LiftMaster garage door opener suck...

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andyboy

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Which garage door opener works out of the box with the 2012 LR4 rear-view mirror openers? I ask b/c my current garage door opener (LiftMaster) requires a separate "extender" to accept the signal from the built-in opener on the rear view mirror. Half of the time the buttons don't respond to the garage door opener. I'm getting ready to move into a brand new build house and we need to get some garage door openers.
 

umbertob

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Higher end Chamberlains / Liftmasters, along their many rebadged units, with "MyQ" technology need the extender thingie to operate with the LR4 - at least up to MY13s, not sure if newer model years have been updated. That's a big chunk of current openers offered out there, unfortunately. Something without MyQ and with older "rolling code" technology should work. Don't have any experience with Genie and a handful of other brands. My Chamberlain with extender works well enough with the LR4, however (unless the power is out of course - a battery backup is one of the selling points of these openers... so much for that feature working with my car. I keep the original remote that came with the opener in my glove box, just in case.) Reception area seems a bit smaller than operating the opener directly with a compatible vehicle, and you do need to keep the button on the mirror pushed for about a second before the opener responds, but as far as reliability the extender hasn't let me down yet. Perhaps try and reorient the wire antenna sticking out of it, or plug it elsewhere in your garage?
 

catman

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Don't have any experience with Genie and a handful of other brands.

I have an 08 LR3 and was studying this issue last year when choosing new openers. I was originally looking at the higher end Liftmaster units, but ultimately went with Genie SilentMax 1000 units because some farm center out west had a special price that was half of anyone else and I really do not need anything special for my two basic garage doors.

If I recall, the Genie set up has you follow a proceedure to program a button on the included remote to your homelink button. Then you simply program homelink to the main unit and it works without any extender required, but I am not sure if it actually still uses a rolling code in this mode. I have not had any issues at all. Unit is very quiet, has a DC motor and responds from well up the street to the Homelink button.
 
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eljefe

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i bought a ryobi from homedepot works with my 2010 lr4 OEM mirror buttons. The only think I do not like about it is the outside keypad that you attach to the outside of the house....the buttons are slow to respond. other than that works great.
 

andyboy

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i bought a ryobi from homedepot works with my 2010 lr4 OEM mirror buttons. The only think I do not like about it is the outside keypad that you attach to the outside of the house....the buttons are slow to respond. other than that works great.

How do you like the ryobi? How slow is the keypad? Is it barable?
 

eljefe

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How do you like the ryobi? How slow is the keypad? Is it barable?


I like it. The attachments you can get on it are pretty cool too. The extension cord real is worth it.

The keypad on the outside of house...you have to push the buttons and pause maybe a second between each number when entering your code. That is the only thing i do not like. It has a iphone app and works surprisingly well.

And it works with the OEM homelink buttons on the rear view mirror.



good luck.
 

BrandonM7

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Which garage door opener works out of the box with the 2012 LR4 rear-view mirror openers? I ask b/c my current garage door opener (LiftMaster) requires a separate "extender" to accept the signal from the built-in opener on the rear view mirror. Half of the time the buttons don't respond to the garage door opener. I'm getting ready to move into a brand new build house and we need to get some garage door openers.

Higher end Chamberlains / Liftmasters, along their many rebadged units, with "MyQ" technology need the extender thingie to operate with the LR4 - at least up to MY13s, not sure if newer model years have been updated. That's a big chunk of current openers offered out there, unfortunately. Something without MyQ and with older "rolling code" technology should work. Don't have any experience with Genie and a handful of other brands. My Chamberlain with extender works well enough with the LR4, however (unless the power is out of course - a battery backup is one of the selling points of these openers... so much for that feature working with my car. I keep the original remote that came with the opener in my glove box, just in case.) Reception area seems a bit smaller than operating the opener directly with a compatible vehicle, and you do need to keep the button on the mirror pushed for about a second before the opener responds, but as far as reliability the extender hasn't let me down yet. Perhaps try and reorient the wire antenna sticking out of it, or plug it elsewhere in your garage?


What is this "extender" you two mention? Something from LR, or something from Chamberlain/LiftMaster? I have a MyQ opener on my second bay and neither my LR4 or the wife's RRS work with it. It sucks having useless buttons on my mirror and a stupid remote clipped on my visor, so I'd love to get it working as it should.
 

umbertob

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It's actually called, more appropriately, a repeater rather than an extender. It "repeats" and translates a remote open/close command from older Homelink devices into one that these newer openers can understand. It is a simple device, about the size of a pack of cigarettes with an antenna sticking out of it, that plugs into an outlet near the opener motor in your garage, and pairs to it. The repeater comes with its own remote, which you then use to program into your Homelink, instead of the remote that came with the garage opener.

Works well enough, with a few caveats: its range seems to be shorter than the original remote's, it is a fraction of a second slower to respond (probably because of the repeating "thing" happening) and, if your garage opener comes with a backup battery to operate in case of a power outage, that feature will become useless with your Homelink, since the repeater won't work unless it's powered up (you can always carry the original opener's remote in your glove box for those situations, it will continue to work just fine.)

Chamberlain / Liftmaster sell them, as a matter of fact if you call their customer service and ask them nicely explaining your late model LR4 is not compatible, they should send you one free of charge, you just pay S&H - about 7/8 bucks.
 
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BrandonM7

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It's actually called, more appropriately, a repeater rather than an extender. It "repeats" and translates a remote open/close command from older Homelink devices into one that these newer openers can understand. It is a simple device, about the size of a pack of cigarettes with an antenna sticking out of it, that plugs into an outlet near the opener motor in your garage, and pairs to it. The repeater comes with its own remote, which you then use to program into your Homelink, instead of the remote that came with the garage opener.

Works well enough, with a few caveats: its range seems to be shorter than the original remote's, it is a fraction of a second slower to respond (probably because of the repeating "thing" happening) and, if your garage opener comes with a backup battery to operate in case of a power outage, that feature will become useless with your Homelink, since the repeater won't work unless it's powered up (you can always carry the original opener's remote in your glove box for those situations, it will continue to work just fine.)

Chamberlain / Liftmaster sell them, as a matter of fact if you call their customer service and ask them nicely explaining your late model LR4 is not compatible, they should send you one free of charge, you just pay S&H - about 7/8 bucks.

Thanks for the detailed explanation - many thanks. I'll call them tomorrow and see if I can work something out.
 

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