Electrical – Garage light switches don’t always work

electricalswitch

I have a dual garage doors that operate on the 2 switches shown. The opening and closing of the doors works perfectly with the 2 large white switches. The light switches below the opening switches work sporadically and sometimes they won't switch off the garage light. They will ALWAYS switch ON the light but sometimes not switch off. Sometimes neither of them work and sometimes only one of them doesn't work. I find I have to leave them on and come back and try again later.

If I don't touch the light switches as part of the garage door open/close process where the switches are left to switch off on a timer then they always switch off and that is not an issue. The issue is when I come into the garage and need the light on without opening the garage doors.

How do I fix the light part of these switches? I'm happy to just replace them if that's what it takes. Just don't want to do that if the switch is not the problem. Also happy to replace with a different type or model of switch if that will resolve it. These switches are about 10 to 12 years old and the problem probably started happening about 2 years ago.

enter image description here

enter image description here

Best Answer

After 10-12 years, it's entirely possible that the switches behind the light buttons are failing. This would be especially true if you use the garage door opener lights on a regular basis. Consider that you probably hit the opener button (the big white one) once in the morning to open the door on your way out (then close it with the remote in your car), then once in the evening when you return home (after opening the door with the remote in the car). If you go to the garage twice in the evening, that's 4 presses of the light button (on/off for each trip), therefore more wear & tear on that particular switch.

If you're good with soldering, you could attempt to open up the wired remote, desolder the actual switch from the circuit board and replace it.

However, it's probably easier (and probably wouldn't cost significantly more) for most folk to simply replace the wired remote. You could get a Chamberlain, LiftMaster or Craftsman brand to replace it (since they're all made by Chamberlain), generally, though, these are pretty generic and almost any one will do.

I'd suggest replacing one, then testing for a few days to confirm that the light button works consistently. If that's solved the problem, then replace the other.

Replacing the wall-mount remote should be as simple as:

  • Pop the white plastic cover off
  • TAKE A PICTURE NOW
  • Disconnect red & white wires that are attached
  • No, really, you did take a picture with your phone back there, didn't you?
  • Unscrew 1 or 2 screws that hold the unit to the wall, and pull it off the wires.
  • Feed the wires through the hole in the back of the new unit
  • Screw it to the wall (existing screw holes if they happen to line up, otherwise, it's just drywall, screw it in wherever the new mounting holes are)
  • Attach the wires to the new opener (most likely exactly the way they were attached to the old one, but check the directions, just to be sure).
  • Pop the new white button onto the newly mounted remote.
  • Test!
  • No, really, you took a picture before you disconnected the wires back there, just to be sure, right?
Related Topic