Re: Garage Door Opener keypad recommendations

[George <no.geodosch.spam@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:35:19 -0800, Jim thoughfully wrote:

> On Nov 18, 12:03Â am, George <no.geodosch.s...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:06:31 -0800, tourman thoughfully wrote:
>>
>> In my situation, the door between the garage and the house is locked
>> with a deadbolt operated by a pushbutton keypad.
>>
>> Yes, I could also put a similar lock on the outside garage man door,
>> but such a lock suitable for outdoor use is much more expensive than
>> the door opener keypad, not to mention that I'd used my Genie keypad
>> for years, so when that failed, the obvious solution was to replace
>> that with something more reliable, rather than going a different route.
>
> How about looking at it from this point of view?  Since the Genie lasted
> "for years" you may find that you could buy two or three Genie pads for
> the same cost of the newer/better/longer lasting device. They're not
> that hard to install.

The original KEP-1 unit lasted for years.  The replacement died after
8-10 months.  And reading the online reviews for this unit, that seems to
be the experience of the majority of reviewers, which is why I didn't
want to put in something I expected to need replacement in short order.
And for something like this, which isn't frequently used, it's even more
important to have reliability, otherwise the fact that it died again
would be discovered at a most inopportune time (per Murphy).

> They make them wireless so that they don't have to
> provide for a remote (anti-tamper) module which is the reason for the
> increased cost of a hardwired device. If the battery change is a problem
> with the Genie, with a little research you could find and hardwire in a
> DC plug in power supply in place of the Genie battery. Leaving it a
> wireless keypad eleiminates someone pulling it off the wall and
> bypassing it.

Putting in a battery powered keypad that was wired to an AC adapter was
something I had mentioned doing in an early post.  However, when I
started looking again at those units, I realized that most are not
learning devices; they're paired with the receiver from the same company,
which means I'd have to put in a second receiver... or replace the
receiver, along with the extra remotes (my primary vehicle has HomeLink,
so that could just be reprogrammed.)

Yesterday I dissected my existing KEP-1 and discovered the problem.  The
physical keypad is fine.  In fact, from its design it seems like it
should be pretty immune to moisture.  What happened is the connection
between the keypad and the controller was bad.  For those not familiar,
the keypad connects using a flat mylar 'cable' with embedded conductors,
which allows running it behind a jamb, trim piece, etc.  What happened is
the mylar became brittle and the conductive trace cracked, disabling a
column of keys, including the one to activate the door after the code is
entered.

I was first going to try and replace the mylar cable with my own wiring,
but soon realized that it wasn't practical to make the connections.  In
fact, the keypad and cable are all one piece of giant PCB (actually, two
layers,) with no way to make a good mechanical connection.  And soldering
just melts the mylar instantly.

So what I'm going to do is get a good matrix keypad and wire that to the
controller.  I've found a few weather resistant models on the Internet,
and I'll mount it in a box with a weatherproof cover.

I also plan on testing the door opener keypad as part of my monthly alarm
test.