Garage Door Opener | How to Extend Range⚡⚡⚡

LINK TO BUY (Best Deal): amzn.to/3j7HbZR
In this video I use items you probably have around your house to extend the range and reliability of your remote control antenna garage door opener. All you need is a short piece of wire and about 25 minutes of your time. Check it out!

[@aznsushi41]

spliced into a coaxial cable and it works 2 house down across the street!

[@Kitearmy]

Cool!

[@kobe1395]

Copying your code and you don’t even know it

[@PainterD54]

With mine I thought it was the steel roof on my garage that was screwing up my remote, but I found out it was the LED light bulbs I switched to in the opener. For some reason they send a signal out that interferes with the opener remote. Now I find out the actually make LEDs JUST for openers that don't screw them up. Just FYI.

[@silvamark00]

Wow, so impressed with you digging into the problem. We literally had to be in front of the garage door and sometimes press the button several times. I extended the antenna as you recommended and know have a range of 50 feet, with only one click - thank you for the heck...

[@Kitearmy]

Very cool!

[@oldmaninthecave]

Bravo! Not only a great hack, but you explained it clearly, and as a hearing-impaired person, I really appreciate that you enunciate well, and your speaking voice is crisp -- and you don't talk so fast that all the words run together.

[@Kitearmy]

Best comment ever - so glad you found it helpful!

[@Kitearmy]

BTW - my son is hearing impaired, so this comment means loads to me

[@oldmaninthecave]

​@@Kitearmy I'm really glad my comment resonated with you. I have hearing aids. People assume that if you have hearing aids you can hear normally, but it's like running with crutches. If you tell someone you are hearing impaired they think talking louder solves the problem. Hearing aids compensate for loudness, but with me, most people talk so fast I can't pick out the words. I rely on captioning a lot. Many videos don't have captioning making them unwatchable for me. With your video I can understand you even without the captions. Sometimes I tell a person who I can tell has a sense of humor that *it's better to be deaf than blind because it's hard to appreciate a **-nice piece of-** pretty girl with your ears.*

[@Kitearmy]

@@oldmaninthecave nothing wrong with admiring an attractive lady

[@oldmaninthecave]

@@Kitearmy Absolutely! That's what makes the world go round -- and life worth living!

[@poke-evan]

Dang brocephus! You saved me about $400. I was getting ready to change both units due to range issues. I had a lot of audio video cable laying around, so I split it and ran it to the corner of the door between the weather stripping. Works perfect! Thank you!

[@Kitearmy]

thanks mate - hit me up with a sub

[@markgrubert2262]

My remote was barely working and my homelink in my vehicles barely worked too. I took your advice and extended my the garage antenna with 14 awg wire and wire nutted them together. I ran the wire on the ceiling towards the door and stapled the end of the wire to the top of the exterior garage door casing. I tell you what my remote response is incredible and works a good 50 yards away now. Thanks for the easy advice

[@Kitearmy]

Glad to have helped

[@TH-vw4qn]

Did you bought the 14 awg wire on amazon? If so may I have a link to the exact product that you used?

[@mlj_the_shield]

Verify this works 100%. Ran 8 4' LED lights on my garage ceiling; remote range was awful. Ran a 16 ga speaker wire across the garage ceiling and poked it out at the top (external) about 5". Opened the garage from across the street with 168W of LED humming.

[@adamarket]

Genius. I bought a new MyQ video keypad and couldn’t figure out why until it worked sometimes, generally when I was troubleshooting in the garage. Took 5 mins to fix with your solution. Zero cost.

[@Kitearmy]

awesome

[@glenntroyer]

This solution is awesome! I used a flimsy old phone wire I had laying around. It gave me an extra 75' range.

[@Kitearmy]

Cool!

[@cindyflorman3398]

You made our lives so much better!! This was so aggravating and the simple fix was amazing. thank you so much

[@Kitearmy]

Sure thing - make sure you like and subscribe

[@linoemmanuels]

thank you for this. i have extended my antenna range to 350ft!!

[@BryanTorok]

The beside making the antenna longer, the other big advantage is getting at least part of the antenna outside and/or above the door. Most overhead garage doors are steel and they act as a big shield blocking the signal from the opener. With the standard antenna you are relying on the signal to reflect off of other things to get to the opener. Getting part of the antenna outside or above the door should improve the response. It is best to not run the wire on anything metal, like the door opener rail. You could run the wire along the wood beam over the top of the door (not metal) and that will also work. One might need to experiment to get the best results.

[@lnblues]

Worked great. I can open from the road reliably. Great for when the drive is covered in snow.

[@Kitearmy]

Right on

[@danielrendon7008]

Great Idea Andrew !! Just finished doing mine and it works great...Thanks my friend

[@Kitearmy]

Thanks mate...let us know how it works.

[@ThisSteven]

lol tysm we been dealing with this problem for YEARS and you just helped with a simple fix

[@Kitearmy]

Cool

[@georgeeberhardt7315]

Thats a great idea. Will do mine this afternoon!

[@Kitearmy]

Cool

[@johngrayer7773]

Hey mate did this (after talking to the manufacturer and they said nothing) and it works 100% THANK YOU. Life is so much better now

[@Kitearmy]

great mate - glad to help

[@rwelch8092]

I found your video and followed the instructions and u saved my daaaaaay!!!! Thanks so much

[@Kitearmy]

Cool - make sure you sub!

[@stevenjeanson8889]

Thanks for confirming what I was already thinking about doing. Awesome fix.

[@Kitearmy]

cvool

[@danishdurrani]

Amazing video. Helped me solve my issue. What i noticed if u make a circle out of the attached copper wire the connection becomes much better.

[@Kitearmy]

Great tip!

[@charlie-qm9gz]

Thank you Andrew I am having the same problem I am going to give this a try

[@Kitearmy]

Let us know how it works out

[@luiscortez5829]

Worked perfectly! Hated parking outside the garage begging the door to open for 3 mins first 😂

[@Kitearmy]

Glad it helped

[@dloyd859]

Sir you are a genius. I just did this to yours and it works. Thank you

[@Kitearmy]

Glad to help

[@jeffkuipers1030]

YOU JUST SAVED ME FROM GETTING A NEW GARAGE DOOR OPENER THANK YOU SO MUCH. :))))

[@Kitearmy]

Thanks - make sure you subscribe

[@bodudas8346]

greatest video tutorial, never throw old wire out,,,,,,, yes jackpot !!!!!!! works great ---- thanks

[@Kitearmy]

Glad to help

[@joebidendidthat5121]

I did this 15 years ago.... works very well

[@Kitearmy]

cool

[@dbrown2264]

Worked for me too. I used old speaker wire. Thanks.

[@Kitearmy]

Excellent!

[@that80sflow]

Great vid sir! Scored me points with the misses.

[@Kitearmy]

Got to keep the old lady happy

[@kathleenshort]

This is a great hack! Thanks for posting it. Saved us lots of swearing and my husband thinks I’m a genius.

[@Kitearmy]

you are a genius

[@beauc2000]

Success! Thanks much for the helpful instructions 👷🏻‍♂️👍🏼

[@Kitearmy]

Glad it helped!

[@bluesky2145]

My Nissan Murano must have thick glass or something because my remote has never worked reliably even from three feet in front of the garage door. I did your hack and extended the wire 20 feet all the way to the wall right by the garage door and now it works fantastically. Thanks so much. We tried it last night also from but an eighth of a mile down the road and it worked also. wow

[@Kitearmy]

So stoked this worked well for you - thanks for comment

[@bluesky2145]

@@Kitearmy you bet. It's the little things. This thing has driven me crazy for 3 years. I called the garage door company who installed it and they sent me three more remotes to try. I've kept them all in my car and randomly tried different ones to get it to work and it never made any difference. It really appears like the Murano has some thicker glass or metal that is preventing the signal because when I stick my hand outside the window it works fine every time. But now you have solved it and I really thank you

[@Kitearmy]

I'm really pleased that this worked so well for you

[@NoOne56488]

Most of the time the antennas are so short, and is what causes the issue for most people. I just extended mine by like 6inchs and i can now open my door from the street. Before it had to click the remote so many times while being in front of the door. I noticed in the car it would open right away but the car sits right under the antenna and that gave me the idea to extended it and it worked before even watching this video. Just had to look it up if people worked this out as well.

[@sebastian56309]

Love this guy.

[@Kitearmy]

me too - wait I am that guy

[@robnation2475]

I rarely leave my garage with the interior lights on... but I did it a couple of times this week because I was doing test-runs after working on my winter car. I thought my remote battery was getting weak...🤔 NOPE it's the new 8ft LED lights I put up! I'll extend the antenna outside (maybe with some shielded coax cable???) 😮Huh... I honestly just thought of that as I was typing this comment!

[@kymcrowler]

A hero without cape

[@Kitearmy]

Nice comment - Thanks

[@Jjkplayz1]

Who are you ! Im binge watching you! BRAVO - Thankyou

[@samscharp3367]

Hot damn why haven't I thought of this awesome idea. Im stealing this idea and going to surprise the wife

[@Kitearmy]

Cool - happy wife, happy life

[@CompTechMike]

Wish you were my neighbor! About to go do this hack on my own garage door opener. 😁

[@Kitearmy]

Thanks mate

[@wandascott5910]

Great tip...to bad I don't have a garage

[@simonsw9410]

could we just attach the bare antenna wire to the steel hanging frame that may serve as a large antenna?

[@s1l3ntopus]

My chamberlain b970 has 2 yellow wires, any help identifying the 2 yellow wires please??

[@ken62310]

Will it work if i attach it to a metal conduit?

[@MandrilxXxX]

Works!

[@Kitearmy]

BINGO!!!

[@davidh9380]

I have a Genie Silentdrive 1000. Then the close-assured remote died and I was not able to find another one (why did they stop making them-they were great?!). Forced back to the standard remote, I found it would not work, no matter how I positioned the short antenna. As an electrical engineer who spent years working in the radio/microwave field, I was skeptical of just adding length to the antenna, as wire antennas cannot be made infinitely longer and maintain efficiency, at least for transmitting applications. However, the comments that steel doors kill the radio signals (and my stucco house is wrapped in chicken wire that also doesn't help), the idea of getting the antenna out from behind those obstructions is spot-on. Additionally, you have to be careful of LED lights causing interference - some do and some don't. But even after finding ones that did not interfere (verified with a spectrum analyzer), I still was unable to get the remote to work. (Besides, most of the time when you come home, the lights are off and not an issue.) So I spent all of yesterday taking the opener down, taking it apart, and replacing the antenna with a coax to a bulkhead TNC connector mounted on the side of the housing. Getting a proper ground at 315 MHz was an issue, as the antenna hole was surrounded by a ground ring of vias that were not intended to take solder. But by scraping off the insulating layer and adding a grounding bar between two of the holes (using 15 mil diameter capacitor wire), I was able to solder the coax shield ground right at the connector. After putting the opener back up and verifying operation, I made a long TNC-TNC cable using the same RG-58 and ran that to another bulhead connector mounted inside the garage but between the two steel doors. I made a new antenna with another TNC connector and a foot long piece of RG-58 with the outer shield removed from all but an inch of it. Using a network analyzer, I pruned the antenna until I minimized the VSWR at 315 MHz. (The exposed length of wire, with the insulator still attached, was exactly 6.5 inches.) Now the remote works from about 80 feet away, which is about as far as you would want.) Total cost was $46, but that was with the benefit of already having tools on-hand such as a microscope, soldering iron, network analyzer, and various hand tools including a scalpel for cutting coax insulation and scraping the passivation off of ground vias. Obviously, not everyone can go to all the toruble, and it sure seems like it was probably unnecessary based on all the comments, but I am a perfectionist, as well as retired with a lot of time on my hands. I think gragage door companies would do everyone a favor if they would install coax connectors on the outside of the openers to attach an antenna, or replace the stock antenna with a kit to move the antenna anywhere you like. And a note for DIYers who love to tinker - handheld network and spectrum analyzers are dirt cheap these days (~$100 each) and have a multitude of uses.

[@mohamedmohamed-nc5fi]

You can send me photo ?

[@franklock123]

My garage door opener STILLL sucks after extending my antenna. I soldered the solid 18g copper wire to my antenna wire and routed it outside of my garage. I still have to be inside my garage and right under my garage opener for the remote to work. And no i do not have a led light bulb. Kinda lost and pissed off. I have a older 2006 liftmaster.

[@thecleanfreaks]

I did the same thing but my wire it wants soled wire it did not work any suggestions

[@Z-Ack]

Just dont leave it exposed outside, theres some openers with circuitboards that have the microchip failsafe programmed funky and if you take a 9v battery and ground the battery on the door and the positive on the antenna it will short the chip out and cause it to open the door... older liftmasters haf the issue.. only certain models tho. I remember thats how i used to get into my house when i was younger, found it by accident:..

[@robertwertz6050]

Does the end of the extension need to be stripped? I noticed you just clipped it off and then taped it up so it doesn't hang down.

[@Kitearmy]

nope

[@samidpersia9832]

I just bought a house and I got two garages. But both are from the craftsman brand. Idk what year they are from but any suggestion on the remote devices that will go with it?

[@truthhurts228]

I had the exact same scenario, get the model numbers/names from the side of them and go to Amazon, I bought the 2 remotes I needed and the programing was super easy. Good luck!

[@mlj_the_shield]

Anyone know if this hack will help me with the LED lights I just added to the garage ceiling?

[@1947rpi]

Hi, I have a old sears(40 years or so) chain drive opener. Do you feel the extension of the antenna will work with your suggestion

[@Kitearmy]

It should

[@johnh9067]

Question, if using insulated wire where the inside copper wire is shielded with the foil lining,,, will that cause the wire not work like a single wire only?...food for thought

[@Kitearmy]

Should not be a problem

[@anthonyt9380]

I may have to do this. The remote operates inside but not outside. I already changed the remote batteries, unplugged and plugged back in the power cord, and did a system reset. Ill check the light bulbs but I'm almost certain it's an antenna issue. What gauge wire should I use? Thanks.

[@Kitearmy]

Small gauge is fine like 18+

[@petroshmo]

ashamed that I was looking at the wrong garage door on the "hack" demo.....lol. 😂

[@tylox7521]

i've never related to a video intro so much before 😂

[@Kitearmy]

hahahah

[@joseskatalitico]

thanks for this, how long can be this cable, i live in a farm and the door is about one kilometer, and i wish to open the door from my home, is this possible?

[@Kitearmy]

doubt it

[@sunwoodad]

I recently noticed the remote not working issue after I installed the wifi smart garage door controller - Garadget, which seems to interfere with the radio of legacy garage opener. If I use your way then can I solve this issue too?

[@Kitearmy]

It might work - if you can relocate the antenna from whatever is causing the interference. It only takes a few minutes so it may be worth a shot

[@rss608]

yes, I tried this. It doesn't work. the LED T8 bulbs generate +300mhz interference. I had to cut the antenna, solder it to the center wire, ground the outside wire grid of the coax, run it to the exterior of house then strip off the insulation from the inside wire and cut to 9" long. then it worked. wasted my time trying this suggestion

[@DK-vx5co]

Does this fall under "Don't believe everything you hear on youtube?" Did absolutely nothing for Intellicode remotes for the Model 7055. I used about 20' of the same gauge wire and did a dry run with the wire hanging freely down from the unit. There seems to be a logic here, but taking five of the doctor's pills does not cure you five times faster. Is this brand-specific? I am aware that antennae are generally tuned to specific frequencies. I await your reply and, perhaps, suggestions on what I may have done wrong.

[@Steve_K2]

Well done video, thanks, and made me a new subscriber. My problem, though, is how to extend the range when using Homelink (built into the car). I recently programmed Homelink in my car for the garage door opener. It works, but the range is half, maybe only a third, of the little opener that used to be on the sun visor. Seems the car should be stronger. Ideas?

[@Kitearmy]

Yes - nothing can be done on the car end but increase this side increase the total range

[@danielcastaneda2729]

I tried Low Voltage Audio Cable and ran it all the way to the exterior of the garage and it didn't work. Would electric wire work better?

[@Kitearmy]

just try it on the ground and see if it improves

[@leehill1327]

I used leftover HVAC wiring. 20awg. Major Difference...!!!

[@Kitearmy]

NICE!

[@davidszakacs6888]

You don’t even have to run a wire to the outside. I used a few feet and just ran it up the angle supporting the opener and zip tied it.

[@Kitearmy]

true

[@tiensu1]

Would it matter if it takes more than 20 ft of wire to run it outside of the garage, or it has to be limited to 20 ft only?

[@Kitearmy]

nope - that should be okay

[@Jesus-cx2tq]

For some reason it ain’t working for me do i have to leave the outside copper exposed?

[@Kitearmy]

no that should not make a difference

[@IanRLewis]

Does it have to be solid wire or can it be braided? Also, if I just extend it to the header will that extend the range?

[@Kitearmy]

braided is fine too - the header might be enough - give it a try

[@IanRLewis]

@@Kitearmy I am going out to try it in 5 minutes.

[@Kitearmy]

@@IanRLewis Cool - let us know if it helps

[@IanRLewis]

@@Kitearmy Seems to have solved my problem.

[@Kitearmy]

@@IanRLewis Congrats mate - easy fix

[@LoverboiGeo]

Yea idk what i did wrong but i still cant get it to open even 3ft away from garage door

[@LoverboiGeo]

I used a extra 10gage copper wire i had sitting around. A wire nut to hold it all together and have it pretty far out of the garage door. Can you help!?

[@isalopez76]

Having the same issue but mine is a gate opener. I literally have to put the remote next to the antenna, do you think it’s going bad? The antenna that is?

[@Kitearmy]

Seems to defeat the point of a remote - start with the battery

[@isalopez76]

@@Kitearmy tried that bought new ones and changed a couple remotes also tried the remote built in the cars but still nothing

[@Kitearmy]

@@isalopez76 Try this trick then

[@christinecoleman988]

So I was having issues where I needed to hold the remote directly up to the antenna to get the door to open. I followed this video and extended the antenna out the front of my garage, and it kinda worked - but now I need to hold the opener right in front of the end of the extended antenna. So it didn't really increase the range, just lengthened the antenna ? Any ideas?

[@Kitearmy]

check the light bulbs - if they are the wrong type they can cause interference

[@Jonayd]

I have the same issue. I have led lights in the garage, not in the motor but never had any issues before. It just started a couple months back. I changed the batteries of the remotes reset the motor but none of my remotes, outside keypad or car’s homelink work. They all worked couple of months ago. I can only open the garage door if the remote is almost touching the antenna. I will try this hack and see if it works.

[@listen2me2220041]

@@Jonayd Are you near an airport or some other faculty that may have installed any new wireless equipment? Or near a new 5g cell tower?

[@Bennyhanna7]

I just did this and somehow it seems worse. I was standing basically in the opening of my garage and it wasn’t registering, guess I’ll try fresh batteries to rule that out at least

[@Kitearmy]

Yeah, don't bother doing this if your batteries are no good - can't fix that

[@Bennyhanna7]

@@Kitearmy tried new batteries, but after some more testing, I’m apparently getting interference from the LED lights in the garage, when they are off, I get fantastic range. I have these lights on an occupancy sensor, so now I have to between better garage door range and auto on lights 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣

[@Kitearmy]

@@Bennyhanna7 They sell low interference lights for garage doors

[@edborges3854]

👍

[@desertrider325]

I tried it and it somehow made it worse. Wouldn’t even open on top of it. It’s a Craftsman purple button opener. I shortened up and it at least works well now. I tried many different configurations. And stripping the wire at the end etc. etc. also making shapes with it to pick up the signal. Hang loose and tight you name it. Any ideas?

[@Kitearmy]

yeah - so the antennas are meant to match the wavelength of the signal - sometimes this hack does not work

[@timothyfreehill1906]

I vaguely remember in my Networks & Systems class that the antenna length needs to be a multiple of the wavelength. if this is true, cutting the length of the antenna to a multiple of the original length might work. I have the same problem as @desertrider325 - I might give this a try. @@Kitearmy

[@MysticRickFC]

what kind of yellow wire is that? i'd like to try it.

[@Kitearmy]

standard low voltage about 18 guage

[@MysticRickFC]

@@Kitearmy thanks so much

[@Kitearmy]

@@MysticRickFC Sure

[@wallysmi]

Hack!!! Put primer on your garage walls to seal up the spackling and tape before it starts cracking and falling off.

[@banderson5676]

Extended my antenna with wire to outside and it did nothing.

[@Kitearmy]

try to replace your battery

[@michaelpartipilo4852]

If you have MY Q you can open your door from anywhere

[@trentbiro5019]

I bet throwing the door remote helped lol 😂😂😂😂😂🤣

[@Kitearmy]

that probably fixed it

[@caterinafiorello2715]

This did not work on my chamberlain door openers. still has crummy opening distance. someone else said to not use LED bulbs in the opener due to interference. I will be giving that a try next. And yes, my remote batteries are brand new. I even checked the voltage with a meter.

[@Kitearmy]

They make special bulbs for garage doors - though I think I would try a non-led too

[@Rayven_cat]

I have a Chamberlain also and thus didn't work. I tried it without LED bulbs and then removed both bulbs and still no luck.

[@Kitearmy]

@@Rayven_cat Did you try to add the extra length antenna?

[@ebbyt00]

The LED bulb does not have anything to do with interference because the light is always off until the opener receives the signal and then lights turn on, I have the same issue with chamberlain opener

[@Kitearmy]

@@ebbyt00 My garage light is on all the time

[@jaredglenn7760]

Red

[@Kitearmy]

read

[@amokdom6509]

Didn’t work for me

[@sunrise8263]

I wish you could have taken longer to get to the point. After all, the enjoyment is not in the story, but in the TELLING of the story ... or, to paraphrase Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, "It is not the inn, but the journey".

[@Kitearmy]

Great comment - I have to say that normally people complain that I drag things out to much.

[@eminusipi]

If you like a story so much, get and audio book on RF engineering. It will make you happy with no windmills to tilt.

[@Kitearmy]

@@eminusipi Or put you to sleep

[@kenithj76]

Geeezzzz .... I bet you complain about any and everything .. you need to carry around butt hurt lotion by the gallons ...

[@2snipe1]

Omg I'm doing this week. The stupid garage bugs me all the time.

[@Kitearmy]

Let us know how it works out

[@2-old-Forthischet]

Hokey pokey.

[@Kitearmy]

and you turn yourself around

[@bowtieguy6870]

This works but should be done in a much more aesthetically appealing way.

[@Kitearmy]

sure - do it up

[@wolvoman1]

Hack........... hold the remote next to your head, then try it, this also works with car remote keyfobs. (This makes/turns your body mass into an antenna extension)

[@Kitearmy]

I have seen people do that - don't now if it works...

[@jimhlee]

Doesn't work for me with my garage door opener

[@AverageReviewsYT]

What we all ACTUALLY want is a faster garage door..

[@Kitearmy]

Yeah - one that cuts your car in half when it closes

[@AverageReviewsYT]

@@Kitearmy Well want what you want but the rest of us just want it to hurry and open so we can get inside

[@LPFE42]

Half the time it doesn't open in front of the door...... what a pain

[@Kitearmy]

That sucks

[@jonathanjudd4879]

Did you say "roll up our sleeves and get some work done"? Come on that's not work!

[@Kitearmy]

Sure it is. I just make it look easy.

[@adrenalinehigh2070]

hmm....I thought he was gonna talk about premature ejaculation with that opening sentence :(

[@nem17]

Doesnt work

[@Kitearmy]

That sucks - works for lots of people

[@nem17]

@@Kitearmy update! I added a 1 meter coaxial cable and now i can open the garage door 30metres away. This is way more than i needed. Thank you very much. P.S. Only coaxial cable worked for me.

[@Kitearmy]

@@nem17 NICE!

[@joesimone223]

So basically, you are saying that 125 feet away from your garage door isn't enough. You want to be 200 feet away so you can use your new pair of binoculars to see if the door opened before you drive to your house and and put your car in the garage.

[@Kitearmy]

or while I drive

[@kenweerts3869]

Not good science.

[@Kitearmy]

Maybe, but how do you explain all the comments down below from people who this worked for?

[@bubaks2]

Your audience is more than just Americans bro.

[@Kitearmy]

Nope - Americans only

[@cryeredd7563]

what kinda lame joke is this? your footage shows the 'hacked' version NOT WORKING AT 200 FEET--- YET YOU SAY IT DOES!!!! wtf

[@samwilliams1397]

Tape? Geeze...

[@Kitearmy]

what's wrong with tape

[@cryeredd7563]

@@Kitearmy clear package tape? lol. bet that fell the same week

[@Ozzie4Para]

You claim to be a perfectionist and yet you're using a piece of tape to secure the wire on the outside of your garage door? Ummmmm, okay.

[@Kitearmy]

I guess you don't get sarcasm