One of the weakest points of security in your home is your garage.  How many times do you lock the door from the garage to your home?  Most homeowners rely on the garage door itself as the only line of defense between criminals and their families.  What they don't realize is that criminals know this.  They want to make their jobs easy and know with code-grabbers and compatibles

It started out with my Father-in-Law asking if I could get him a new garage door transmitter for his old Genie opener.  Well, he's a reasonably good Dad-by-law, so I said sure.  As it turned out his Genie garage door opener was the oldest garage door opener in history, and a replacement transmitter was not available.

So, I made a Saturday morning out of it and changed out his old pushbutton control, replaced his old receiver with a new rolling code, security receiver and added a wireless keypad to the system.  I even took some pictures to illustrate how easy it was to install everything.

First things first, let's start with the pushbutton.

The old pushbutton was pretty abused and torn up so I decided to go ahead and replace it.  It was very easy.  Just two wires to re-attach to the backside of the push-button.  First I removed the old unit and unscrewed the terminals on the back. I cleaned up the old wires and twisted them back together to make a good connection.  Then attached them to the two terminals on the new pushbutton.   It doesn't make any difference which terminal to which wire.  It is simply a momentary closure of the circuit that causes the opener to move.  Then I secured the pushbutton to the wall with the two screws provided in the bag.  See...there....whew. Time for some lemonade. Honey...

See that was easy.  Would you like to know where to get this stuff?
Click here to see prices and for ordering!

Installing the Garage Door Receiver.

Next came the most difficult part, but it was still pretty simple.  The hardest part was climbing up on this rickety old ladder that I found behind the Christmas ornaments.

First I had to locate the old receiver.  Some garage door openers have internal receivers mounted inside the case of the unit, but I got lucky and this one had an old external model.  I just had to trace the antenna and the two wires leading to the garage door motor. Oh yeah, disconnect the power from the garage door opener before messing with any of the wiring. Although I'd rather feel a small 12 volt power surge through my fingers than eat my Mother-in-Laws meatloaf, neither is my idea of a good time on a Saturday morning!

So having said that, let's continue with our installation of the receiver.  The receiver basically has two main things to consider:

First is power.  Depending on how your old receiver is powered you will need to decide how to provide power to the new receiver.  There is a model available which can pull power from the opener (if the opener will provide it).   I wasn't sure in my Father-in-Laws case, so I brought the 115 volt, plug-in receiver.  This made installation really easy, because all I had to do was plug in the new receiver on the same surge protector that the opener was plugged into.

After you power the receiver, you will need to connect it to the opener.  The receiver works just like the pushbutton.  It has a little internal switch that will send a momentary closure to the opener, but instead of you pushing the button on the wall, you press your transmitter and it send the signal to the receiver.  So let's install the receiver to the momentary contact on the opener.

The front case of the new receiver will slip right off.  I used a flat-head screwdriver and it popped right open.  Inside the cover you'll find two more terminals (looks familiar, huh) and a small button marked "Smart Control".

You can use the bell wire which is included with the receiver to connect the new receiver with the opener, but I was feeling lazy and the old wire was still in good shape so I used it instead.  Connect the two terminals of the receiver with the terminals marked 1 and 2 on the opener.  Now you're ready to program the transmitters or "learn the codes".

The transmitter that is compatible with this receiver is a small unit with a visor clip.  Batteries are included and programming the codes into the new receiver couldn't have been easier.  You press and hold the button on the receiver marked "Smart Control" , then press the button on the transmitter.   The small light on the receiver will flash, then your done.  You've just programmed millions of codes into the receiver!  Each time the transmitter is used it will send an entirely new code to the receiver.

See that was easy.  Would you like to know where to get this stuff?
Click here to see prices and for ordering!

Installing a keypad to the system.

Adding a keypad is a good idea to prevent lock-outs or to allow guests a personal code to gain access to your home.  I just thought it would be neat.  So I hooked one up and it took about 10 minutes.

First you need to program the keypad.  Just follow the instructions that come with the unit and test it for range.  Better you find out it won't transmit from where you'd like to mount it before you go to the trouble of installing it permanently.  After you are pleased with the range, screw in one of the screws that come with the unit and slip the keypad over it.  Then you can remove the battery cover and screw in the bottom screw.  The unit is weather-proof and has a nifty lift-up cover to protect the keys from abuse.

See that was easy.  Would you like to know where to get this stuff?
Click here to see prices and for ordering!