Universal garage door remote?

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fatjoez

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#154156 19-Oct-2014 19:17

Re: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?topicid=65086

Is there a universal remote we can use in place of this remote below.
12x dipswitch type remote

range sucks, battery life sucks, just a clunky remote.

http://www.garagedooropeners.co.nz/webapps/p/89996/225867/merlin-m802-garage-door-remote.html

timmmay

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#1158037 19-Oct-2014 19:47

I never found one. I ended up buying a newer model of the opening system, sold my remotes on trademe for about $35 each.

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Gordy7

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#1158108 19-Oct-2014 21:45

Merlin used to have a remote control upgrade kit.
Was a modern rolling code type.
Had good range.

For your 12 switch remote you might have a look on aliexpress.com.
They have heaps of learning remotes for the older switch code remotes.

However you could have a dud/failing/out-of-tune receiver in your door controller.

You might be interested in this remote upgrade option from Jaycar.
Has good range.
Simply wired in parallel with the manual push button terminals on your garage door controller.
You would also need a 12v dc power adapter.
http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=LR8824&w=remote&form=KEYWORD

Fitted one Jaycar receiver to my garage door controller and another to my auto gate controller.
Now I only need one remote in my car. :-)

Cheers

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Niel

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#1158664 20-Oct-2014 17:24

Can't believe they've sold 40MHz stuff up to 2001. 315MHz understandable, but not 40MHz. You need a large antenna to get range, could try a longer wire on the receiver.

Technically it is easy to change the receiver RF module, if you have some electronics skills. But easiest might be to just change the whole motor assembly with a new one.

You can never have enough Volvos!

floydie

474 posts

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#1158708 20-Oct-2014 18:18

arrowhead alarms do a good remote and receiver and the range is AWESOME. simply hook up the relay outputs to the door open switch wiring. i used one to trigger a boom gate and it worked from over 60m away.. youll need a 12v brick to power the receiver.
they also do a hidden remote transmitter which you can power from your cars power supply and hide the box under the dash, so you just have a button on the dash to open the garage door instead of fumbling with the keychain while driving.

http://www.aap.co.nz/shop/Wireless.html

Kickinbac

417 posts

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#1161299 24-Oct-2014 11:57

What product/model did you use? There is so much to choose from on the arrowhead site.

floydie

474 posts

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#1161647 24-Oct-2014 18:55

tbh i cant remember the exact one as it was about 4 years ago. give them a ring. they are super helpful. theres a choice of different remotes too. I'll be getting another soon for my new garage door/alarm system in the new house. undecided which frequency to go for

Kickinbac

417 posts

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#1173347 12-Nov-2014 09:50

I've just installed the Jaycar LR8824 wireless remote control relay on one of our garage doors and it works really well. It is only a temporary hook up as I need to mount the controller and tidy up the wiring and connect our second garage door. The range is excellent, I walked up the street, out of sight of our house and could still open it, approx. 100 meters away. For the 12VDC power supply I used an old plug pack from an old redundant router. So now my wife and I will be able to open both garage doors from one remote.

The reason I bought it was that we have just moved into the house and we only got two remotes, one works okay, the other is basically stuffed. They are older AHI garage door openers so the upgrade to rolling code is good. There will be two spare relays so and I can add a gate opener or something else at some stage.

fatjoez

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#1173515 12-Nov-2014 12:41

- replaced battery in our m802 standard blue merlin remote.
- still tempermental remote. have to click it about 7-10 times from cold start till it works.

- hesitant to install new jaycar remote units like above because I don't want to accidently open the door from another street lol.

is there some way to range limit these custom jaycar units so they only work from a certain range?

Talkiet

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#1173553 12-Nov-2014 13:15

There's no direct remote replacement for that model.

As others have pointed out, you can usually add a complete external trigger with new/better/smaller remotes.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Kickinbac

417 posts

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#1173561 12-Nov-2014 13:30

There's noting in the instructions about limiting the range of the Jaycar remote. The technical specification says range is 30m typical (300m+ line of sight) The aerial is inside my garage so no line of sight. I'll test it to see how far the range actually is.

Gordy7

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#1173562 12-Nov-2014 13:31

fatjoez: - replaced battery in our m802 standard blue merlin remote.
- still tempermental remote. have to click it about 7-10 times from cold start till it works.

- hesitant to install new jaycar remote units like above because I don't want to accidently open the door from another street lol.

is there some way to range limit these custom jaycar units so they only work from a certain range?

My Jaycar remotes operate up to about 50m.
I have the receivers tucked in with a lot of other wiring and metal work.
I am surprised how sensitive the receivers are with good range in the open.
You could fold up the antenna wire to help reduce range.
You would have to do a lot of testing to be confident you have the range where you want it.
RF can be tricky stuff with reflections and shadowing that also affect range.

If you are really worried about the garage door being open you may find there is an auto close function you can enable in the controller.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Niel

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#1175237 13-Nov-2014 14:17

The length of antenna wire is tuned to 1/4 wavelength (probably). Cut the wire shorted to detune the antenna so it is less efficient at receiving the specific frequency. Do a bit at a time until you get the range limiting you want. De-tuning the electronic circuit is a bad idea, it will become intermittent.

If extremely sensitive, you can also wrap the (wrapped up) antenna with tin foil and connect one end to ground, then pull the antenna out bit by bit until you get the range you want.

You can never have enough Volvos!