Okay, that was weird

[Frazod]

This really just happened.

I pull into the driveway and reach up to hit the garage door opener. I had recently replaced the battery in the opener, and apparently I didn't click the two parts back in place hard enough, because the bottom part with the circuitry was gone. I figured it had fallen off in the car somewhere, so I started looking around my seat, but didn't see it. Then I got out of the car, and as I was walking around to look in the passenger side, the garage door went up. My wife gets home from work before I do, so I figured she saw or heard me pull up, and when I didn't come in right away, opened the door for me. Anyway, I found the part that had fallen off, put the two pieces back together, then pulled into the garage. I expected to see my wife downstairs when I went in the house, but she wasn't there. Then I went upstairs, and she was just coming out of her bathroom after getting out of the tub. So she not only hadn't known I was home, but hadn't opened the garage door. And, at least as far as I know, there is no one else in the house.

When the door opened, the part of the opener with the battery was attached to my visor, and the part with the circuitry was stuck between the passenger seat and the console. And the second remote is in a drawer in the kitchen missing a battery.

So how the hell did my garage door open?

[Ming the Merciless]

[tmax63]

Someone else in the neighborhood has one close enough freq wise to work on yours. I've heard of thieves that cruise neighborhoods during the day with a couple of door openers looking for doors that open. Easy way in.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by tmax63

Someone else in the neighborhood has one close enough freq wise to work on yours. I've heard of thieves that cruise neighborhoods during the day with a couple of door openers looking for doors that open. Easy way in.

Doesn't work with the rotating codes that garage door openers use.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by tmax63

Someone else in the neighborhood has one close enough freq wise to work on yours. I've heard of thieves that cruise neighborhoods during the day with a couple of door openers looking for doors that open. Easy way in.

That may well be it. Doubt if it was thieves, though. They probably wouldn't try it while I was pulling in. Plus, even if it goes up when we're not home, the burglar alarm would go off if they tried to enter the door from the garage to the house. That's always on if we're not home.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Frazod

That may well be it. Doubt if it was thieves, though. They probably wouldn't try it while I was pulling in. Plus, even if it goes up when we're not home, the burglar alarm would go off if they tried to enter the door from the garage to the house. That's always on if we're not home.

How old is the opener in the garage?

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

How old is the opener in the garage?

Old. Almost 16 years.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Frazod

Old. Almost 16 years.

So the remote has the dip switches in it that you have to set?

[TribalElder]

Unknown 3rd party

[FlaChief58]

The mailman opened it for you on his way out

[Chiefshrink]

When you were looking around for the circuitry part in your car before you actually found it you moved the seat pressing the circuitry up against the console just enough for a delayed activation not realizing it thus activated your door.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Chiefshrink

When you were looking around for the circuitry part in your car before you actually found it you moved the seat pressing the circuitry up against the console not realizing it thus activated your door.

No, the battery was in the other part. There was no way the part with the circuitry could have gotten any power.

I just searched the entire house to make sure nobody was hiding anywhere.

One thing I did notice is that my wife had left the front door unlocked when she came home. I guess it is possible that somebody came in before I got home, heard me pull up, stepped into the garage, hit the button as a diversion, and then left through the front door while I was pulling the car in the garage, but I checked around, and nothing is missing or out of place, and my wife's purse containing her keys and wallet were on the dining room table undisturbed. That seems rather far fetched. Plus, we have four cats, and three of them react poorly to strangers being in the house, and they were all behaving normally and not hiding.

I have seen a couple of similar things over the years here. Once the TV turned in right in front of me when nobody else was in the room and the remote was sitting on the coffee table. And there have been a couple of times I found the garage door open and was sure I closed it.

My building was new construction, and we're the only people who have ever lived here. It was just open land before. So it's not like somebody once died here who might be haunting the place.

Perhaps some random signal from another device somewhere made it go off.

Hell, I don't know.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Flachief58

The mailman opened it for you on his way out

Now that you mention it, his wife was naked in the house. I bet the guy was trying to get out when he saw your car pull into the driveway.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Now that you mention it, his wife was naked in the house. I bet the guy was trying to get out when he saw your car pull into the driveway.

That would be one seriously dumb brazen sonofabitch. And lucky, since I was armed.

But there's no crime in this neighborhood. And the door was unlocked, but closed. I guess that could be it. I've already reminded the wife to be more careful about leaving the door unlocked.

[Nickhead]

Originally Posted by Flachief58

The mailman opened it for you on his way out