Garage door remote control not working? Start here
Press the wall button. If the door runs from the wall but not from the remote, the opener and the door are fine and the fault is in the remote, and its battery is the first thing to rule out.
If neither works, look at the opener and its power: is it plugged in, is the power point on, is the power out across the house? In a blackout, see opening a garage door without power.
A second remote is a handy test. One working and one not points at the remote; both failing points at the opener.
How to program a garage door remote
Programming steps belong to each opener, and they change between makers and between models. The dependable way is the manual for your exact opener, so find the brand and model on the label on the motor unit and look up that manual.
Two things explain why one remote works and another won't. Openers use rolling codes: B&D says its remotes generate a new random code each time the door is used, to stop thieves copying them, and Steel-Line lists rolling code on a 433.92 MHz transmitter for its sectional openers. A new remote has to suit your opener's own system, so a generic one may never pair.
Openers also hold a limited number of remotes. Steel-Line says its roller door opener memory holds up to 15 handset codes, and that one of its key ring remotes can run up to three garage doors or gates.
How to reset a garage door opener's codes
If a remote is lost, stolen or left behind with a former tenant, clearing the opener's memory stops it working, and you then add back the remotes you still hold. Like programming, the way you clear the memory depends on the opener, so follow its manual or ask the door specialist to do it.
If the remotes and the wall button both stopped after a storm or a power surge, the opener may need more than a reset, and that is one for the door specialist.
If a child may have swallowed a button battery
Act straight away. Queensland Fair Trading says a lodged button battery can cause severe burns in as little as 2 hours, and it names remote controls and car keys among the common products that hold them. It says to call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 immediately, or go straight to a hospital emergency department, and not to let the child eat or drink or make them vomit.
Changing a remote battery safely
Work away from children
Change the battery at a bench or table with children out of the room, so a dropped cell can't roll somewhere small hands find it.
Match the battery
Read the size printed on the old cell and buy that one. B&D's Smart Pro manual lists a CR2032 3 volt lithium coin cell for its remote.
Close the cover properly
Make sure the cover clicks or screws fully shut. If it won't stay shut, keep that remote well out of reach and ask about a replacement.
Tape and recycle the old one
Queensland Fair Trading says to tape used batteries and take them to a B-cycle drop-off point, and never to put them in general waste or recycling bins.
Lock the spares away
Queensland Fair Trading also says spare button batteries should be locked away, out of reach.
The button battery rules in Australia
Two mandatory standards under the Australian Consumer Law cover products that contain button or coin batteries. The safety standard commenced on 22 December 2020 with an 18 month lead time, and Queensland Fair Trading says the standards took effect on 22 June 2022.
Under the safety standard, a button battery must not come loose during reasonably foreseeable use or misuse, and a compartment holding a battery you can replace must resist being opened by young children. Where screws hold the cover, they generally have to be captive so they stay with it, and products must be tested before they are supplied.
The information standard covers warnings. Instructions must carry a battery warning and packaging must show a safety alert symbol on the front panel. For lithium button batteries, the warning must say the battery can cause severe or fatal injuries in 2 hours or less if it is swallowed or placed inside any part of the body.
Useful to tell the door specialist
- The opener's brand and model, from the label on the motor
- How many remotes you have, and whether any are missing
- Whether the wall button works when the remotes don't
- Whether you'd like extra remotes, a keypad or phone control
What you can do, and what to leave
You can
- Change a remote battery, following the steps above
- Program a remote from your opener's own manual
- Clear and re-add remotes if the manual shows how
Leave to a door specialist
- An opener that stopped after a storm or a surge
- A remote that still won't pair after following the manual
- Adding phone control, which may need safety beams fitted
What we would do
Count your remotes now, including the one in the second car and the spare in a drawer. If any are unaccounted for, have the opener's memory cleared and the rest re-added, because a lost remote opens your garage for whoever has it.