Have you experienced any power failures in your area lately, or are they occurring with increasing frequency? Did you know that in these events, you can equip your garage door opener with a backup generator? It’s just what you need to do when you need to get your car out of the garage during a blackout. Here’s a guide from Orange County Garage on the benefits of a garage door opener backup battery.

What is a garage door opener backup battery?

It’s a small 12 volt battery that feeds the garage door opener power in the event of a blackout. There’s tons of available models, from manufacturers such as LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Mastercraft, Linear, and Genie. Liftmaster has made these devices since 2003 so we recommend their products – some of which come with the battery inside the housing of the motor, and some where it’s over on top of the housing.

Additional Features

• Once there’s a power outage, a fully charged garage door opener backup battery will supply the door opener with 24 hours of standby power with which it can operate up to 20 full open/shut cycles at an ambient temperature of 60 – 70 Fahrenheit.
• They fully recharge in 4.5 hours.
• They can be recycled.

When to change the garage door opener battery ?

You will hear a beep every 2-30 seconds in addition to a red or orange light indicating the battery is depleted and needs to be recharged.

Are garage door openers battery expensive?

You can expect to pay at least 100 for a garage door opener backup battery.

What if I didn’t choose the optional backup battery when I purchased my opener?

In this case, you can choose to manually open the door during a blackout. Pull the red emergency release cord, disengaging the trolley, manually lift the door, remove your car from the garage, then close the door and re engage the trolley by reconnecting it to the release mechanism. If you forget to reconnect the trolley, anybody can manually open your garage door, leading to a security risk. You can also install a side lock on the inside of the door, which allows you security when you push the steel bar of the lock into the vertical track. Just make sure to disengage this lock and reengage your garage door opener once power is restored.