Re: Garage door remote control constantly transmitting??

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

I doubt it's a stuck remote. It sounds more like a bad limit switch.

The remotes should have an FCC ID number on them. You can use this to
determine the RF frequency at the FCC web site.

     https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

Then, depending on the frequency, you can perhaps get an inexpensive RF
receiver module that you can use to tell whether anything is continuously
transmitting.

Are you near a military base? There have been frequent incidents of military
transmissions that interfere with garage doors in a radius of several miles.

"noblehouse" <noblehouse53@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>My condo building has a gated underground garage.  All owners have a
>remote control to open/close the gate.  We have been having an
>intermittent problem with the gate opening repeatedly.  That is, it
>closes a couple of feet, the opens again.  It will do this constantly,
>for hours if we let it -- sometimes it will stop on its own, sometimes
>someone will put a piece of tape over the beam so that it just stays
>open.  .
>
>The repairman tells us his theory is that someone's remote is "stuck".
>If this is indeed the problem, he has not been much help in tracking it
>down.  One of our homeowners is eager to enact a plan where we take
>turns monitoring the garage, note which cars are there, who comes and
>goes when, and correlate this information to when the opening problem
>occurs, thereby tracking down the offender.  This seems overkill to me.
> Surely there is an easier way to detect where a signal is coming
>from??
>
>1.  If we go to the garage when the problem is happening and
>temporarily change the remote code, then if the problem continues,
>wouldn't that tell us that the problem is NOT a stuck remote, but
>something else triggering the opening. (Like something is interfering
>with the beam so it "thinks" there is an obstacle and it reopens the
>door)?
>
>2.  Is there something else we could use as a receiver, set it to the
>same frequency as the gate opener, then change the gate code.  If the
>door stops opening, but the second receiver gets a signal, then that
>would tell us that someone's remote is transmitting.  Couldn't we then
>use that to somehow track down the source?
>
>I'm not knowledgeable about electronics and whatever technology makes
>garage door openers work, but it seems there must be some way to track
>down the source of the problem short of tracking the comings and goings
>of our neighbors.
>
>Thanks,