Has anyone used a repeater for a garage door opener to get more range? I'm talking about a 315Mhz repeater kind of like what I found here. Signal Repeater Enhance wireless range 300-1000m 315Mhz | eBay The reason I ask is because for some reason over the past week or two I have not been able to open my garage door from my cars when outside of the garage. I tried to eliminate all RF from the garage like my WiFi router and Lawnbott transmitter but I still cannot get the door to open. My garage is a metal garage so it acts like a Faraday cage but I've always been able to open the door from the edge of my driveway. Now for some reason it wont open at all from the outside and I'm trying to find a solution to fix the issue. I'm thinking the link above for the 315Mhz repeater would work if it just repeats the signal but I'm wondering if anyone here can confirm this will work or can recommend something else.
That was my thought, even though he said "cars". Another approach is to find someone with a radio scanner that will tune to 315 mHz, find the transmitter on the scanner to be sure the frequency is right on, then use the scanner to check for interference in the garage. 3rd possibility is that the receiver on the garage door opener is getting tired.
I have homelink in the Prius which is built into the rear view mirror and a standard remote in the Insight. Both dont work outside the garage. They do work if the door is open or if the cars are inside the garage.
Well I think I found the issue. After using my scanner I found noise on about 315.005Mhz to about 315.015Mhz. The noise was concentrated around my security cameras. So I did a test by unplugging them and then I was able to open the door. Here is the kicker. The only change I made in the past few weeks is moving a camera from the inside of the garage to the outside. Everything else is the same. I'm still looking into getting a repeater in hopes that it can repeat the door opener signal.
I tried extending it but it did not work. I found out that the camera that I moved was the one causing the issues. Its also partly broken for some reason. Its stuck in IR mode. I have disabled that camera and all is back to normal. I got a reply back on that repeater and was told it would not repeat the signal from my remote. So now I'm going to buy another better camera to replace the one and see what happens. It still would be nice to be able to open the door from a greater distance.
Consider using a dipole antenna on the outside of your garage. Dipole antenna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Maybe one of the Hams here will join. I think you could run some standard co-ax from the receiver with the center connected to the antenna terminal or as close to the receiver as you can connect it. And the ground shield of the connected to the receiver ground as close as you can get it to the ground. Run the co-ax to the outside at a window. Total length of the actual antenna at the other end of the co-ax would be 143/315=.45 meters = 17.7 inches (see figure near top of linked article) so you wouldn't be dealing with a bulky antenna. The dipole could be made of any wire. Standard co-ax isn't the ideal antenna lead for this type of dipole but I don't think it would hurt performance enough to matter. I would set up the dipole horizontally, approximately broadside to a direct line from your car to the antenna. You might also try a vertical orientation and see which works best.
