Added update*****

while sitting inside my house i was playing with the garage clicker and it randomly opened the door from fifty feet away but will not work n e more. So it is now once again working intermittently from long distance.

Here are some things to check. Some like battery condition you can ignore. It will also give you an idea why the technician charges are what they are.

Limited range of your remote controls could be related to radio frequency interference that comes from something in your home or in the surrounding environment. Certain electrical devices can radiate interference; this could be almost anything that is plugged into an electrical outlet.

Please keep in mind that the device can be brand new, or can be an item that has been in use for quite a while. Also, the item may continue to function properly as far as you are able to tell. The only problem with the item may be that it has started to broadcast the interference, with no other symptoms noted.

Some devices are more likely to generate interference than others. This includes TV cable, cable amplifiers, surge protectors, fluorescent lights, battery charging devices (power tools, golf carts, etc.), anything that utilizes a timer (sprinkler systems, lights, alarm systems, etc.), and a myriad of others. If the problem seems sporadic, we can safely assume that the device responsible for the interference is only being operated during these times. Again, please keep in mind that the age of the device does not determine if it is capable of broadcasting unwanted interference. Any electrical device can be the source of the problem.

The first step is replacing the battery in your remote. If the range on your remote does not improve, remove the wall control wires from the overhead unit. If the range does not improve you will likely need to replace the remote control. After replacing the remote, or if you have other remotes programmed in to the opener, and the range problem still exists, please proceed to the Power Down test.

Power Down test:
To isolate potential sources of interference, turn the circuit breaker off to the garage and plug the garage door opener into an extension cord from another room. If the range improves, then the interference is coming from a device in the garage. If no improvement is seen follow the same procedure, this time turning off the circuit breakers to your home, with the exception of the garage and test the remote controls. If improvement is noted, turn the circuit breakers back on, one by one, until the range problem resurfaces. This will allow you to narrow down what room the problem device is in. You will have to go from there to isolate it further, by unplugging and re-plugging the items in that room.

If you are unable to determine any source of interference, then the receiver logic board in the overhead unit will need to be replaced.

Garage door remote not working? The Pentagon may be to blame.
Not because of any grand conspiracy theory, but rather the mundane use of a radio frequency the military hadn't used much before.
US homeowners in coastal Orange County, California, are among the latest to discover this quirk. There, signals from Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach have been interfering with garage door openers as far as half a mile (0.8 kilometres) away since March.
That's when testing began on a new radio system that will allow the base to network with local fire and police agencies during emergencies. The frequency falls in the range of 380-399.9 megahertz, a band long reserved for the Department of Defence but rarely used.
"We hadn't had the need to use these frequencies before. As a result, garage door manufacturers began using them because they were pretty quiet," said Gregg Smith, a spokesman for the Navy station. "With the explosion of communications technology over the past 20 years, the DOD has been squeezed to use bands it didn't need to use before."
Reports of interference with garage door openers near military installations have been reported from Rhode Island to San Diego to Hawaii.
"Out of the blue, the garage door just stopped working," said Bill Davey, 51, of Norco. "We changed all the batteries in the remotes. When it still didn't work, it was like 'What's going on here?' "
The culprit was a Navy installation a quarter-mile (0.4 kilometres) away.
The Federal Communications Commission allows the so-called unlicensed use of frequencies for low-power purposes such as garage door openers and vehicle key fobs as long as they don't interfere with government communications systems, Smith said.
Smith said he's fielded 16 complaints from people near the Seal Beach base, but he assumes the interference is affecting many more. People can buy a device to retrofit their openers to another frequency; Davey's cost $US60.
"Once you explain how it all works, folks aren't happy, but they've been understanding," Smith said.