Spliced Points Can I extend the range of my automatic garage door opener?
The little wire that sticks out to receive the signal from the remote...can I make it longer by splicing it with something? Mine is acting up. I have it pointing outside but it seems to work only sometimes. I hear cold weather affects it as well.
Any antenna works best by mounting vertical to the ground.
Garage door openers are designed for the antenna to be
mounted inside the garage, and on the opener so the only
way for them to mount vertically is below the unit, toward
the floor. There is no reason that these antennas could not
be mounted up toward the roof, but they just aren't manufactured
that way.
Additionally, transmitter antennas must be specifically
designed for the frequency on which they operate. A receiver
antenna can be of any length, but again, the considerations
for extending one from the receiver require the ability of a
communications technician to make it work. This is due
to the fact that any place an antenna touches, anything it
is behind, any interference of the ability for it to 'see' a
signal only serves to reduce the efficiency.
You can extend the reception range of the receiver you
have, but you must properly use a coaxial cable of the
proper impedance to extend the antenna. When you do
this your best bet would be to extend it to the outside,
top of the garage. Another issue is to use a regular
antenna that is designed to receive transmitted signals.
I have used a metal window screen before, but had to
add a capacitor to properly load it for the signals.
So, you are not wrong in thinking that is should be
possible, but if you do not know the techniques, or
the formulas necessary you will most likely not be
able to extend the range, and may even reduce it.
The better way for you is to get a 2-way radio shop
to check, and possibly increase the ability of your
transmitter. Even your transmitter antenna has
much to do with how far a signal will go. Also,
the placement of that antenna affects your range
to the receiver. The major problem with garage
door openers today is that they genrally only
make pocket size transmitters. If it were an
underhood mounted transmitter with a good
helical antenna, or outside mounted antenna,
you could extend the range a whole bunch. One
unit I built up to replace those stupid little plastic
things increased the range to just over a half mile
without increasing the power. Plus, I never again
had to buy batteries. I mounted a doorbell button
under the dash, and it got its power from the car.
So, what you ask is possible, but without the
knowledge, and ability of some good amateur
radio operator, or a FCC licensed communications
technician, it is not something likely for you to
make work well.
(I am so licensed)
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When pointing out pins on an ECU what does the + and - mean???
For an example pin number 23 is called SP+ and pin number 21 is SP- they are called the same as well, what the heck does it mean? If I were to splice something (wire of a unit/upgrade) I splice the wire with pin number 23's wire right? since it's +
Oh yeah what does the abbreation "ECT" mean?
Not sure about the positive and negative for the ECU. But ECT stands for Electronic Control Transmission. The ECT button changes the shift points for the automatic transmission. When engaged, the transmission shifts later, allowing the engine to get to a higher power level and accelerate faster. Gas mileage is usually reduced in
this mode. Use it when you need to get up to speed faster; for example, to merge into fast moving traffic. The normal position for this switch
is OFF.
September 24th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
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