How to Program Your Garage Door Opener: A Step-by-Step Guide
Whether you’ve purchased a new garage door opener, replaced your misplaced remotes or swapped out the batteries in your remote, you may need to program your garage door opener. Here’s what you need to know.
Understanding Your Garage Door Opener
Before diving in, it’s important that you understand how your garage door opener works. There are three primary types:
Chain drive garage door openers: These openers use a metal chain to raise and lower the garage door. They’re the most cost-effective because they’re made from affordable steel. They are also durable and dependable.
Belt drive garage door openers: With belt drive garage door openers, rubberized belts move a trolley along a rail to raise and lower the door. These openers are quiet, strong and simple to maintain.
Jackshaft garage door openers: Jackshaft openers are mounted to the wall, which means easier installation, more free space and more modern features. Most wall-mounted LiftMaster garage door openers work by turning your garage door’s torsion springs.
A Quick Note on Remotes and Keypads
Garage door opener remotes are battery-powered gadgets that open and close a garage door using radio signal transmission — essentially, when you click the button, the remote sends a radio wave at a specific frequency to the opener’s receiver.
Keypads are mounted outside the door and require a personal identification number (PIN) to open or close the door. This guide will focus primarily on remotes.
How to Program Your Garage Door Opener
Here are some general steps for programming your LiftMaster or Chamberlain garage door opener. Remember, the steps for programming garage door openers may vary slightly depending on the brand and opener model. Refer to your opener’s manual for more detailed instructions.
1. Gather the Necessary Tools and Materials
To begin, you’ll need your garage door remote — or remotes if you’re connecting more than one — as well as your user manual and a ladder. Always use the proper precautions when climbing a ladder, including wearing slip-resistant shoes, ensuring the ladder is the right size for the job and placing the ladder on level ground.
Also, unless you’re using a universal remote, ensure the opener’s brand is compatible with the remote’s brand.
2. Locate the “Learn” Button on Your Garage Door Opener Unit
Next, locate the “Learn” button on your garage door opener unit. It is typically located on the back or side panel of the opener and may be hidden underneath the light cover.
3. Program Your Garage Door Opener
Follow these steps to program your Chamberlain or LiftMaster remote:
If you need to erase a remote from the garage door opener’s memory, press and hold the “Learn” button until the LED turns off.
Choose which button on the remote you want to program, and be ready to press it.
Press and release the “Learn” button one time.
Press and hold the button on the remote you want to program until the garage door opener light blinks or the opener clicks.
Test the garage door by clicking the button and seeing if the door opens.
It’s a good idea to ask a partner to help — once you press the “Learn” button, you have about 30 seconds to program the remote.
4. Program Any Additional Garage Door Opener Remotes
Follow the same steps outline above to program additional remotes.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you experience issues, such as your remote not syncing or your opener not responding, try these tips:
Check the batteries: To determine whether your remote batteries are depleted, see if your opener responds to your wall-mounted control panel. If it works, then your remote will likely need new batteries.
Double-check brand compatibility: As mentioned, not every remote will work for every opener unless you’ve purchased a universal opener. You don’t always need an exact brand match — some LiftMaster remotes work with Chamberlain openers, for example — but if you’re experiencing an issue, double-check whether your opener is compatible with your remote. With LiftMaster openers, you can determine compatible remotes by looking at the color of the “Learn” button.
Look for damage on the remote: Remotes that have been stepped on or dropped may not function properly.
Check the opener’s antenna: If the opener’s receiving antenna is damaged, your remote may not sync to the opener. You can also check whether the antenna is pointing in the correct direction toward your door. If the antenna appears damaged, you’ll want to contact a reliable garage door repair company.
Examine the lock button: When the lock button on your door’s wall-mounted control panel is engaged, simply press the button to disengage the lock.
Maintenance Tips
Garage door openers are relatively easy to maintain, and high-quality models last more than 10 years. After programming your garage door opener, you want to take care of it to prolong its life span. To lessen the strain on your opener, ensure door parts, such as the rollers, springs and cables, are adequately lubricated. Avoid lubricating the tracks, as this can cause rollers to slide.
Jackshaft openers are the easiest to maintain, followed by belt drive openers. Chain drive openers, while still relatively easy to maintain, require more lubrication due to the metal-on-metal construction.
Safety and Security Tips
The primary purpose of garage doors is to protect your family, home and vehicles. To maintain your opener’s security:
Change access codes periodically: If you use a keypad to access your garage, change your PIN periodically to prevent unauthorized access to your garage.
Look for openers with time-to-close (TTC) features: TTC features automatically close your door after a certain amount of time. This way, if you forget to close your door on your way to work or vacation, you can rest assured your door will close itself automatically.
Shop Wi-Fi-enabled models: With Wi-Fi enablement, you can open and close your door using a mobile app.
Select a model with motion-sensitive lights: Motion-sensitive LED lighting brightens up your garage so that you never have to get out of your car and enter a dark garage.
When You Need a New Garage Door Opener, Trust Viking Overhead
Viking Overhead is your go-to source for residential garage doors, openers and accessories in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We install Chamberlain and LiftMaster garage door openers and offer reliable warranties to give our customers peace of mind.
Request a free on-site estimate from Viking Overhead. If you already have your garage door opener squared away but have questions about programming it, we can help you there, too!
