Garage Door Remote Doesn't Work

Here’s a problem I’ve run into several times lately- the garage door opener remote no longer works. The good news is the solution has been very simple. Check your wall control.

Is the led solid or flashing? If it’s flashing you’re in luck. The wall control should have two buttons, one with a light symbol and one with a lock symbol. Press and hold the lock button for a few seconds then release. The led on the wall control should now be solid and your remotes will now function.

What’s that button for, you ask? Good question. It is a “vacation mode” setting so that when you’re gone the remote function is disabled decreasing the likelihood of break-in.

Most times no one pays much attention to the lock button; they are usually going for the light button and press lock by mistake.

Now if the wall control led was solid the whole time, this gets a little trickier. Grab a ladder and take a look at the side of the garage door opener where the wire hangs down, that’s the remote antenna. Near the antenna will be the “learn button” where you program the remotes. Right next to this button is an led. Now we can test the remote by pressing the button (on the remote not the learn button) and see if the led on the garage door opener lights up.

If the led lights up but there is no reaction from the opener it may be that the opener just needs to be reprogrammed. Sometimes the garage door opener gets a “brain freeze” and loses sync with the remote. Press the learn button and quickly release it, you now have 30 seconds to program your remote. Press and hold the remote button until you get a reaction from the opener, either the lights will flash or you will hear a click. Try your remote now to see if it works. If you are still having trouble the garage door opener’s logic board (where the learn button is located) may be faulty. This would be a very costly repair unless you are savvy enough to replace it yourself.)

If the led on the opener did not light up you may have a bad battery in the remote, the remote itself is bad or again the logic board is defective.