility companies,
etc. She is still very sharp, but lacks electronic experience.

Dick

Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

If it is interference it could be from a number of different sources &
finding that source without the right equipment (most garage door
companies won't have this equipment) can sometimes be difficult.

Over the years I have seen interference from police scanners, ham
radio's, large satellite dishes when pointed in a certain direction,
cell phone towers, when a particular car was parked in the driveway
(believe the interference was from the car alarm), and other garage
door openers. Usually all of these items are relatively close to the
problem location. I have also heard but never seen that a TV cable will
also cause interference if not poperly grounded.

Within the last couple of years the military has been installing new
radio equipment that stomps all frequencies in the 375-450 range and
there are reports that this interference can range up to fifty miles
from the military installation. For years the Chambelain, Liftmaster,
Craftsman, Genie and others have been usuing the 390 frequency because
of it's reliabilty before these new installations. Last spring the
Chamberlain group of openers started using the 315 frequency to get
away from this interference problem. I don't know off hand what Genie
has done to remedy the problem.

About 6 months ago, most of Aruba started having interfernce problems
quite suddenly (no one there knows where it is coming from) and the 315
frequency solved the problem there also.

With all of that said, as others have posted interference will not
usually stop a closing door in mid travel. There may be some other
issue there or it may be that your aunt is holding the button too long
when she can't get the door to work & the opener actually ends up
receiving more then one signal from the transmitter.

Usually for a door company it is easier to install new radio controls
that are on a different frequency that will work in a certain area then
it is to find the offending source. If it is a military installation,
phone tower, etc there isn't a whole lot (if anything) a door company
or a homeowner can do to stop the interference from happening & the
only choice is to come up w/ a work around. It may sound like a cop out
or bs excuse but as we produce & use more products that work on radio
frequencies the interference problems are only going to continue to get
worse. Therefore until someone comes up w/ something different or
better we must learn to deal w/ it effectively & the best way to get
the consumer a product that will work as it's designed.

Doordoc

Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

Thanks doordoc. That's what I was looking for. My aunt's door is not
the one with the open halfway then close problem. That's across the
street.. My aunt's won't operate at all with the remotes. The house
beside her has the same no operation problem. I don't know how far
this problem spreads in the neighborhood. She has already paid the
original installer $120 to troubleshoot. The installer is convinced
it is an interference problem. I am going to try to find out the make
and model to see what I can learn about frequency, etc. If I can find
out, I will post it here for comments.

Dick

On 28 Jan 2006 13:13:54 -0800, wrote:


With all of that said, as others have posted interference will not
usually stop a closing door in mid travel. There may be some other
issue there or it may be that your aunt is holding the button too long
when she can't get the door to work & the opener actually ends up
receiving more then one signal from the transmitter.

Doordoc

Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

Here is the latest in the garage door opener saga. Edison Co. came to
my aunt's house and had her turn off the main power breaker. He then
asked her to have the neighbors try their openers. They worked
perfectly! The problem seems to have been related to a surge
protector she used on her computer system, but I don't know if that's
the final answer. Hers does work fine now. I have been trying to
figure out how a surge protector not connected to the opener could
affect her opener as well as the close neighbors. Must have been
putting out one heck of a spurious signal.

Dick


On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 23:54:22 GMT, **THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**
wrote:

There have been problems with military use of the 300 MHz band for new
radio systems, but this would not cause the door to work only half way.

Assuming the neighbors problems are coincidental, check the
counterbalance spring for the door. They wear out or break and the
opener does not have enough power to work on irs own. By the way this is
not a DIY project because of safety concerns with the springs and the
repairs can be about $300.

Dick wrote:

My aunt, who lives in So. Calif., along with two close neighbors, is
suddenly having problems with garage door openers. Won't open. Stop
part way down, etc. I haven't heard of amateur radio having an effect
on modern garage door remote receivers. How about BPL? Don't know if
it can effect things in the 900 Mhz region, but thought I would ask if
anyone else has seen this.

Dick - W6CCD

Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

Here is the latest in the garage door opener saga. Edison Co. came to
my aunt's house and had her turn off the main power breaker. He then
asked her to have the neighbors try their openers. They worked
perfectly! The problem seems to have been related to a surge
protector she used on her computer system, but I don't know if that's
the final answer. Hers does work fine now. I have been trying to
figure out how a surge protector not connected to the opener could
affect her opener as well as the close neighbors. Must have been
putting out one heck of a spurious signal.


Very interesting find. Please post any further updates on this. I'd
like to know if the problem would transfer to another home if that surge
protector is moved to it.... also, might be interesting to put a high
frequency scope on the AC line going in,and coming out of that protector
to see what is on the 120V inputs and outputs.


Ed

Anyone Know of BPL Problems With Garage Door Openers?
 

On 11 Feb 2006 19:19:40 GMT, Ed
wrote:



Here is the latest in the garage door opener saga. Edison Co. came to
my aunt's house and had her turn off the main power breaker. He then
asked her to have the neighbors try their openers. They worked
perfectly! The problem seems to have been related to a surge
protector she used on her computer system, but I don't know if that's
the final answer. Hers does work fine now. I have been trying to
figure out how a surge protector not connected to the opener could
affect her opener as well as the close neighbors. Must have been
putting out one heck of a spurious signal.


Very interesting find. Please post any further updates on this. I'd
like to know if the problem would transfer to another home if that surge
protector is moved to it.... also, might be interesting to put a high
frequency scope on the AC line going in,and coming out of that protector
to see what is on the 120V inputs and outputs.


Ed

I'm going to see her later this year. I will have her save the surge
protector for me so I can bring it back home for test.

Dick