Having a garage door remote has become a convenience many people
overlook. But having a remote in your car can save you a few
minutes when you come home after a long day of work.
Having a garage door remote has become a convenience many people overlook. But having a remote in your car can save you a few minutes when you come home after a long day of work.
Once you have installed the opener in the garage, you can select a remote based on the type of opener.
There are three main types of garage door openers that work with remotes – chain drives, screw drives and belt drives. Chain drives are the most common and the most affordable, usually between $100 and $200. Belt drives usually cost a little more but are quieter.
When selecting a remote, you have many different options. Some are small and can fit on a key chain. Some have one button and some have more than one for multiple doors.
In the early days of remotes, garage doors could be opened by others driving by because both the transmitter and receiver used the same frequency.
The problem was addressed initially by having the receiver and transmitter programmed with the same combination code, generating 256 unique combinations. But the code could still be copied. Now doors use a random “rolling” code.
Columnist Tim Carter recommends on his Web site www.askthebuilder.com that you select an opener with the rolling signal, so thieves will not able to steal the signal from the air. To learn more about how the remote signal works, go to How Stuff Works (auto.howstuffworks.com/remote-entry1.htm).
Lowe’s (www.lowes.com) offers more advice for selecting garage door openers that work with certain types of remotes.
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