Garage door problems finally solved

[Zluz]

I thought I would share what I learned from my experience with my garage door openers. I had searched for solutions before without luck, so I am posting this here now to hopefully benefit anyone with the same problems.

I'll start with some background. Feel free to skip ahead.
I have been annoyed with my LiftMaster garage openers since I bought the house. They had always been unreliable and the remote transmitters were very cheaply made. I just thought it was all poor quality. I bought a bluetooth receiver to serve as a relay and I used my phone as a garage door opener. I was content with this solution until I bought a Model S just a few weeks ago.
I believed that the three openers were unreliable because of the poor quality of the transmitters. I thought programming the Model S would solve this. It did not. Some research suggested LED lights or other electronics can cause interference. That could be a factor but knowing that does not solve the problem.

What I wanted was some kind of garage-standard (HomeLink compatible, preferably) receiver to control the garage door openers using electrical switches (relays).
At first I was a little discouraged that I could not easily find such a thing, but I did eventually find exactly what I was hoping for.

The solution:
I bought a LiftMaster 850LM (receiver module) and a LiftMaster 811LM (remote transmitter).
$50 for both and now all three garage doors work great from my Model S.
The 850LM supports three openers. Only one transmitter is needed. It can easily be reset for each opener to program the car. The range is great and the antenna can even easily be relocated (it uses an F connector).
This is exactly what I was looking for.

Another tip:
It was a little tedious adding each of the openers. I do not think the list of openers can be re-ordered and the order they are added in does not seem to be consistent. (For me, I noticed that once the new entry was added on top and on another occasion it added the last on the bottom. Strange..)
So: I deleted everything. Then I added each entry but aborted programming. This way I could ensure that I was happy with the arrangement in the menu. Then I went back and proceeded to program each existing entry.
Is there a way to re-program an entry? Maybe renaming and reprogramming would work too.

 

[woodturnerdude]

I had problems with my Sears opener after I replaced the light bulbs with LED bulbs. There was also a software update at about the same time. I changed back to garage door opener bulbs (incandescent) and reprogrammed it and all is well again.

 

[pilotSteve]

I had problems with my Sears opener after I replaced the light bulbs with LED bulbs. There was also a software update at about the same time. I changed back to garage door opener bulbs (incandescent) and reprogrammed it and all is well again.

I found these LED bulbs that are certified by Genie to not interfere with the RF remote. Solve my problems just by replacing the bulbs.
Genie LEDB1-R Led Garage Door Opener Bulb - - Amazon.com

 

[Akikiki]

I had problems with my Sears opener after I replaced the light bulbs with LED bulbs. There was also a software update at about the same time. I changed back to garage door opener bulbs (incandescent) and reprogrammed it and all is well again.

Its not every LED that can cause the problem. I found that LEDs in other lights in my shop contributed to the opener problem, not just the opener lights. But, if I used some well named brand LEDs in my garage, the problem did not exist. I used both CREE and GE. I use about18 bulbs in mine when I removed the long shop lights.

 

[Zluz]

I had problems with my Sears opener after I replaced the light bulbs with LED bulbs. There was also a software update at about the same time. I changed back to garage door opener bulbs (incandescent) and reprogrammed it and all is well again.

I really didn't want to put in incandescent bulbs around the garage. I have four outside lights on a timer to come on from dusk to dawn. Each opener also had either an LED or CFL bulb. I don't know what of those, if any, contributed to interference.
I have never considered those openers very reliable anyway.

Replacing the receiver for $40 represents a significant upgrade in the remote communications.
For me this equates to

• More secure
• More range
• More reliable
• Compatible with any existing electronics (LED/CFL/wireless anything)

 

[Frankman60]

I want to thank the OP (Zluz) for the solution to the Homelink problem. The hardware described by the OP also worked for me. I could never get the auto open Homelink commands to work properly in my MS because the receiver in my Liftmaster opener was not sensitive enough. I even tried an exterior mounted antenna using a coaxial cable without any improvement. Today I installed the hardware that the OP mentioned and Homelink now works perfectly with my MS. By the time my MS gets to the garage entry, the garage door is completely open. The range of the new receiver is excellent just using the small stubby antenna supplied with the new receiver, mounted on my garage wall. For increased range, a coaxial cable can be attached with an F connector.

I thought I would share what I learned from my experience with my garage door openers. I had searched for solutions before without luck, so I am posting this here now to hopefully benefit anyone with the same problems.

I'll start with some background. Feel free to skip ahead.
I have been annoyed with my LiftMaster garage openers since I bought the house. They had always been unreliable and the remote transmitters were very cheaply made. I just thought it was all poor quality. I bought a bluetooth receiver to serve as a relay and I used my phone as a garage door opener. I was content with this solution until I bought a Model S just a few weeks ago.
I believed that the three openers were unreliable because of the poor quality of the transmitters. I thought programming the Model S would solve this. It did not. Some research suggested LED lights or other electronics can cause interference. That could be a factor but knowing that does not solve the problem.

What I wanted was some kind of garage-standard (HomeLink compatible, preferably) receiver to control the garage door openers using electrical switches (relays).
At first I was a little discouraged that I could not easily find such a thing, but I did eventually find exactly what I was hoping for.

The solution:
I bought a LiftMaster 850LM (receiver module) and a LiftMaster 811LM (remote transmitter).
$50 for both and now all three garage doors work great from my Model S.
The 850LM supports three openers. Only one transmitter is needed. It can easily be reset for each opener to program the car. The range is great and the antenna can even easily be relocated (it uses an F connector).
This is exactly what I was looking for.

Another tip:
It was a little tedious adding each of the openers. I do not think the list of openers can be re-ordered and the order they are added in does not seem to be consistent. (For me, I noticed that once the new entry was added on top and on another occasion it added the last on the bottom. Strange..)
So: I deleted everything. Then I added each entry but aborted programming. This way I could ensure that I was happy with the arrangement in the menu. Then I went back and proceeded to program each existing entry.
Is there a way to re-program an entry? Maybe renaming and reprogramming would work too.

 

[Zluz]

I want to thank the OP (Zluz) for the solution to the Homelink problem. The hardware described by the OP also worked for me. I could never get the auto open Homelink commands to work properly in my MS because the receiver in my Liftmaster opener was not sensitive enough. I even tried an exterior mounted antenna using a coaxial cable without any improvement. Today I installed the hardware that the OP mentioned and Homelink now works perfectly with my MS. By the time my MS gets to the garage entry, the garage door is completely open. The range of the new receiver is excellent just using the small stubby antenna supplied with the new receiver, mounted on my garage wall. For increased range, a coaxial cable can be attached with an F connector.

Great! I'm glad it worked for you as well.

Every time I approach my garage I am happily reminded of the new receiver.
In the time I have had it it has performed perfectly every time. The garage opens and closes exactly when the car says it will, every time. I haven't even extended the antenna (which I was expecting to do but seems unnecessary now).

The old openers never worked reliably. Even when I added the Bluetooth receiver it worked most of the time but often required multiple attempts. The factory openers usually did not work, regardless of range.

 

[shfaxx]

Was also struggling with my opener. Ended up putting brand new batteries in one of my remotes to program the car and things seems to be working much much better now.

 

[CqEv3]

Anybody know if the Model S and 3 have the same HomeLink hw/sw ?

 

[Xminus6]

I thought I would share what I learned from my experience with my garage door openers. I had searched for solutions before without luck, so I am posting this here now to hopefully benefit anyone with the same problems.

I'll start with some background. Feel free to skip ahead.
I have been annoyed with my LiftMaster garage openers since I bought the house. They had always been unreliable and the remote transmitters were very cheaply made. I just thought it was all poor quality. I bought a bluetooth receiver to serve as a relay and I used my phone as a garage door opener. I was content with this solution until I bought a Model S just a few weeks ago.
I believed that the three openers were unreliable because of the poor quality of the transmitters. I thought programming the Model S would solve this. It did not. Some research suggested LED lights or other electronics can cause interference. That could be a factor but knowing that does not solve the problem.

What I wanted was some kind of garage-standard (HomeLink compatible, preferably) receiver to control the garage door openers using electrical switches (relays).
At first I was a little discouraged that I could not easily find such a thing, but I did eventually find exactly what I was hoping for.

The solution:
I bought a LiftMaster 850LM (receiver module) and a LiftMaster 811LM (remote transmitter).
$50 for both and now all three garage doors work great from my Model S.
The 850LM supports three openers. Only one transmitter is needed. It can easily be reset for each opener to program the car. The range is great and the antenna can even easily be relocated (it uses an F connector).
This is exactly what I was looking for.

Another tip:
It was a little tedious adding each of the openers. I do not think the list of openers can be re-ordered and the order they are added in does not seem to be consistent. (For me, I noticed that once the new entry was added on top and on another occasion it added the last on the bottom. Strange..)
So: I deleted everything. Then I added each entry but aborted programming. This way I could ensure that I was happy with the arrangement in the menu. Then I went back and proceeded to program each existing entry.
Is there a way to re-program an entry? Maybe renaming and reprogramming would work too.

Can you explain the programming process for this please? My 8500 is a real pain in the butt on consistency of closing.

You only need one 850lm for two doors (in my case) and then you get an 811lm. You use the 811lm to program the car’s homelink for all the openers? Do you pair it with one opener, then program the car, then pair it with the other opener and pair it again with a new code? If you have two cars would you need two 811lm?

 

[ahkahn]

I found these LED bulbs that are certified by Genie to not interfere with the RF remote. Solve my problems just by replacing the bulbs.
Genie LEDB1-R Led Garage Door Opener Bulb - - Amazon.com

Yeah, I thought the Tesla was crappy with garage doors. Then my wife’s Lincoln started unreliably working with the garage doors. I switched my bulbs to the Genie bulbs and the doors have been perfect ever since.

Second the Genie bulbs!

 

[ai4px]

Great to know about the switch mode power supplies in LED lamps.

My solution for a garage door remote is the digital ant bluetooth opener from amazon. It allows my phone to open my door.... and I don't have to buy extra remotes for each car. Also, my mother needed into the house while we were on vacation and I was able to send her authoriztion for the opener from my phone to her phone. Honestly it's a very good solution, but impossible to revoke someone's access once they have it. It's available on amazon.com