Garage Door openers

[Arctic Fox]

Here's an odd one for you to troubleshoot for me, should you be looking for an intellectual work-out

I have three garage door openers and they all became temperamental at the same time - sometimes working; sometimes not

The batteries aren't that old, but I replaced one and, while I was putting the opener back together in the kitchen, I heard the garage door open. Needless to say, when I left in the golf cart it wouldn't shut the garage door from the driveway (but worked fine again on my return).

The wall opener works perfectly every time, so it is clearly a problem on the wireless side of things.

The system is 27 years old and, apart from this glitch, works well.

Any thoughts, solutions? Might reprogramming the openers work?

Thank you

[CarlR33]

Your wall opener is actually a remote opener attached to the wall (unless you clearly see wires coming from the opener to the inside unit). A recent lightning storm will wreck havoc on these (even if not a direct hit) so you might try resetting the motors by unplugging and plugging them back in or shut off the breaker to them (either way). Last, maybe reprogram the remotes as the last resort (should be pretty simple).

[villagetinker]

I have seen to contacts of some of the wall (inside the garage) wired controls get gummed up. This can cause various problems, and can in some cases interfere with the operation to the remote (wireless) openers.
The solution I have found in the past was to very carefully open the wall unit and clean the contact will alcohol and a Que tip. This works on the type of contacts that press on to conductive fingers on a circuit board. If the contact are the bubble type sealed units, this will not work.
You might try a search to see if others have reported this problem with your specific garage door opener.
On a side not you are probably way past the normal operating life of this opener and you might consider getting a new one, I like the Chamberlin units which have many options for remote control, battery backup, and belt drive for very quiet operation.

[Maker]

From a radio point of view, if you have 3 remotes that all failed to work at the same time, then the issue is with the motor unit itself. Something is messing up its ability to receive signals. Or it is at end of life.

One classic cause is the light bulb in the opener itself. Bulb off, works fine. Door opens, light is on, now it won't close. Timer expires, bulb off, and door opens fine.

Other than that...

Try leaving it unplugged for a few minutes and see if that helps.

Did you install something new somewhere? Many of them generate radio frequency noise that will interfere with openers. Maybe something older still works, but has decided to fail by generating RF noise?
Like a new lightbulb? Nightlights? Post light with light sensor? Or maybe a UV bug trap? Solar charged lights? Battery tool charger? Wireless camera - motion sensor - doorbell - router - wireless appliance - etc. Dimmer switch? Any lamp that dims? Golf cart charger?

Anything else that has a radio system in it could be generating interference. Another opener machine. Stereo. Desk radio. Try unplugging one at a time to see if things clear up.

The antenna wire could be shorted to the case. Wiggle it and move it.

A 27 year old system is equally suspect of just being at end of life. Possible disassembly could uncover a broken antenna wire, or thick pile of junk covering the radio control board (shifting the frequency it listens on), or a bad connection, etc. I'd just replace it.

An opener that old is also extremely insecure. They can be hacked in seconds. A thief could enter you garage without warning. But if yours won't open, that's the least of your concerns... until (if) you fix it.

[Arctic Fox]

Thank you all - will start working through your suggestions

The wireless openers are two years old, but the rest (wall unit and opening mechanism) are all "original" from 27 years ago

[Maker]

Did you find something to fix it?

[Topspinmo]

Your wall opener is actually a remote opener attached to the wall (unless you clearly see wires coming from the opener to the inside unit). A recent lightning storm will wreck havoc on these (even if not a direct hit) so you might try resetting the motors by unplugging and plugging them back in or shut off the breaker to them (either way). Last, maybe reprogram the remotes as the last resort (should be pretty simple).

Depending on brand my MPV inside wall controller hard wired. I don’t have outside wall unit so can’t comment on those, would suspect they need cleaned more often due being outside in the environment? As suggested I have cleaned my pad contacts several times over years. It has always helped out the problems.

[Topspinmo]

Thank you all - will start working through your suggestions

The wireless openers are two years old, but the rest (wall unit and opening mechanism) are all "original" from 27 years ago

When you clean circuit board contacts also clean rubber pad surface that contacts the circuit board, that black material breaks down over years IMO what’s gumming up circuit board contacts.

[Arctic Fox]

Did you find something to fix it?

It seems that the wireless opener will always work the first time, but not the second if enough time has not elapsed, so it must be related to the "reset" that turns the light off after a certain interval. I have this set to the minimum of 90 seconds.

Of course, as is always the case in these situations, it doesn't happen EVERY time :-)