Our 2025 RX350h garage door opener used to suck; but that recently changed. Wife used to have to be very close to the garage in order to open the garage. Now, she can be at the end of our long driveway and it will open. As CTO of the household, nothing has changed on my end. I thought the vehicle may have received an OTA update, which extended the reach of the homelink.

Anyone know if my assumption is correct or what could have happened. She used to have to be within 50 feet for it to reach the garage. Now it can open it from about 250 feet away. Something changed.

Thanks

 

Hasn’t been an OTA update in a couple years. Basically, never expect one.

 

this might sound dumb, but have you changed light bulbs recently in your garage or the opener? Some LED bulbs can cause interference with the signal to the opener. Google for a list of ‘good’ LED bulbs.

 

When I first relamped our garage door opener with LED bulbs I choose the least expensive "non-dimming" style (not going to dim the garage lights, right?). Cars HomeLink and portable opener work just fine to open the closed door but would not close the open door. Turned out that since the bulbs were on when the door was open, they emitted some sort of frequency that blocked the signal to close. When the lights were off, no problem. Exchanged the bulbs for dimmable LED bulbs and all's well.

 

We ran into those issues when we installed new-fangled fluorescent LED lights in our garage, too. Needed to replace the transformers in the light fixtures or they would overheat and turn off after 15 minutes.

Try a different brand or go back to incandescent (if you can find some).

 

Um, does your horse and buggy need a barn door opener? Incandescent bulbs, how quaint. LOL

 

My 2024 RX can open the door from 250 feet away. Wife's 2023 NX has to be 10 feet away. Strange.

 

I am using LED bulbs, but I have not changed out bulbs anywhere on the property in many years. Doubt that is the issue here, though it can happen. It's weird. Nothing has changed except the reach of her RX. My 2019 Highlander can open our garage from the other side of the subdivision, past our largest pond. My sons 2017 RX350 can open it from in front of the neighbors. Odd that vehicles vary so much within a automotive family. Seems more cost effective to use the same circuitry between models; especially one we cannot see.

 

The Homelink on my 2023 RX has always worked flawlessly. I can open/close at least 500 feet away from home. I press the Homelink far enough in advance that the garage door is fully open, when I arrive.

 

@MrJayhawk1985
I thank you for your correct insight. There are LED lamps that interfere with other frequencies such as DAB Radio, Bluetooth, FM, receivers, and transmitters. That is exactly the case. However, it is not certain that this affects a garage door opener, but it should definitely be possible to rule this out.

 

95% it's the LED lights. Look for shielded LED lamps and swap them out.