Garage door opener interference

Ever since I mounted a Wyze cam above my garage door, my remotes don’t work anymore. Researching it online, it seems as if there maybe interference between IP cameras and the garage door antenna. Has anyone else had a problem with interference? Any ideas how to solve it? I haven’t tried the aluminum foil over the garage door opener yet. Another suggestion was wrapping the base of the camera in aluminum foil. I’d rather not do that.

Interesting…I had an issue in which changing to a Philips LED light bulb caused the remote to no longer work on my Chamberlain garage door opener. Other LED light bulbs didn’t affect the remote, so it was due to a shielding issue (or lack thereof) in the Philips LED bulbs. I also have a Wyzecam2 mounted above my garage door connected to the same power outlet as the garage door opener, and haven’t had any issues with my remote function.

Thanks for your quick reply. Since you’re not having a problem and I have a LiftMaster which is the same company as Chamberlain, I guess I’ll see if I can figure out if it’s another issue. Tomorrow I’ll pull out both light bulbs and see if that works. I already installed a new control board in the garage door opener so I know it’s not that. It’s just strange because the problem got worse over time. It didn’t just happen all at once. The camera’s been up for 2 weeks but the garage door remotes didn’t totally fail until yesterday. Little by little I had to get closer and closer to the door before it would open but yesterday it totally failed. Neither remote will work. Thanks again for your response. You’ve given me hope that I may be able to get this to work. I really hope it’s something as simple as a light bulb and I can send this $80 control board back.

** original post answered more appropriately prior to submitting this one - so I’ve edited focusing on the opener **

 

Apparently this is common with this brand of opener - whole groups of homes adjacent to each other having this problem:

I actually got that link from this Foscam thread, though, and while shielding was a common attempt at a solution - I liked the 6th post, where the person simply uses a common old analog RCA cable, cuts off the ends, and replaces the wimpy antenna on the opener with one that stretches out several feet. He even enjoys far greater distance for reception, now, too.

I just got a brand new opener yesterday (no issues - but it’s a Linear LDC0800) and I’m thinking of doing the antenna mod just for grins.

Try a different USB power supply to power the Wyzecam. It uses a standard 5V/1A USB supply. The little USB wall warts that come with the cameras are known to be ‘noisy’. They generate a lot of high-frequency interference, which is probably contaminating the RF spectrum used by your garage remote. Other Wyze owners on this forum have reported the Wyze USB supply interfering with X-10 home automation gear. You could try wrapping the Wyze USB supply with foil, but it probably won’t help. The RF noise gets coupled from the switching power supply onto the 110VAC wiring (and onto the USB cable), which then radiates around your garage and gets picked up by the antenna on the garage opener.

Another possible ‘fix’ is to relocate the Wyze wall wart to a different outlet, as far from the garage opener as possible.

The same issue pertains to the Philips LED bulb (or any LED bulb). They contain a step-down switching power supply to convert 110VAC to a lower DC voltage required by the LEDs. Some bulbs are worse than others.

Physical separation is likely the best answer…

 

I actually have a LiftMaster too (pro version of Chamberlain). My Wyze AC adapter is right above the garage door opener plugged into the same outlet as the garage door opener.

With the light bulbs on, my remote didn’t work even right outside the garage. So I’d have to wait for the light bulbs to turn off before I could control it, haha. Doesn’t sound like your issue though if yours is a progressively worse situation instead of an all-or-none situation. I assume you’ve already tested with your wyzecam plugged in and not plugged in to determine it’s the wyzecam that’s interfering. Otherwise, your issue almost sounds like the batteries in the remote controls slowly dying over time. I’m sure you’ve already replaced those batteries as well.

What I’d try if I were you is a different AC adapter to see if that helps, based on what the previous poster said.

My wyze cam is mounted on the wall right next to my LiftMaster garage door opener and I’ve had no difficulties at all. Perhaps it’s because of the location, but it works find.

 

Hello all you wonderful people. First of all I’d like to thank you all for taking the time to try to help me. I figured out my problem. I’m not quite sure if I should tell you or not.

Firstly I tried a lot of the suggestions that y’all gave me - - unplugging the cameras, changing the power plug, removing the light bulbs, etc. Then I went onto liftmasters website and did their troubleshooting - - unplugging the door sensor, changing the control panel, shutting all the power off in the garage to see if there was some kind of interference.

Finally, as a last resort, I decided to put another new battery in the remote even though that was the first step I had taken when the garage door wouldn’t open at all.

Were y’all aware that those little batteries work better when you remove the sticker from the back of it before you install it in a remote? Unbelievably stupid.

I hope you all will forgive me for wasting your time. Thanks everyone. Have a good evening.

Alice

 

 

 

 

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Hi Alice, doubt anyone here would consider it a waste of time. I’ve found the forums to be very helpful.

I find in my case it’s frequently ‘operator error’ - so you’re definitely not alone.

Glad you got it solved - hope you enjoy your wyze cam as much as I do mine.

 

 

 

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I mounted a Pan on my decades-old garage door opener. I used to be able to open the garage from two houses away; however now I must be in the driveway.

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In my case the Wyze cam 2 is the culprit that desenses the garage door opener. I did not have any desense problems with the Pan Cam. I used the same power supply with both the Wyze cam 2 and the Wyze cam Pan so the problem was not the power supply.

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I’m having the same problem. I installed the wyze cam. And now I have to be 5 or 6’ away to open my garage door. I used to open it at the end of a very long driveway as I was pulling in 60’ away. Adding the camera was literally the only variable that’s changed in the last couple days.

Sometimes I have to press and hold it for quite a while. Did you ever find a solution?

I had interference problems with a floodlight I installed centered above the outside of my garage door. Door opener worked fine with the power off, but very limited range when I turned the power on to the floodlight / camera.

I finally found a solution using ferrite noise suppressors on all the wires going into the garage door opener.

Ceedmon 20 Pieces Clip-on Ferrite… Amazon.com

I started by clipping these ferrite cores over the sensor wires, push button switch wires and the incoming power cable, just as they go into the door opener. This provided marginal improvement. However, when I looped the base of the opener antenna wire around one of the ferrite cores, the door opener range returned to normal.

Hope this helps.

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