Garage door won’t open or close with remote control

You are tired after a long day at work. You can’t wait to go home, eat some dinner, and unwind with a good book or by watching one of your favorite movies. It’s not to be; not yet, anyway. You pull up into your driveway and hit the open button on your remote control and….nothing! The garage door didn’t open. You try again, and get the same results. Here at Kendall Garage Door Pros we often receive calls from local customers saying that their garage doors won’t open or close when they use their remote controls. It’s a problem that can happen to any of us at any time so keep reading and see what our Kendall, FL garage door pros recommend that you do.

Do the obvious – check your battery

9 out of 10 people will assume that the problem is a run-down battery in the remote. That’s good because it usually is! Just remove your batter from the remote and test it. Do you have a reliable battery tester at home? If not, you can take it to a local Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot or Lowes and they will be happy to test it for you at no charge. Of course, their goal is to sell you a battery but you are under no obligation to buy one there.

Next, check your remote’s battery terminals. If you have an older remote that has had its share of battery replacements, then the terminals may have loosened to the point that they no longer do their job right. There’s an easy solution; just press them together slightly until they are tighter and hold the battery better. You want good contact and by doing this you can get it. Also, be sure to clean the terminals if any battery fluid has leaked on to them as this too can affect performance.

Are your remote buttons sticking? They tend to do this with excess use and wear. Who hasn’t dropped the remote onto the driveway or garage floor on occasion? Remotes can wear out, become damaged with time. If you notice that you have to hit the open or close button several times to make it work then that is a sure sign that it is time to replace your remote (not your whole opener system!).
Do you have an older model remote? You may need to re-program it. Newer ones don’t need this but often the older ones can’t retain their memory after a time. Check your owner’s manual to see how to do this for your particular model and if you don’t have one, don’t worry about it. Most owner’s manuals are online in PDF form and all you have to do to access them is to search for it using your favorite browner and keywords; “brand name garage door opener owner’s manuals”.

Safety sensors

Another major reason that your remote is not opening or closing your garage door has nothing to do with your remote at all. The problem may be your photo electric safety eyes. Check your sensors and make sure that the LED lights are working and are lit. If one is out, or if it is blinking, then there is a problem. Check for frayed or cut wires and make sure that nothing is loose. Also, the lenses need to be clean and not smeared or caked with dirt. Here in Kendall, FL the warmth and humidity sometimes attract spiders and other bugs that love to build webs or other nests in and around your sensors. Be sure to remove any webs or insect nests safely with a long stick to avoid getting bitten or stung. You can clean the sensor lenses with a dry cloth (gently). Be careful to avoid scratching them (you can pretend they are camera lenses, if that helps). If the sensors have been bumped or nudged, they may not be aiming at each other. You can gently re-align them by hand so that the light beams are focused again. If needed, you can tighten the brackets so that they hold the beams steadier. If you need help doing any of this you can watch any number of YouTube videos on the subject by simply searching for them online or you can call a local Kendall, FL garage door repair shop and they should be happy to assist you. Of course, you can always give our Kendall Garage Door Pros crew a call; we offer high quality repair, installation and service assistance for home and business garage doors including 24-hour emergency help and lots more.

Is it locked up?

Many garage door openers feature a lock button on the wall station inside the garage. It’s meant as a safety and security feature so that you can lock your garage door whenever activated. Doing this prevents anyone from opening or closing your garage door using a remote. This is usually used when the occupants are going on vacation or simply away for the weekend. On the same note, many people use garage door side locks to secure their garages. This lock slides into a hole in the vertical track and prevents your garage door from opening. Whether you set it and forgot or someone else in your household did, the end result is still the same; no garage door access!

Final tips for you to consider

These items are not so common, but you should know about them as they still happen from time to time. Here in Florida, we sometimes get power surges, lightning strikes and power loss. At times, these can destroy the circuitry in the powerhead and can move through the wires all the way to the photo electric safety eyes or even to the wall station. A lightning strike doesn’t have to be direct to your home in order for a surge to affect your electrical appliances including your garage door opener system. While your first thought might be to call an electrician, the smarter and more affordable choice is to call a full service, licensed garage door repair technician.