Lack of radio range on LiftMaster door opener ..#2

Thread Starter

hresto

Joined Dec 18, 2024
1
Today I tested the range using two scenarios. My wife tells me the remotes work fine during the day, but not at night. We recently had our landscaping light fixtures converted to LED from incandescent. When the light are on, the remote loses its range and the garage door opener refuses to open, or if it does, it does it intermittently while I'm walking slowly away from or approaching the door while pressing the remote button continuously. As soon as I turn the landscaping lights off, I can walk to the end of the alley from my garage and open and close it without any problems. So I think it's the LED lights on the landscape fixtures. I'm going to try setting the one closes to the garage walkway, back to regular incandescent bulb and see if that resolves the problem.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
27,284
Today I tested the range using two scenarios. My wife tells me the remotes work fine during the day, but not at night. We recently had our landscaping light fixtures converted to LED from incandescent. When the light are on, the remote loses its range and the garage door opener refuses to open, or if it does, it does it intermittently while I'm walking slowly away from or approaching the door while pressing the remote button continuously. As soon as I turn the landscaping lights off, I can walk to the end of the alley from my garage and open and close it without any problems. So I think it's the LED lights on the landscape fixtures. I'm going to try setting the one closes to the garage walkway, back to regular incandescent bulb and see if that resolves the problem.
The switching noise from some poor quality switcher supplies can be far above legal limits for some imported products. The noise field is so strong that it prevents the receiver from detecting tha signal from the remote. Just like loud noise keeps you from hearing someone talk to you.

So a solution will be additional RFI filtering, both on the mains input side and on the DC output side. SO it is not the LEDs, it is the power supply. It may not even be certified, which devices do need to be certified for a low noise level.
It is not likely that changing the opener frequency setting will help. And, actually, the switches in most GDO systems are setting a digital code, not altering the frequency.
 
Reduced LiftMaster remote range is often caused by weak batteries, antenna issues, or signal interference (e.g., LED bulbs). Replace the batteries, check the antenna position, and swap interfering LEDs for compatible ones.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
27,284
Like I said once, it is the noisy power supply that makes the whole LED system noisy. It was "grow lights" a few years back. The non approved, illegal to import and sell, poor quality devices cause all sorts of problems.
 

Pyrex

Joined Feb 16, 2022
501
It seems , something wrong with the LED drivers. Open one LED driver and make a photo with good resolution.
Probably, it is possible to upgrade those drivers to reduce the electric noise.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
27,284
USUALLY, in an LED outdoor lighting system, the most noise is from the mains powered switching power supply. The decorative outside 12 volt lights that I have seen just use a resistor to limit current, which does not produce much noise. The easy way to verify if it is the lights or the supply is to power the lights with a 12 volt battery for a short time and check for the noise, using a portable AM radio..
 
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