The New Hotness

The small garage door opener I tote around in the Tour Easy’s underseat bag failed after many years of exposure to the elements, so I paid a few bucks more for a cheap replacement in order to get fast delivery from a (US!) eBay supplier:

For whatever it’s worth, before buying the replacement I tried:

• Cleaning the battery contacts
• Installing a new CR2032 battery
• Programming the hitherto-unused buttons to open the door

The remote control would occasionally work, but none of the “repairs” made much difference; I suspect corrosion hidden under the components or cracked solder joints.

The eBay item description clearly, if inarticulately, specifies the compatibility requirement:

key chain remote control
compatible for purple learn button

So I trotted out to the garage and inspected the button:

Looks purple to me, but, being that type of guy, I also read the adjacent instruction sticker:

Nobody, nobody, maintains the documentation. [sigh]

I figured if they went to all the trouble of ordering a bazillion switches with purple caps, then the PCB surely holds the corresponding RF filters & firmware & whatever else that button signifies.

Seeing as how we have exactly one garage door opener and no lights or other doodads, I told the opener to obey both the 1 and 2 buttons, thereby dramatically reducing the dexterity required to open the door while pedaling up the driveway. The opener can remember an unspecified number of transmitters, so I didn’t go for all four buttons.