For any homeowner, having a garage is up there on the list of must-haves. Even in crowded cities like Sacramento, people expect it. Naturally, when you buy a home with a garage, you inherit the garage door opener remote just like you inherit the keys to every other door in the home. However, unlike all those other keys, your garage door opener remote isn’t effective… or convenient… or secure.

Inconveniences of Garage Door Remotes

Garage door remotes are simple and universal, which is great. But those same things make them problematic as well. Some of the inconveniences inherent in garage door opener remotes include:

• It’s easy to lose, damage or break.
• When it stops working, there are a host of possible reasons that can be difficult to diagnose.
• A remote won’t work if it’s out of range.
• You have to program it.
• It can easily be interfered with by other electronic devices.

Safety Issues with Garage Door Remotes

Some of the same things that make the garage door opener’s remote inconvenient are also what make it a security risk:

• The fact that your garage door remote is easy to lose also makes it easy to steal, especially if you leave your garage’s pedestrian door unlocked or your car unlocked and in the driveway.
• The fact that other devices can easily mess with your opener remote’s operation also make it easy to hack. For most garage door openers, you don’t even need to be a tech wizard to interrupt and pirate the remote’s frequency.
• Another thing to consider with the lack of security in your garage door remote’s signaling is that a remote can be “cloned”. That gives someone the ability to use your garage door any time they want without you ever being the wiser.

Ways to Make Your Old Garage Door Opener More Secure

If you’re not in a place to get a new garage door opener, there are ways to keep your garage more secure and your remote more effective. However, we always advocate for upgrading to a smart garage door opener, which we’ll discuss shortly.

Regardless, there are some ways to mask your garage door remote’s vulnerabilities:

• Choose an opener remote with a rolling code.
• Change the pin on your garage door keypad often.
• Install motion sensing lights outside your garage.
• Use a security camera to monitor your garage door.
• Keep your garage door remote inside the house when you’re not in your car.

Why a Smart Garage Door Opener is Just Better

The simplest way to avoid problems with your garage door remote is to not have one at all! Enter: smart garage door openers. 

• A smart opener operates on wi-fi, which means a closed, private network. Much harder to hack. 
• There’s no little remote to keep track of – just your smartphone. Which, let’s be honest, is effectively fused to everyone’s body nowadays.
• Because the opener operates on internet, you can open/close your garage door from anywhere.
• You can monitor access of your garage door in real time.
• There is a record of your garage door’s use.
• Smart garage door openers can be integrated with your home’s security system.

Nothing to do with the remote, but a huge advantage of these newer garage door openers is that they’re built with battery backup units. Not only does this mean you can use your automatic garage door opener when the power’s out at inconvenient times, but same goes for real emergencies. 

In California, wildfire season poses real dangers, and in the past some of the death toll has been attributed to being unable to get out of the garage during evacuations. Sure, you can always pull the manual rip cord – but can you lift the full weight of the garage door? Not everyone can. Garage door openers with battery backups eliminate that danger. With the ever-increasing reality of wildfires in our area, this advantage can’t be understated.Considering getting rid of that problematic remote and updating your garage door opener to a smart-tech variety? Give us a call for a consult and installation services!