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Centurion Garage Doors is a Western Australian maker based in Wangara, and its openers sit on a large share of the sectional and roller doors we work on from Joondalup to Baldivis. The company publishes its own coding videos, which is more than most brands manage, but the routine changes from model to model and the model sticker is often faded or hidden behind the motor. This guide puts the routines side by side, in the order we use them on a driveway: work out which Centurion you have, find the button, code the remote, and then run through the reasons it did not take.
Two companies called Centurion, two different remotes
Before you press anything, check which Centurion is on your wall. Centurion Garage Doors makes garage doors and the openers that drive them, and its remotes are coded at the garage door motor head. Centurion Systems is an unrelated South African company that makes gate motors and the NOVA remotes that go with them, and its procedures involve the gate controller, not the garage opener. Search results mix the two freely, including the RDO name, which Centurion Garage Doors uses for its roller door openers and Centurion Systems uses for a roll-up door motor. If your remote says NOVA, or it runs a sliding or swing gate, follow the gate motor's manual; the rest of this guide is about the garage door openers.
Which Centurion garage door opener do you have?
The model is printed on a sticker on the motor head, usually on the back panel of a sectional opener or on the drive unit at one end of a roller door's drum. Centurion's own how-to library is organised by these models, and so is this guide.
- SDO2, SDO4 and SDO10: the sectional door openers fitted to most Centurion sectional doors over the last two decades. The SDO4 also appears badged Avanti or Stoddart on doors from other suppliers, and codes the same way. The SDO10 is the later unit with a yellow Code Set button.
- RDO10B and RDO10C: the roller door openers, mounted on the drum axle beside the curtain. The coding button is on the drive unit, so expect to work from a ladder beside the door rather than under the ceiling.
- Euro 850, Euro 1100 and Euro 1250: the current sectional range, with a Wi-Fi version of the 1250 and a Wi-Fi upgrade kit. These take the Euro-style remote sold alongside them.
- Pro 800: the current entry-level sectional opener, also sold with Wi-Fi.
If the sticker is unreadable, a photo of the motor head and of the back of a remote that still works is normally enough for us to name the model. The remote matters too: the original four-button SDO/RDO remote has been discontinued by the maker, and the newer openers take a different, Euro-style remote, so an old spare from a drawer may not suit a new opener.
How do you code a remote on a Centurion SDO10?
This is the routine Centurion shows in its own SDO10 coding video, for both hand transmitters and wall stations. You need a safe way to reach the control panel on the back of the motor head, so set a step ladder on firm ground and keep the door area clear, because the opener can run the door the moment the code takes.
- Fit a fresh battery in the remote first. A flat coin cell is the commonest reason a first attempt fails.
- Briefly press the yellow Code Set button on the control panel. The red LED beside it starts flashing.
- Press and release the button on the remote that you want to use. The red LED stops flashing.
- Quickly press and release the same remote button a second time. The red LED flashes rapidly to show the code has been accepted.
- Press the remote a third time: the door should run. Repeat the whole cycle for every additional remote, wall station or keypad.
How do you code a remote on a Centurion SDO4 (or Avanti SD04)?
The SDO4 has a small digital display on the control panel and uses a different sequence, again from Centurion's own video for the model.
- Reach the control panel on the back of the motor head safely.
- Briefly press the red button. The opener light flashes and the display shows BEu (it can read as BU on some screens).
- Press and hold the top button on the hand transmitter. When the opener light flashes rapidly, the code is stored.
- Release and test the door from the floor. Repeat for each extra transmitter.
Stand clear once the code takes
On every Centurion model the door can move the instant a remote is accepted, and you will be on a ladder beside the motor when it does. Keep children, pets and the car out of the opening, and have someone steady the ladder when the opener is a roller door unit above the drum.
How do you code a remote on a Centurion roller door opener?
The RDO10B and the current RDO10C sit on the drum axle at one end of the roller door, so the coding button is on the drive unit itself, often behind a small cover. Centurion publishes a separate roller door coding video and a separate deleting-codes video for these units, because the button layout is not the same as the sectional openers. The shape of the routine is the one shared by most Australian openers: a short press of the code button puts the opener into learn mode, you press the remote button you want within the learn window, and a light or LED confirms it. Follow the leaflet for your unit for the exact number of presses, and if the door was converted from manual, check the manual lock has been removed, because a locked curtain will stall the motor the first time you test.
Euro 850, 1100, 1250 and Pro 800: the newer openers
The Euro and Pro openers are the units Centurion sells today, and they take the Euro-style remote rather than the old four-button SDO/RDO transmitter. Their coding is still done at the motor head, from a learn or code button on the control panel, and on the Wi-Fi versions the phone app is set up separately from the hand remotes. Because these models are revised more often than the older units, we will not give a button-by-button sequence here that could be out of date next year: use the leaflet that came with the opener or remote, or send us a photo of the motor head and we will tell you which routine applies.
Coding a wireless keypad or a wall plate
Centurion's wireless keypad and wall plate remote are coded to the opener the same way as a hand transmitter, with the keypad's own PIN set first according to its leaflet. Both run on a battery, and a keypad that has stopped responding has usually lost its battery before it has lost its code. Centurion publishes battery-change videos for the keypad, the wall plate and the hand transmitter, and a battery change does not erase a code on any of them.
How do you delete codes or factory reset a Centurion opener?
Deleting codes clears every remote the opener knows and leaves the door's travel limits alone; a factory reset also wipes the limits and settings, so the opener has to be set up again as if new. For a lost remote, a change of tenant or a new owner you only need the first. Centurion publishes separate deleting-codes videos for its sectional and roller door openers and a factory reset video for the SDO4, so follow the one for your model.
Deleting codes wipes every remote, not just the lost one
There is no way to remove a single remote from a Centurion opener's memory. Clearing the codes forgets all of them, including the ones in the family's cars and any keypad or wall plate, and each has to be coded again one at a time. Gather every remote you still use before you start.
Unplugging the opener at the wall does not reset the remotes: the codes are stored in memory that survives a power cut, which is why a door still answers its remote after a blackout. Our general guide to resetting a garage door opener and its remotes covers the other brands and when a reset will not help.
Why won't a Centurion remote take, or has it stopped working?
- Flat battery in the remote, even a new one. Change it before anything else; the hand transmitter battery is a coin cell under the back cover.
- Wrong remote for the opener. The discontinued four-button SDO/RDO remote and the Euro-style remote are not interchangeable, and a NOVA gate remote will never code to a garage door opener.
- You pressed the wrong button on the opener. On the SDO10 it is the yellow Code Set button; on the SDO4 the red button. Holding a button down on some units deletes the codes instead of learning one.
- The learn window closed. The opener listens for only a few seconds after the first press; if you were still climbing the ladder, start again.
- The memory has been deleted by someone else. If every remote stopped at once and the wall button still works, the codes have been cleared and each remote needs coding again.
- The remote works only from up close. That points to a tired remote battery, or to the opener's antenna wire being tucked up out of the way; let it hang.
- No remote works and the wall button does. The receiver on the control board has failed, and no amount of coding fixes it.
If the remote that used to work has simply stopped and nobody has touched the opener, run through the checks for a garage door remote that has stopped working before you delete or re-code anything.
Which replacement remote should you buy for a Centurion opener?
Match the remote to the opener model, not to the badge on the door. Centurion's own shop sells a Euro-style remote for its current openers, lists the original four-button SDO/RDO remote as discontinued, and sells a Boss BHT4C remote alongside its own, so there is more than one answer depending on the unit on your ceiling. A photo of the motor sticker settles it before you spend anything, and our replacement remotes listed by opener brand show which units suit which generation. If we code them for you, genuine remotes are $85 each plus $110 to attend and program, however many you need on the day.
When is it quicker to have us code it?
Coding a Centurion remote is a fair DIY job when the opener is a sectional unit you can reach from a step ladder and the remote is the right type. It stops being one when the roller door drive sits above a parked car, the codes have been deleted and five remotes need re-coding, the display shows nothing, or the second remote bought online has also refused to pair. We repair and service Centurion garage doors across Perth, carry the common remote types on the van, and when the receiver has failed we say so instead of selling you another remote. For a different brand, our hub guide covers the learn-button routine for every major Australian opener.