Garage door opener has better range in cold weather....wait, what?

[zolotiyeruki]

The title just about says it.  We've lived in our house for about 12 years.  This past summer, we noticed a sudden and significant drop in our garage door opener's reception range.  It went from 50+ feet down to about 15.  With the onset of cold weather over the weekend, however, we've seen it improve again.  And I'm puzzled.  My day job is designing electronics, but my EM knowledge is very stale (haven't used it since college!).

Any brilliant minds want to suggest a solution (or possible cause)?  I know that the issue is in the main unit, not the remote, because the loss of range affects both vehicles that use that garage. 

I'm tempted to just replace it, since Home Depot has a similar-powered unit on sale for $100 right now, but I also love to fix things and not spend money.

Maybe a cold solder joint on the antenna that closes up in cold weather?

[BlueMR2]

How close are the neighbors?  In a suburban setting your neighbor's dog fence, LED lighting, or pool pump can cause significant interference...

Someone near me has something they run when it's cold out that spews EM pollution in the ISM band that my weather station works on...

[zolotiyeruki]

It's a neighborhood of 1/4 acre lots.  No new LED lighting installations that I've seen, and the nearest pool is a couple hundred yards away.  No new invisible fences either, although we have a LOT of dogs around here.

[BudgetSlasher]

If you are serious about replacing it I suggest you spend a little time looking at dual frequency upgrade kits and/or smart garage door upgrades kits. If your opener is not dual frequency (older) that could help with interference and if there is an issue with the hardware it would also address that.

I tend to think it is interference, but on 1/4 lots in the suburbs if it is someone else's device you are SOL. It could be anything from an arcing motor to a cheap wifi device. Heck it could even be the the A/C system in your car.

Or you could try holding the remote up to your head when you use it.

[GilesMM]

Did leaves drop off nearby trees? Those can scatter radio signal pretty well.

[lthenderson]

No solution to your question but am reminded of a time at my previous house when I replaced the garage door opener and was standing outside to test it out. I pressed the button and my door immediately started opening, along with my neighbors. I pondered the coincidence. Then I pressed it again to close it and both shut. I then started suspecting something. A couple more presses confirmed it. I had to change the frequency with a jumper and then all was right in the world. The neighbor either wasn't home, didn't notice or may still be pondering his strange door to this day. I think that was before they were coded to prevent such things from happening.

The distance of our range of our current garage openers doesn't change with temperature that I've noticed. There is a difference with the portable remotes and the one built into one of our vehicles. The portable remotes can trigger the door from about three times further away the the one built into our vehicle. I've always assumed the portable openers have some directionality to them that focuses the signal where as the one in our vehicle just sends out the signal in all directions.

[BlueMR2]

If you are serious about replacing it I suggest you spend a little time looking at dual frequency upgrade kits and/or smart garage door upgrades kits. If your opener is not dual frequency (older) that could help with interference and if there is an issue with the hardware it would also address that.

The dual frequency upgrade kit is a good idea.  I'm just now remembering that the old GDO frequencies are now being used by the military, so some people find they do have reduced range during certain times.

About a year ago I swapped out the old insecure DIP switch module on my home GDO with a Genie rolling code multi-frequency upgrade box (and new remotes).  Gets me on the current best frequencies as well as the much more secure rolling code system.

[HPstache]

Stupid question, but it is not clear in your post... do the remotes have batteries?  Have you tried replacing those?

[zolotiyeruki]

Stupid question, but it is not clear in your post... do the remotes have batteries?  Have you tried replacing those?

One remote has a battery that I replaced a year or so ago.  The other remote is built into the car, so battery voltage isn't a concern there.

[HPstache]

Stupid question, but it is not clear in your post... do the remotes have batteries?  Have you tried replacing those?

One remote has a battery that I replaced a year or so ago.  The other remote is built into the car, so battery voltage isn't a concern there.

Hmm interesting.  Even with that info, I would start by replacing the battery in the one and seeing if that makes a difference.