[bxd20]

I had been using the HomeLink in my 2014 Volt at our old house for the last 2 years, since I got the Volt. It was a LiftMaster opener, and never had any problems.

We moved a few weeks ago. At our new house, we have a Craftsman opener. We were busy with getting settled in, repairs, boxes, so I just used the remotes that came with the opener for the first 3 weeks.

Monday night, I finally got around to programming the HomeLink button, and that went off fine.

Trouble is, ever since the Volt has been programmed, the garage door is now opening randomly. The door is NOT reversing, we watch it close and stay closed for hours. I check it before going to bed. Then I wake up, and find the door open. Once I heard it, ran out there, nobody in sight of course, on the street, or neighbors.

I took the batteries out of the Craftsman remotes - and it still did it.

This morning, I disconnected the hard wired switch from the motor head, to continue troubleshooting.

But being an engineer, I always ask myself, what changed before the problem started? And the only answer is programming for the Volt's HomeLink.

I already tried erasing all stored codes in the opener. But unfortunately I did immediately re-add the Volt.

If it does it again, I guess I will clear all codes and leave the Volt unprogrammed.

If it continues phantom operation, even with the wired button disconnected, and all remotes erased from memory, then it must be a malfunction in the board inside the unit.

But - what a strange coincidence to have a logic board go faulty, the same night as I first programmed the Volt.

And if it's the Volt's fault, the timing of the failure is also uncanny, right at the same time we moved.

Any similar tales?

 

[DonC]

I've been using Homelink on the Volt for almost six years and have never had an issue (every once in a great while my garage door will open but in my experience that's the nature of garage doors). Many, as in tens of thousands, have as well. We have seen things like all the windows be opened due to something related to the fob, but not the garage door.

That's not to say your problem doesn't involve the Volt, just saying that it's likely not the Volt per se. Why not go ahead and try your idea of reprogramming again, leaving the Volt off? It might be an problem with your Volt or something else entirely. Usually when you do something like add a vehicle you do other things as well.

 

[snorth]

Odd. Does it happen at least once a day, or at least once per night? I wonder if leaving the Volt unplugged for a night would prevent it from going up (off-the wall thought).

Is that piece still in warranty?

 

[Steverino]

Semi-stuck button?

The only issue I've had is it stopped working at one point and I had to reprogram (a bit of a pain).

 

[bxd20]

Odd. Does it happen at least once a day, or at least once per night? I wonder if leaving the Volt unplugged for a night would prevent it from going up (off-the wall thought).

Is that piece still in warranty?

It happened twice last night. But the Volt was home all day yesterday and it didn't happen once. Which points back to it not being the Volt's fault.

Yes, I still have a year on my bumper to bumper warranty.

The temperatures have dropped significantly this week, perhaps that is causing the logic board in the opener to short internally.

 

[TSquare]

Do you have buttons inside the garage mounted on a wall somewhere? On my openers, they are the cheapest part of the entire system and the physical button gets stuck in the pressed position very easily.

 

[FrankIII]

bxd20, the door still went up. Does your opener have any internet access enabled where you can open the door using an iPhone? Also, like you said, you have the Volt programmed into the opener. The homelink module in the Volt is powered up all the time. So if you had a problem with the homelink module or a switch that was marginally making contact it could cause the door to operate. Have you tried to program the Volt, BUT using a different homelink button, there should be three available? The only problem I had with the homelink operation with my MY2012 Volt was the door would go up but would not go down. The difference between the 2 states is when the door was down, it usually had been down for hours, but in the case of the up position, the door had been usually been run within the previous minute or two and the lights in the opener were on. I had placed LED bulbs in the opener which were unshielded and emitting RF that jammed the signal from the homelink module in my Volt.
While researching the problem I mentioned above, I found that the band that homelink uses is also utilized for navigation in airplanes. If you are within 12 miles of an airport, this could cause you some problems. I hope some of this info can help you.

 

[bxd20]

Do you have buttons inside the garage mounted on a wall somewhere? On my openers, they are the cheapest part of the entire system and the physical button gets stuck in the pressed position very easily.

Yes, I disconnected the hardwired button before work today.

I just talked to my wife, and the door went up on its own this morning.

She's going to clear the stored memory of the opener now and see if that makes a difference. If it behaves 24 hours, I will only add the Volt, and wait again, before adding the Craftsman remote.

 

[Henry_FL]

I thought I read a thread where OnStar had the wrong car paired to an account, so that could be a possibility. Pull the fuse for the OnStar would be a way to see if thats the issue

 

[emartin00]

Yes, I disconnected the hardwired button before work today.

I just talked to my wife, and the door went up on its own this morning.

She's going to clear the stored memory of the opener now and see if that makes a difference. If it behaves 24 hours, I will only add the Volt, and wait again, before adding the Craftsman remote.

Were you driving the Volt, or was it still in the garage?

 

[bxd20]

Were you driving the Volt, or was it still in the garage?

In the garage, she's using it today.

 

[RePo]

My scientific experiment would go like this:

Remove all remote codes from opener
Remove push button wires from opener
Wait one day to verify it doesn't open itself. (May need to manually operate door for one day as a side affect)
Add push button back in day 2
Add one remote back in each day
The problem controller will reveal itself. Remove that controller again and add all others.
All likelihood problem solved and fault verified.

 

[Barry]

I think you said it worked OK when only the remotes were programmed in (and not the homelink). Go back to that state and see if the door behaves. Then change only one thing at a time from there.

If homelink is the culprit, there are 3 different homelink buttons you can choose from. Maybe a different button would work better.

If you can't get the door to behave under any conditions, one possibility is radio interference from a neighboring property. Although with modern rolling code security, maybe that is no longer as big an issue as it once was.

 

[pinoma]

The opener may have wi fi capabilites. To be safe you should reset the opener and reprogram all opener including the volt.

 

[Prohidium]

You may want to review the garage door up/down max settings as well as the setting for sensitivity to objects as the door travels down. If it is set too sensitive, the door may sit for a while and if a gust of wind moves it, it might open. I have seen this happen before.

Also, check for proper alignment of the beams at the bottom of the door if they exist. Depending on the year of manufacture, the craftsman may very well be a rebranded lift master so the adjustments are likely familiar. Also, look for proper door alignment and top spring adjustment.

Cold weather can cause issues as parts shrink from the cold and this can affect sensors.

 

[bxd20]

OP here with update.

Life got busy, and I needed stability, so I went back to the original state. Wiped the memory of the garage door opener, and only programmed the Craftsman openers.

No phantom operation occurred for weeks.

Then I tried to program our 2016 EQUINOX Homelink to the troublesome opener. The phantom operation began again!

Also, we have two garage door openers, so I programmed the Volt to the other door, and have had no phantom operation.

So I've ruled out Homelink in general.

It is something in the logic board of the one garage door opener. What makes it "illogical" in a manner, is that the opener misbehaves only if at least 1 Homelink opener is programmed into its memory. If it was planes, neighbors, cell towers, some EMF, it should always happen.

We will probably live with using the Craftsman opener rather than spending a few hundred to replace the opener at this time.

 

[FrankIII]

I had a similar problem years ago with some Stanley garage door openers, except they would not go up or down. The openers would work fine individually and would accept programming fine, but they would not play together when both were plugged in. It turns out RF from the one that was working fine was interfering with the one that did not work. The company supplied me with an RF filter kit to install into both openers so neither one would cause problems on the other.