Well, that was more than a little bit spooky!

I was walking toward the front door to close it for the evening and I heard a noise. Stopped, got quiet and listened -- sure enough! It's my garage door opening! What the heck??

I cautiously headed to the garage, listening for other noises (hoping not to hear voices or sounds of destruction) along the way. An easy look around showed no one there and no one running down the driveway. I pressed the wall button to close the door and carefully slipped outside to have another look. Didn't see a thing. Reviewed the Wyze cam footage... nothing!

Could one of my remotes be sending random signals? I'm calm and confident now, but I'll admit that did freak me out a little.

Yeah, that would demand all the openers get new batteries. Or something…that’s weird

I have a liftmaster and when the capacitors went bad in the wall button it would go up but in my case it wouldn’t go back down.

I believe I remember reading something about thieves being able to clone garage door openers but don't hold me to that. But that's worst care scenario.

Could also be a short circuit in the board, or some sort of electrical gremlin.

When I bought my last, new to me, car I was programming the built-in remote garage door opener in it. It just so happened my neighbor came home and popped his garage while I was in the process of doing the programming.

For the next two or three weeks we couldn’t figure out why my garage door kept opening on its own.

Then he and I figured it out.

Maybe that’s what happened to you?

Maybe a neighbor’s remote?
How old is your opener? Maybe it doesn’t have “rolling codes”

Criminals certainly drive through a neighborhood with a signaling device that covers a spectrum of channels looking for doors that open.

I’d keep a friend nearby.

Possible a radio type signal being generated by not so nice people ridding around generation signal to see if they can activate such door openers so that they can return later to gain entry............ possible a random signal from who knows where... Suggest just be watchful if the door is activated without your imput. If it continues then suggest changing the access code signals........................................... drill sgt.

Man, I'm already looking into replacing the openers!

And keeping a friend nearby....

It never stops does it?!
Thieving bastards!

I’d have a look at the wall opener first.
Next, is one of the remotes in your car in a place where something could contact the button?

Several things -

Older remote controls have a thin piece of metal that is pushed against the board when the button is pressed. At some point, the metal will get a kink in it. I had one years ago that did this. Opened up the remote, put it on a table, then pressed the button. The metal piece started to flex a bit (think like a magnetic field), then would touch the board and active the opener. Think of the older big remotes you used to have to use in the car. Smaller ones that directly push a button on the board are less likely to have this type of issue.

In some areas (think near military bases), some older openers don't activate as easily as there can be other activity on the frequency. It can also be the reverse and activate too easily.

As noted by an earlier post, the button in the garage can fail - I had to replace mine recently because of the opposite - it wouldn't activate any longer. If you have one of the older types of buttons (think one that looks like a doorbell), disconnect the wires from it and tape them back away from each other. Replacement button is cheap. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ge...tton-GWC-R/202808539

If your opener is a bit more modern, you might have one that doesn't have a rolling code to keep others out. It is a simple thing to upgrade that if needed. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ch...-myQ-G0401/316864745

If your opener is quite modern, you might have to test each remote to see if that is the issue - just take the battery out of one for a bit. You might consider resetting the opener and have it learn the remotes again just to make sure that someone else hasn't programmed into your system.

The safety sensor that reverses the door is another potential issue - most are set to NOT reverse once the door is down. If it is too sensitive, then it can activate if any stray dust particles get in the beam.

The newest openers are less likely to be affected by outside interference.

There are other reasons for this behavior, but I think the above will cover a majority of potential causes.

The links for the items I left are just examples - you might find other alternatives.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Next, is one of the remotes in your car in a place where something could contact the button?

I did wonder about that.
For now, I've removed the remote from the car entirely.

And thank you SigSAC. I do know these openers are new enough to have the rolling code feature. I'll dig into the worn-out remote guts idea shortly.

If it were me. I would unplug until I could make a better determination what happened or doing some kind of security update. I do not believe in gremlins.

I updated my earlier post with additional information rather than split up into multiple posts.

I have nothing to contribute re the reason for your door activating, however I do have a suggestion.

I spent $25.00 on Amazon for a MyQ thingy that monitors the garage door and sends an alert to my iPhone (I think there's an Android app, as well) whenever the door opens or closes.

I can use the app at any time to check the status of the door, and I can open or close the door via the app.

As I said, twenty-five bucks, and it took me about ten minutes to install and set up. There was one glitch when pairing it to my WiFi and I had mixed experience with their customer service / tech support. The first agent I contacted was a total moron. The second lady was super-sharp, knew the answer right away, and was very pleasant and cordial.

I believe that HRK recommended the device; I second his recommendation.

Older garage door openers operated in spectrum that is dedicated to federal public safety land mobile radio, which is 380-400 mhz.

How old is your opener?

JP

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
If it were me. I would unplug until I could make a better determination what happened or doing some kind of security update. I do not believe in gremlins.

Indeed. Done!

quote:

Originally posted by jprebb:
Older garage door openers operated in spectrum that is dedicated to federal public safety land mobile radio, which is 380-400 mhz.

How old is your opener?

JP

I don’t know exactly, but it’s easily 20 years old.

I’ll look into the MyQ gadget, V-tail, thank you.

My garage door opener is controlled by a switched dedicated outlet on the ceiling. I don't leave it energized unless I need to open it or my wife has gone to the grocery store.

The same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. Turned out I had an extra opener in a kitchen drawer and whenever I opened the drawer the button got pressed. Do you have spare openers around?