Garage Clicker Dashboard Integration

garagedoor-opener-in-dash

Vehicles with the highest level of trim package sometimes come with the ability to learn garage door opener codes. Less costly offerings lack that feature as well as others bells and whistles, leaving blank plates where fancy buttons would have been. [JiggMcFigg] makes the best of this situation by gutting his garage remote and hiding it behind a button blank.

One thing that raised an eyebrow is the coin cell battery holder you can make out on the size-check image shown to the left. But really, these remotes must drain their batteries at a rate nearly the same as an unused battery so why complicate the hack? A holder was soldered onto the board, and jumper wires were soldered to the push button added to the blank plate. This type of utilitarian button is much more satisfying to use than those fancy-pants silk-screen molded-plastic types anyway!

Of course you could go the other way with this hack. [JiggMcFigg] started out with the problem of losing the remotes in the mess of the car. You could retrofit it with a huge button to make it harder to misplace.

29 thoughts on “Garage Clicker Dashboard Integration

  1. I don’t understand this: “One thing that raised an eyebrow is the coin cell battery holder you can make out on the size-check image shown to the left. But really, these remotes must drain their batteries at a rate nearly the same as an unused battery so why complicate the hack?” It sounds like you’re saying the remote uses very little power, but obviously, he still needed a battery for the remote. What are you thinking would’ve been an easier way to do it?

      1. Ah, I see. I think one could argue that connecting to the car’s electrical system would “complicate the hack” more than putting a battery in the dashboard does – especially since you’d need to find a circuit that’s live even when the car is off.

  2. “But really, these remotes must drain their batteries at a rate nearly the same as an unused battery so why complicate the hack?”
    Eh what? I don’t understand the issue. He still needs a battery and a holder, right?

  3. A better version of this hack is to scour ebay or junk yards for your car’s “option” built in remote and install it. I installed one in a honda civic and that never had the option I simply found that the camry had the same shaped button panel and snapped it in.

    Car guys do the upgrade and looks stock trick all the time.

    1. If you mean a Homelink remote, they are a real pain to program, and they draw so much power that you can’t make them “always on”. It’s hard to say they are really better than this approach.

    1. I will disagree,
      connecting it to the cars power is not a good idea,
      Cons of using the cars power.
      if the regulator circuit fails then you have either a nonfunctional system or a fried remote.
      Alternator noise, ignition noise , noise for any other device in the cars power system.

      Pros of using the cars power.
      not needing to spend 10 minutes changing a battery every year or so.

      Yes he could have gotten a stock control from a junk or ebay but to prove the concept I think that this will do just fine. later he could mod it with a stock control.

    2. Some people have older cars that didn’t ever come with such an option, so this would be a must, if you must have it. Hell I have a car with a tape player, and 8-Tracks are a bitch to get!

      1. LOL – you could always use the 8-track for data backup. That said, electrical current and voltage in cars is already regulated. And if you engineer the circuit correctly it’s not hard to get electronics working in even older vehicles.

  4. I do this trick using the “beam light” of the car.

    I don’t know the name in english (I’m spanish), but there’s a “pull only” mode on my lights switch that switches on the beam light only while you keep on pulling the lever towards you. It is used to warn other drivers, not for normal driving.

    The switch on the remote control has been wired to a relay, and the relay coil has been wired to the +12V wire coming from the lights switch (lever).

    When I arrive home, I simply pull the lever… and the door opens :)

  5. I have a Sommer door opener (made in Germany ) that does not support a Quick link or car remote opener. The remote is about the size of two cigarettes side by side. A piece of Velcro on the back attached to the overhead panel works great.

  6. For the longest time, I had a wetwear garage door opener. I’d pull up, and one of my daughters would get out and open the door. When they entered their teen years the reliability of said method went waaaaaay down. It was nice while it lasted.

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