Conveniently, garage door remotes allow you to open or close the garage door from the comfort of your car. You may need to know how to program your garage door remote if you change it or if it’s ever lost or stolen.
How Does it Work?
With older garage door remotes you will find small dip switches that turn on or off. The same set of dip switches are present in the garage door opener controlling the operation of the door. Newer remotes use a rolling code technology. This type of remote functions by changing the code each time the remote is pressed. A radio frequency allows the remote to send a signal to the garage door opener to go up or down.
Garage Door Remote Frequencies
Radio frequencies are measured in megahertz (MHz). The most common frequencies garage door remotes use are 300 MHz, 310 MHz, 315 MHz, 318 MHz or 390 MHz. The frequency for a garage door remote or motor is usually printed on them.
Choosing a Garage Door Remote
The easiest way to match your garage door remote to your garage door opener is by using the same manufacturer. Below are some of the companies that sell garage door remotes.
- Dominator
- ATA
- Merlin
- B&D
Programming Your Garage Door Remote
Programming your garage door remote and clearing the current garage door remotes from the opener varies slightly according to the model of your garage door system.
All garage door openers have a learn button. To find the learn button you may have to remove the light cover on the garage door opener. The learn button can be black or a colour.
To program a new remote into the system hold the learn button until the indicator light blinks on the opener. While the indicator light is blinking press the button on your remote. Test the new garage door remote by pressing once to see if the door moves.
In most cases, erasing remotes from the garage door system is accomplished by pressing the learn button until the indicator light stops blinking. When the blinking stops press your remote button down and release.
A garage door opener can only maintain five remotes or four remotes and one keyless entry.
Programming Garage Door Remotes That Have Dip Switches
Dip switches in your garage door remote and opener have to match. That means the dip switches are placed in the same position.
Sometimes the garage door opener doesn’t have dip switches. Instead the opener will have only a learn button. To program the garage door remote push the learn button and at the same time press the garage door remote.
