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.
That button might get you arrested, suicide bombings and things, you know.
You’re wearing a tinfoil hat right now, aren’t you? That has to be silliest thing I’ve read on here in a while.
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?
I meant that sealing a battery up in the dashboard versus patching into the vehicle’s electrical system. I didn’t want to directly reference that because it begs all kinds of other questions to be answered.
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.
Doesn’t it just snap in to the dashboard?
“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?
I know, I re-read the paragraph five times – you can infer so many different meanings from it. Can’t understand what the writer was trying to get across.
A button… wow amazing hack. -.-” I was expecting more neat stuff like using nfc or wifi on a cell phone or something.or using the keyfob remotely.
Can’t you use a resistor, a zener diode as a regulator and power the whole thing from the car battery when the momentary switch is pressed?
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.
If you buy one of the visors from a wrecked similar vehicle you could install it in minutes.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/homelink-garage-door-opener-installation-writeup-1383152/
That guy took it out of the visor and installed it in the dash but swapping visors would be even easier.
You could tap into the cars power bus and use a regulator circuit. That way you never need to replace a battery. So long as the car is on, the device is on.
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.
You can prevent that with fusing and filtering.
agreed but that is a lot of work just to save 10 min of labor a year or so.
and the more you add to a system you increase the amount of points of failure.
Well of course. I’ve mounted a ton of amateur radio gear into cars. Both power leads get fused. And amateur gear is designed to run on 13.8V anyhow.
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!
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.
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 :)
Those are referred to as “high beams” in the US.
Ah, clever! I thought you were gonna you’ve somehow rewired the remote system to modulate your headlights to send the door-open signal!
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.
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.
That’s a great hack! I’d do it to my car….. –if I actually used my garage to park in. no room.. too many unfinished projects.
Ah, mon frere, I think you’ve entered that wonderful time of man’s life where he requires a shed… Even a small one would do.
how hard would it be to pull 3vdc from the 12vdc source? Ive got a bunch of ciggy lighter adapters that give me 5vdc already for USB devices.