Adding Wireless Keyless Garage Entry

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lucky760

lucky760

New member
For anyone still going through their upgrades or for anyone who didn't not buy the keyless garage entry upgrade (like we didn't), I highly recommend adding the keyless entry yourself. It's really cheap (about $20) and just requires that you program it (which is simple) and screw it into the wall outside your garage (or anywhere else you'd like it).
http://www.amazon.com/Liftmaster-877max-Wireless-Garage-Keyless/dp/B0051V40NQ/ref=pd_sim_hi_2

Our neighbors did the upgrade and it's become clear every time we exit walking through the garage that it'd be a great item to have, so I installed it the other day and am very happy with the results. I'm also happy I didn't pay the cost (was it ~$100? I don't recall) because it is very inexpensive and requires very little work.

(Just be sure you have a masonry drill bit to put a pilot hole through your stucco. I had to buy one in order to get the screws into the exterior wall.)

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just make sure you change the battery periodically.  a friend of mine went out with his family for a walk and came back and the thing didnt work. had to call his dad to bring over a key. battery was dead.
 
I believe the ones that are built-in by the builder are powered directly by the home wiring so that's why it's a higher cost.

We had one in one of our homes and it was also convenient to give relatives access to the house when we were on vacation so they can check on things.
 
What brand of garage opener is IP putting in homes these days?  They put in a Marantec unit in our home (never heard of this brand before), which does not have a learn button, so I couldn't get these aftermarket remotes to work. 
 
gaogi said:
What brand of garage opener is IP putting in homes these days?  They put in a Marantec unit in our home (never heard of this brand before), which does not have a learn button, so I couldn't get these aftermarket remotes to work. 
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I had a Marantec once, I was able to program my Home Link car remote to it, something about rotating frequency codes but it's possible.
 
Yeah, I can get the Homelink to program, but I have a Chamberlin/Liftmaster Clicker rigged up for my other car that doesn't have Homelink, and can't get that to program correctly, since it needs the learn button.  Looks like this wireless keypad needs a learn button to program too.
 
I agree that this is a great purchase!  The installation is very simple especially if the edge of the garage is wood. 

 
irvinehomeowner said:
I believe the ones that are built-in by the builder are powered directly by the home wiring so that's why it's a higher cost.

We had one in one of our homes and it was also convenient to give relatives access to the house when we were on vacation so they can check on things.
Click to expand...

That's not the case at Saratoga. The reason I learned of the specific brand/model is the customer service guy left the box for our neighbor's keypad in our packet of household manuals. That's the same one we purchased. : )
 
I did it for my house.... paid $20 instead of $100.  Super easy install. 

Although I did buy a masonry drill bit, I'm not even sure if that is needed; given how easy it was to drill through that part of the stucco.
 
Irvine_RC said:
I did it for my house.... paid $20 instead of $100.  Super easy install. 

Although I did buy a masonry drill bit, I'm not even sure if that is needed; given how easy it was to drill through that part of the stucco.
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Yes, you definitely needed it. It seemed easy because of the masonry bit. Believe me; I tried without it first, then had to go buy the bit. : ) Good thing it was all of about $2.
 
I wish I had learn this before my upgrades.  It was $150 for the keyless entry and I chose to upgrade it through the builder.
 
Bummer. : (

Pro tip: We discovered accidentally that to close the garage you don't need to enter the code; just pressing the Enter key by itself will close the door. This isn't very obvious.
 
lucky said:
Bummer. : (

Pro tip: We discovered accidentally that to close the garage you don't need to enter the code; just pressing the Enter key by itself will close the door. This isn't very obvious.
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For many of the keyless entry remotes, the unit will stay "active" for 30 seconds to a minute (depending on the model) after you've initially entered your code correctly, as a matter of convenience. While it is active, you can press the Enter key by itself and it will operate the opener.

-IR2
 
Lucky,

We encountered the same issue, but soon realized that IrvineRealtor was correct.  After you enter the correct code, the entire transponder will remain "active" for a couple of seconds, allowing you the ability to press any button (for us, any button on the num-pad will work) to engage the sensor. 

This actually came in handy when I'm to adjust the garage to leave a gap for ventilation, as I won't need to scramble to punch in the password at the exact time to ensure proper gap distance.
 
lucky said:
Pro tip: We discovered accidentally that to close the garage you don't need to enter the code; just pressing the Enter key by itself will close the door. This isn't very obvious.
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How does it know the garage is open? I thought these remotes just sent an on/off signal, not an open/close one and without bi-directional communication, how will it know that the door is open and to not require a code?

Methinks this is more like what IR2 described and you happened to be in the "active" window but I could be wrong.

Please leave your garage open for 5-10 minutes and then press "Enter" and tell us what happens (or open your garage with the interior button or a car remote and try to close it with the keypad by just pressing "Enter").
 
irvinehomeowner said:
lucky said:
Pro tip: We discovered accidentally that to close the garage you don't need to enter the code; just pressing the Enter key by itself will close the door. This isn't very obvious.
Click to expand...
How does it know the garage is open? I thought these remotes just sent an on/off signal, not an open/close one and without bi-directional communication, how will it know that the door is open and to not require a code?

Methinks this is more like what IR2 described and you happened to be in the "active" window but I could be wrong.

Please leave your garage open for 5-10 minutes and then press "Enter" and tell us what happens (or open your garage with the interior button or a car remote and try to close it with the keypad by just pressing "Enter").
Click to expand...

I think there's more to it than that because on an almost daily basis, I can use the Enter button to close the garage without previously operating the keypad at all. E.g., I'll open the door from my car remote then walk from the street hitting Enter as I enter my garage. Or I'd use the wired opener (inside the garage) to open the door, then walk out of the garage and hit Enter to close it behind me.

These modern things seem to have a bit more intelligence than just blindly sending a single toggling trigger signal.
 
So then there is some communication between the main unit and your keypad remote telling it that it's open?

That would be great... I have heard that there are some garage openers that have wifi and you can use an app to tell if your garage is open remotely and trigger it to close.
 
What lucky is saying is correct. We had one in our last place. I would open the garage door from the inside. Do whatever I had to do. Then 15-20 minutes later I would just hit the enter button and the door would close.
 
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