When I got my Prius in 2007, it had that handy function where it “listens” to your garage door code one time and stores it. You press the little button near the visor to open your door.
Meanwhile, a roommate or someone walked off with a remote… That car is gone, my new car doesn’t have it (also a Toyota–wtf? Include that shit you dumb cunts!), and I need a new remote.
So I go to the hardware store, and I figure handheld remotes work that way. Nope! Dude is like, “You gotta open up the back of the motor and stick your dick in and–.” Oh bullshit. They were all expensive, too! You’d figure these things would be ten bucks or so and easy to use.
So I figure there is a product like that on Amazon or something, but I don’t know what it is, so I am turning to the genius of Doperdom to find out. Thanks in advance, my friends!
Do you have the instructions for your garage door opener?
If not, look and see what brand you have. It should be on the side of the unit. Buy a remote that is compatible with that brand. It should include instructions on how to pair it with your opener. There should be a “learning” button on the back of the garage door opener that is mounted on the ceiling. You’re gonna need a ladder or something to get up there to reach it. Normally you push the “learning” button and then push the remote button for a period of time. The opener is sending out the signal and the remote is memorizing it. It’s pretty simple.
Both of the remotes that came with my opener died (at different times, but I found it weird that they died at all!) so I had to replace. I went to Home Depot and they had like, 3 kinds to choose from. I got the cheapest one and it was still expensive.
But it’s not rocket science to program it to your garage door opener. And guess what? Any remote you get - from Amazon or not - will need to go through the same steps. So just get the one from the store.
I bought a keypad at the same time I bought my opener. Programs the same way but you bolt it to your house and program in a key code for opening the door. No-brainer for me because the garage door is the only way I can get into the house w/o a key.
I got one from Home Depot about a week ago, and it works great! It was about $30, and has two buttons (in case you have two garage doors?).
Can reach from about 4 houses down, so the garage is completely open by the time I’m pulling in. Here it is.
Would buy again, for sure.
To program it, I did have to pop off the plastic cover on the garage door opener (where the lightbulbs are) and hit the “program” button so they could sync up. Took about 10 minutes from opening plastic to putting the stepstool away.
One hint on adding and changing garage door remotes… any time there is a change among the controllers (sell a car that had one built in, lose one, etc.) be sure you run whatever process is needed to clear ALL programmed remotes from the unit, then reprogram it with ONLY the authorized ones. Most will store 4 or more codes and the simple “program” step only adds one to the list, sometimes pushing the oldest code out of the stack.
It’s a bit like rekeying your front door after a keyring is lost, or too many secondary people have been given keys, etc. A few minutes security maintenance to make sure no unauthorized keyholders are out there.
Double for rental, roommate and ownership changes.
I believe that nearly all garage door openers are made by Chamberlain, whether they are sold by Liftmaster, Overhead Door (Legacy), Sears, or whoever. That is, unless it is a Genie. I think the ones for Genie are different.
If you go to the Manufacturer, it will cost much more than one from the local Big Box Store. The last one I bought at Lowe’s cost something like $30 and had three buttons (for three different doors).
The procedure is pretty simple, but a bit more involved than turning on a lightswitch. I think you have to press and hold a button on the motor unit (usually a purple button, but it may be a bit different depending on the model) to get it into “learning” mode and then press the remote button, wait 5 seconds or so, then press the same remote button again. There should be a little light on the back of the unit that will blink when in learning mode, stay lit on the first press, and go out on the second one. If it blinks instead of going out, something messed up and you have to start over again. Once it goes out, press again and see if the door works. Not super-easy, but not too tough. The toughest part for me was getting a step stool to reach and press the purple button.
ETA: If you get one from a local Big Box Store and it doesn’t work, it is easy to return (and the return folks may even help you get one that does work). If you buy from Amazon or other, returning is a bit harder.
Don’t buy one at a store, just search Google and you’ll find dozens of places that sell them cheap. I bought one for less than $15 a couple years ago and it still works fine. Same goes for a remote keypad.