Did the garage
door opener remote somehow fall under the brake pedal just as it was
depressed? Of course it could have
simply fallen unaware into the lap as one steps out to shop. However the
remotes break or get lost it could happened to anyone. That is why there are
remotes available for purchase from any dealer of garage door openers.
One can simply
call a garage door service to come and program a new remote, but some people
want to do it themselves.
The first step to
adding or replacing any garage door remote is to identify the make and model of
the opener. If the manual that came with your opener is not available a ladder
will be required. Two persons would make this an easy job as one climbs and
reads and the other writes and verifies. Check first with the store where the
opener was purchased. If one bought the house or it was installed by the
builders go to the garage door service company for help finding appropriate
remotes. There are also a number of Universal remotes sold at hardware stores
that are compatible with the major opener manufacturers.
The opener will
have instructions for programming it. This may also require a helper to
activate a working remote in order for the new opener to learn the frequency of
the remote. Please note that when you program the opener you are really wiping
the memory clean of all remotes and you will have to add back all the remotes
you want to work with the system. This is true of the wireless remote that
often located on the outside of the garage for keyless entry as well as the
button inside located near the door to the house. Most openers can only be programmed with the
frequency of 5 remotes, so unless one has multiple copies of the car keys for
multiple drivers one should be fine.
Remotes have
gotten more complex, some will turn on lights or open multiple doors with
different buttons. One may also have remote as part of a cars system. Don't get
over excited about buttons, and fancy features keychain style or car mounted
remotes are easily lost or broken. Also
if one does have a remote attached to the keys; please keep extra careful watch
on the keys. Children love pushing buttons and it would be a shame to leave the
garage door open all night because of a busy set of fingers. Also remember that any garage door safety feature can be
knocked out of place or fail to catch some movement vital to the safety of a
small child or animal. Car mounted remote openers are safer. There is very
little reason to open the garage from any room in the house, unless one is very
fast at hopping into a car and buckling up the door should have plenty of time
to raise itself.
Next time that
garage door opener remote gets crunched or slips away unnoticed in the parking lot, look at it as
an adventure and get programming.