We have two garage doors. I know, I know – cool story, bro. But I promise this gets better. Well, it does if you’re a tech nerd or just enjoy life’s little conveniences. Sherry’s eyes glaze over when I try to tell her this stuff, so I’m talking to the remote-control-loving convenience enthusiasts out there. Anyone?
Each door came with its own remote, which we inherited from the previous owners. This guy barely worked at first, but with a quick battery replacement it works almost too well – occasionally opening or closing the door when the remote shifts in my cup holder. Did I mention it didn’t come with a visor clip? Yeah, that’s why it lives in the cup holder.
The other remote wasn’t much better. It worked more consistently, but required a duck tape wrap to keep it functioning. Classy, no? Not to mention its monstrous size meant it didn’t really fit anywhere conveniently in our car.
Improving our garage door remote situation was not high on our to-do list, but then I passed a display at Home Depot for a Clicker Universal Remote. It was $34, but the lure of simplifying to one, small, tape-free remote was too great for me to resist.
You only live once, right?
Sidenote: this YOLO skit gets quoted a lot in our house.
I didn’t really pause to think about actually programming the darn thing. And I know nothing about garage doors. What is this “dip switch” the instructions speak of? Well, a little bird (aka Google) told me it was a series of a 9 or 12 tiny switches that live in the garage door opener whose sequence of ups and downs creates a fingerprint. Match that sequence in your remote and you’ve got a match. Here’s the partially-obscured-so-you-can’t-get-into-our-garage dip switch in one of our existing remotes.
So all I had to do was replicate that switch in the new clicker.
To do so, I used the tip of a screw driver to move each switch into the correct up or down position. Note: the last 5 dip switches hadn’t been moved to reflect our code in this photo yet.
Once the dip switch was coded correctly, I just clicked the button I wanted to assign to that particular door until the door responded.
It was craaaaaazy easy to program this little thing. I got both doors programmed within 10 minutes or so. Doing the second door was the same as the first (and it didn’t undo the first door’s programming by changing the dip switches to a different sequence) so within no time I was the proud owner of one, single, double-door-operatin’ remote. Hallelujah.
And I just had to spread the word, so there you have it: a post about an easy tech update that might sound intimidating, but you can do it. Heck, I think Burger might be able to do it.
In summary: I think I might just be a remote addict (remember these?). The icing on the cake? Since it came with a clip, I was finally able to hang my garage door opener in a convenient spot on my visor. Yup, you can call me big poppa.
Okay, who else is way too excited about a little technological upgrade? Sherry couldn’t believe my enthusiasm for my new remote when I first told her about it (or when I brought it up again and again). But seriously, I’m so happy to be rid of those big ugly duct-tape-covered cup-holder-hogging remotes of the past.
Welcome to the future, guys. It’s nice here.
Shannon [Our Home Notebook] says
I love it when something that sounds complicated turns out easy. Thanks for the how to!
Erik says
In the house I grew up in, one of our neighbors Garage door code somehow matched ours, everytime they pressed on their remote, BOTH our garage door AND theirs would open! It was quite alarming at first, until my parents finally figured out what was going on.
The neigbors finially changed their code on the back of the remote and all was well.
Amanda says
Swag for the garage door opener, now that made me laugh out loud in my office! It’s the little things!
Kayla says
We lived without a garage door opener for the first several months in our house (had to use the button in the garage), and it made the biggest difference once we bought one! I couldn’t live without one again!
Jules says
I love garage door tech swag, but the only thing I can think of when I see the first pic is, “When are y’all going to do the Garage Pergola?” That garage looks prime for awesomeness such as what you did on your last house!
YoungHouseLove says
Heck yeah, Jules! It’s gonna happen!
xo
s
Nancy S says
I have the same remote at our house too, only I purchased a package of 2 online a few years back. Since I left our 1 and only remote on the hood of the car and drove away – never to be seen again – I thought I’d be on the safe side and get a spare :)
The second one did come in handy. It was easier to give my son the remote to throw in his bookbag while he was in middle school, than it was for him to carry a key!
Alex says
Where’s our re-enactment?!? Gaah, I had high hopes for a grumpy-faced John with nowhere to place his coca-cola! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that was a missed opportunity for sure. (hangs head in shame while slowly slurping a Coke)
-John
Asha says
Totally nerding out when I read this!! My hubby went out and bought the same one when we moved last year. He loved how easy it was to set up. Is it lame that I think it’s so cool you two think alike? Yeah, it probably is. But who cares! My husband thinks like a DIY-er ;)
adam blakeley says
I can see this garage with one big door.
All the better for maneuvering stuff in and out and no remotes to worry about.
Have a good one!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that would be fancy!
xo
s
LauraC says
I would love to have a garage door opener, ours is currently muscle-powered, and not changing any time soon. (Maybe on the 10-year plan; (we’ve been here four.) And on a semi-related note, my parents just got a new garage door (replaced the original-to-the-house one, built in the 40s) and every time we’re over, Dad asks, “Have you seen our new garage door.” ;) So yeah, he’s excited.
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s
Julie says
I recently learned about dip switches, too! Our remote-controlled ceiling fan (and light) kept magically turning on and off. At first we thought it was our cat playing with the remote and hitting the right buttons, but after a little Googling, I realized it had to do with interference from other devices that next-door neighbors, etc. had. A quick dip switch change and problem solved!
Rebecca says
Its possessive doesn’t have an apostrophe.
Adira Benklifa says
Just FYI as a safety issue – your garage door opener can leave your home vulnerable to a break in so….make sure you dead bolt the door from your garage into your house and if you valet or park long term somewhere (airport), take it w you – also think about if your car got stolen…is the insurance paper w your address in the glove compartment? Anyway, hope you guys are enjoying your beautiful new home!
YoungHouseLove says
Great tip! We have an alarm system so that really helps with peace of mind!
xo
s
Reenie says
haha…. it’s the little things in life that make us the happiest!! =*}
Jaime says
Maybe someone has already brought this up (only read through about 50 comments) but did you also change the code on the opener itself? If its this easy to set up a new remote it would creep me out that the orevious owner could have kept a remote and then would be able to access the garage.
YoungHouseLove says
They left us all of their known remotes so we feel ok, but we did change all of the locks on the doors of our house (and have an alarm system, so it feels like we’re covered).
xo
s
Lana says
Great post, John. Thanks!
Lori says
If that floats your boat, you should get a Nest thermostat!! Life changing, I tell you.
YoungHouseLove says
We keep hearing about how awesome they are!
xo
s
Anne D. says
Perfect timing! Last week (for the first time in the 12 years we’ve lived here) we got the second side of the garage cleared of bikes, tools, and random stuff so that we can actually put our second car in the garage. Guess we’ll have to make a trip to HD now!
Michele says
Uggggg! I have that stupid brick Genie remote in my cup holder, it steals space reserved for iphone. My house only came with one and the first visit to HD was a bust as they said the smaller one didn’t have the dip switches, I will have to go and double check! Also, no visor clip :( Great job!
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
I really wish we had one of these for our garage! We just need to get around to doing it!
Erin@Managing the Manor says
That’s a very nice upgrade, but I couldn’t help but laugh every time I saw the words “dip switch”. It sounds like something me and my brother would have called each other growing up. I know, I have the humor of a 12 year old…
YoungHouseLove says
Stop being a dip switch!
No you stop being a dip switch!
xo
s
Marcy says
We had to replace the openers, so we got the awesome direct-drive German garage door opener made by Sommer. What I like about it is it generates a random code when you program the remote to open the door – so no one can have your same code, no matter what.
Somewhat funny story – we had to replace our torsion springs, and the installer had never seen a direct drive opener, so he starts asking me questions about it. About 25 questions in, very impressed with the opener, he suddenly asks “is your husband an engineer?”
I answered politely but I probably shouldn’t have!
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s
Kim says
Ha, big poppa! Too funny! My husband would eat this technology stuff up too! We only have a one-car garage, but he installed the remote and key pad. I love the key pad for when I go running. I can leave through the garage and not have to carry a house key with me. On my husband’s behalf, though, he would be pretty proud of using duct tape to keep an old remote working. ;)
MaryB says
That is genius! Had no idea such a product existed – love it when a problem is solved for less than $40!
Kara Atkinson says
This is exactly what my hub needs to do with our garage door so he can have a clicker. The former owners of our house only left us one clicker and we have two cars so we kind of need two.
Elise says
This totally sounds like a project my husband would love to do! You have to love those quick fixes that make a world of difference!
Also, I hadn’t seen the SNL YOLO video yet and that just totally made my afternoon at work. :)
Emily H. says
I can’t help but giggle at reading all of these comments, because dip switch sounds like something you’d yell at a younger sibling when angry. “You dip switch!”
John, you can’t even tell you’ve been painting…
decoratica says
This is when you are glad you have a blog… but I guess 99% of us are women and are as exited as Sherry when you told her.
No, seriously, it’s a great update :) I can’t imagine going arround with two remotes, loosing one, etc.
Congratulations!
Kristi says
Here’s a pro tip: clip the remote to the hinge side of the visor so it doesn’t fall off and hit you in the head when you put the visor down. My sister showed me that one:)
Nice upgrade, I always see those and consider getting one. Maybe I’ll pick one up next time, our old remotes are about 30 years old and getting pretty icky.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that tip!
xo
s
TC says
My partner is paranoid that I keep the remote on my shade, he thinks somebody can get into my car easily, use it to open the garage, get in the house, or steal his motorcycle etc, so I need a keyring version.
Catherine says
Oh my gosh, I totally get it!! We have three garage doors (three different remotes -some working, some not) and one of the doors broke, which led to the middle one needing replacing also because of something to do with the rollers and so on and so forth until we ended up with ONE REMOTE FOR ALL THREE DOORS plus the little programmable keypad outside so the kids can get in if we aren’t home in time for when they get off the bus or (as is happening this summer) our son can just come and go as he pleases to get his bike/scooter/skateboard without having to ASK ME EVERY SINGLE TIME to open the door (the button was way too high for him). CHANGED MY EVER LOVIN’ LIFE!! I nearly kissed the garage door repairman…
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s
Shell says
I liked this post! Also, very cool about the tips on home safety in the comments sections from other readers. My favorite safety tip (other than my home alarm) is my 2 loud barking dogs. Would yall ever consider getting another dog? A brother for Burger :)
YoungHouseLove says
Burger seems to like being an only child (he’s not the best with other dogs, no matter how hard we try), so for now we’re going to visit dog friends but not bring any home.
xo
s
Teresa says
enjoy the small things in life… :)
danielle says
you have made me stop to ponder the fact that i have ZERO idea of where our garage door remote is and haven’t used it ONCE in the year & a half that we’ve lived here. (we don’t park in the garage… it’s used as a workshop only)…
i sort of forgot they exist.
i need to get on this… just knowing it’s somewhere in this house will drive me crazy.
Jana says
I believe I exhibited similar excitement recently when I got a ‘new’ (6 years old!) Honda and it had homelink buttons in it that I could program to my garage door opener. I still reach to the visor for the old opener, lol!
Sally says
Geek out. Now this is a project I’d love to do. If I had a garage.
Just last night I was wishing they made TV remotes in bright fashionable colors so they’d be easier to find…my partner is always finding new spots to leave them!
Annette says
When I got my new (to me) vehicle, one of the features was a built in gate/garage remote. I was a little too excited to be able to open the gate to our community and garage without having any remotes in my car. All that to say, I feel ya.
Kate says
Niiiiiiice. I was very excited when our new-to-us house has a keypad to open the garage, I thought that was super fancy since I grew up without one, so I understand the garage opening cool gadgets!
Alanna says
Hey there. Friendly FYI you blocked out 1-6 in the first pic and then 5-12 in the second. I think technically if you put them together you could actually get your garage code. I may be wrong but in case I’m not just consider me an honorable safety inspector for the 5 minutes that it took to read the post!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Alanna! In that last photo the switches on the right side weren’t placed in their final spots yet, so that’s not the true code ;)
xo,
s
Ali says
I just got excited at the “cool story bro” reference, because ever since you revealed teen relatives taught you new hip expressions I’ve been using that one, along with “you oughta tell it at parties”…thanks for the upgrade, haha!
Alexandra says
We just bought a house with an opener thats being held together by tape and a piece of napkin. This post inspired me to buy the same remote (and it was cheaper on amazon…oops).
Virginia says
it sounds like we’ve been shopping the same department at Lowes lately. I just bought that exact same remote over the weekend because mine died (after 6 years of daily mashing, the manufacturer’s button wore out). As I’m sure others have pointed out, the universal ones match up to several different openers by various manufacturers. However, with a newer, I had to stand on the ladder and push the button eleventy-billion times before it was coded properly. Lucky you to be able to get it done quickly!
Lauren L says
lol isn’t it “pain is beauty”? oh well yolo ;)
Kristin says
You just reminded me that we used to have garage door openers for our bikes. Now that we have a garage again we really should dig those back out!
Erica says
I was so excited when I figured that little secret about the switches! Seriously, it really is the little things! I had 2 garage door openers that came with my house, one that had a clip and one that didn’t. The one with the clip didn’t work, of course. Well, I figured that little secret out, changed the battery, and now it does! I love when a fix is cheap or FREE!!! (Not that I need 2 garage door openers, of course. But I don’t care!)
KathyG says
Wow… Who Knew? I’m headed to Home Depot pronto, this is JUST what I needed. You really should make a penny for each of of these HD sells…and then you’d have…well a bunch of pennies, I guess.
Ben says
Haha, we had this same problem when we moved into our new home. Our main problem was the remote only worked if your were standing right next to the door, can you say troublesome. We bought a new one within a week and we were so happy we did.
Luann says
not to mention having your cup holders be… WAIT.FOR.IT. …. CUP holders again ;)
Leigh says
I don’t know how you waited this long to change out those remotes. That would’ve driven me crazy!!!! Congrats on the new and improved garage door opener!
Cara says
You. Are. Charming.
Really – I’m a big fan and daily reader but seldom comment.. but just had to chime in to say this was an endearing post and I just love your writing style and humor.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Cara!
-John