Austin home robberies

[davidtx]

Last nights news had a segment on a recent spat of home robberies here in Austin. They occurred in an upscale neighborhood where people were leaving vehicles unlocked in the driveway. The BGs simply opened the garage door and helped themselves while the occupants slept. It sounds stupid, but occasionally I've come out to my truck in the morning to find that I forgot to lock it. Our garage is on the opposite side of the house from our bedroom and we can't here the doors going up. I'm sure the lab would welcome them in, but the 15 pound Jack Russel would destroy them.

Well, at least the Jack would wake us up.

[marksiwel]

A Co-Worker of mine from Canada leaves her Door and Windows unlocked. I asked her about she said "I have a secuirty company"

Poor silly Canucks.

[5thGenTexan]

I always knew extream cold was bad for your health just never realized it caused massive stupidity. Unlocked doors and windows in 1950's around here maybe, today no way even to make the run up the street to the store for 5 minutes.

[seniorshooteress]

I think the reasoning behind the little buttons on the keyless entry is for us who are too lazy to turn the key in the car door for locking and unlocking. I always push my button and wait for the beep, chirp etc. I was one of those who hardly ever locked my car til the remotes came into being. But now days I would really be more attentive to locking car doors even without the little remote buttons. I used to leave my garage door unlocked when I first moved in here but the times they have changed. Only time my place isn't locked up like fort knox is during the day when I am alert and when the dogs bark I go take a look see.

[y5e06]

I heard stories like that years ago. I stopped keeping my opener in the car unless I was parking that car in the garage.
Instead I installed one of those remote, wireless key pads. basically a keyed garage door opener. If I need to open from the outside I just punch in the code. I'm sure some will argue that there is still even some security risk with one of those.

[Excaliber]

I heard stories like that years ago. I stopped keeping my opener in the car unless I was parking that car in the garage.
Instead I installed one of those remote, wireless key pads. basically a keyed garage door opener. If I need to open from the outside I just punch in the code. I'm sure some will argue that there is still even some security risk with one of those.

Not enough to get excited about unless you use it with dirty fingers after doing the gardening and don't clean the keys. It then becomes pretty obvious which 4 or 5 numbers are in your code. With that info, it can't take more than 16-25 tries to open the door.

[davidtx]

I heard stories like that years ago. I stopped keeping my opener in the car unless I was parking that car in the garage.
Instead I installed one of those remote, wireless key pads. basically a keyed garage door opener. If I need to open from the outside I just punch in the code. I'm sure some will argue that there is still even some security risk with one of those.

Newer vehicles have built-in openers - both my truck and my car. This morning I got tripped up by the child safety system on my garage door. Occasionally, it will reverse the door just as it reaches the bottom. If you don't watch the door go all the way down, it can reverse if there is a cobweb or anything else over the sensor. I came home from Krav Maga this morning to find the garage door wide open. The door from the garage to the house was unlocked. Yikes - glad I live in a "safe" neighborhood....

[KD5NRH]

Not enough to get excited about unless you use it with dirty fingers after doing the gardening and don't clean the keys. It then becomes pretty obvious which 4 or 5 numbers are in your code. With that info, it can't take more than 16-25 tries to open the door.

Six, and I can go to eight if I can convince my wife to memorize another code. Mine also shuts off for 5 minutes after three wrong codes.

[Excaliber]

I heard stories like that years ago. I stopped keeping my opener in the car unless I was parking that car in the garage.
Instead I installed one of those remote, wireless key pads. basically a keyed garage door opener. If I need to open from the outside I just punch in the code. I'm sure some will argue that there is still even some security risk with one of those.

Newer vehicles have built-in openers - both my truck and my car. This morning I got tripped up by the child safety system on my garage door. Occasionally, it will reverse the door just as it reaches the bottom. If you don't watch the door go all the way down, it can reverse if there is a cobweb or anything else over the sensor. I came home from Krav Maga this morning to find the garage door wide open. The door from the garage to the house was unlocked. Yikes - glad I live in a "safe" neighborhood....

This can also happen if the limit switch or closing force settings on the closer mechanism itself are not adjusted properly. You might want to look at the info on these settings in your closer manual. If you don't have it handy, they're easy to find on line.

[MechAg94]

My garage door opener has a switch on the pad in the garage to lock out the door. I have started to use that at night at least sometimes. Considering the garage is close to my bedroom, I think I would hear if the garage door was opened at night.

[davidtx]

I heard stories like that years ago. I stopped keeping my opener in the car unless I was parking that car in the garage.
Instead I installed one of those remote, wireless key pads. basically a keyed garage door opener. If I need to open from the outside I just punch in the code. I'm sure some will argue that there is still even some security risk with one of those.

Newer vehicles have built-in openers - both my truck and my car. This morning I got tripped up by the child safety system on my garage door. Occasionally, it will reverse the door just as it reaches the bottom. If you don't watch the door go all the way down, it can reverse if there is a cobweb or anything else over the sensor. I came home from Krav Maga this morning to find the garage door wide open. The door from the garage to the house was unlocked. Yikes - glad I live in a "safe" neighborhood....

This can also happen if the limit switch or closing force settings on the closer mechanism itself are not adjusted properly. You might want to look at the info on these settings in your closer manual. If you don't have it handy, they're easy to find on line.

Thanks for the tip. There have been a few times when I couldn't find anything obstructing the optical sensor at all. I bet mine limit switch or closing force is to blame. Ah - another home project. I'd rather be reloading, or finishing my boat.

[TexDotCom]

Your sensors could also be going out. Mine went kaput without warning a couple of weeks ago. Door would go up, but not back down. Sensors, wire, brackets, etc. all cost about $35 and took about 10 minutes to replace. Just a thought...

[Excaliber]

I heard stories like that years ago. I stopped keeping my opener in the car unless I was parking that car in the garage.
Instead I installed one of those remote, wireless key pads. basically a keyed garage door opener. If I need to open from the outside I just punch in the code. I'm sure some will argue that there is still even some security risk with one of those.

Newer vehicles have built-in openers - both my truck and my car. This morning I got tripped up by the child safety system on my garage door. Occasionally, it will reverse the door just as it reaches the bottom. If you don't watch the door go all the way down, it can reverse if there is a cobweb or anything else over the sensor. I came home from Krav Maga this morning to find the garage door wide open. The door from the garage to the house was unlocked. Yikes - glad I live in a "safe" neighborhood....

This can also happen if the limit switch or closing force settings on the closer mechanism itself are not adjusted properly. You might want to look at the info on these settings in your closer manual. If you don't have it handy, they're easy to find on line.

Thanks for the tip. There have been a few times when I couldn't find anything obstructing the optical sensor at all. I bet mine limit switch or closing force is to blame. Ah - another home project. I'd rather be reloading, or finishing my boat.

Actually the adjustments are usually made with a simple partial turn of a screw with a screwdriver. The harder part is finding out where the screws are and which direction to turn them in. Sometimes there are labels on the unit itself that provide this info.

I had a problem like yours and it turned out that the limit switch mechanism had come loose from its mounting. Popping it back in where it belonged fixed the problem right quick once I figured out where to look.