Your garage door is made of many different parts that we don’t particularly recommend fixing on your own. However, some issues don’t require calling an expert. One of them is reprogramming your garage door opener. You may be surprised how many different brands of garage door openers are available on the market. The instructions may vary depending on the brand, model, and production year, yet the process is more or less the same. In this article, you’ll find out how to reset and reprogram your garage door opener. Without any further ado, let’s get right into it!
How Do Garage Door Openers Work?
Even though your garage door is the biggest moving part in your house, it works on the basis of a simple radio transmission system. According to experts from A1garage.com, this system is not foolproof, but it proved to be extremely effective. Older garage door remote openers rely on DIP switches and radio transmissions, sending a radio signal to a receiver that’s inside the door opener box. The newer ones rely on wireless technology and are often equipped with a keypad, in addition to the remote. If your garage door has an exterior keypad, it’s going to work on the same principle as remote openers.
Why Should You Reprogram Your Garage Door Opener?
There are many reasons why you should consider reprogramming your garage door opener. These include, but are not limited to:
- Moving into a new home
- Giving the code to a service technician
- Having your garage remote door opener stolen, lost, or broken
- Buying a new remote
- Having a garage door that keeps opening and closing on its own
When in doubt, feel free to check programming instructions in your manual and make sure you have it at hand. Regardless of the reason, the process differs depending on the type of your garage door locking mechanism, but it’s fairly simple.
Garage Doors Without a Keypad
Many older types of garage doors don’t have a keypad. As such, they’re operated only by a remote. If you want to change the code, you have to physically move the switches inside the door opener and the remote. Typically, most units have a series of 9 or 12 switches that can be toggled in an on or off position. Your garage door opener will work only when the pattern of the switches on the handheld remote matches the one on the in-garage motor.
To change the code of the remote, take off its cover to expose the switches and move the switches to complete the reset process. When you’re done, don’t forget to put the cover back on the remote control. Then, take the ladder – you’ll need it to reach your garage door’s motor unit. Once again, remove the cover of the control panel and manually change the position of the switches. Make sure the pattern is exactly the same as the one you set for your remote control!
Garage Doors with a Keypad
Typically, you can expect newer garage doors to be equipped with an external keypad, which makes the whole code-changing process much easier. This time, you won’t have to deal with any switches. Usually, newer garage door openers work after they learn the frequency of a handheld opener and have a button that says “Home” or “Learn.” This button is located next to a LED light (the color may vary depending on the brand), and on the same side as the antenna on the device. Different models will vary when it comes to button placement and functions, but their operating concept is identical.
If you want to reprogram your opener, once again, you might need a ladder to reach the garage door’s motor unit. Press the “Learn” button on the motor and hold it down for four to six seconds or until the LED light goes off. Release the button and remove the old code. Push the “Learn” button on the motor once again and wait until the light turns back on. Then, enter a new code on the keypad. If the code has been accepted, you’ll see that the light on your garage door’s motor unit starts to blink. Press the button once again – if everything went well, the light should stop flashing while remaining lit.
Now’s the time to program your remote opener. Press and hold the button until the LED light comes on. If it starts to blink, it means you successfully managed to program it with a new code. Enter the new code to the keypad and press the button once again. If the light stops blinking, the process is complete, and you’re all set.
The Bottom Line
Sometimes it’s necessary to reprogram your garage door opener. Whether it’s for security reasons, or because it no longer works as it’s supposed to, you can do it on your own with ease. As you can see, the process isn’t complicated, and it’s similar for garage doors remote openers regardless of their brand and type. So, feel free to do it by yourself and rest assured that you can use your garage safely.
