garage door opener remedy?

I've seen posts on other forums where folks have used a stock button installed in a blank area, wired to a garage door opener which was hidden behind an interior panel. Try Googling.

 

I have mounted a garage door opener under the hood of many autos and ran the wires to 12 volt lead and ground, even though the opener was a 9 volt. split the hot lead to a rocker switch in the cockpit. Always worked perfectly for years. I water proofed the opener with silicone and mounted it as close to the front of the grill as possible to get a good signal.

 

Yes - I just did this mod a few weeks ago but it was a challenge to get the rocker switch (from O'Reilly's) modified to my needs. I mounted it in the blank above the dash dimmer thumb-wheel switch and it looks stock. It has a tiny green LED in it that I modified to come on when the power switch is active so you can see it night or day and matches the look of the AC LEDs. This was quite an advanced mod so unless you are good with micro-electrics, you will be lost. Then I used the switch portion to close a circuit on an old Gennie opener for the garage and mounted it behind that panel. I stuck with the 9 volt power supply fearing 12 volts would fry it.

nwprius is right though, as sometimes the signal needs to be left on for several seconds for the opener's antenna to respond. I like the mod, but it's not perfect and I may relocate the sender under the blank in front of the dome lights for a clearer signal.

@nwprius: you're sure 12 volts won't fry a sender designed for 9 volts?

 

why not buy a used homelink visor button from ebay for $10-15 and install it somewhere in teh car - I'm thinking behind the sunglasses holder

CUSTOM GREY ROLLING CODE HOMELINK TRANSMITTER SWITCH | eBay

 

This is the route I was going to go with.

 

What sunglass holder? I've never seen that in my car haha

 

I removed the somewhat-standard lil metal clippy thing that typically holds garage door openers to sunvisors, bought a package of quality (ie. 3M) velcro strips from home improvement store, adhered a couple to the now bare backside of the opener and a couple strips to the underside of the console/armrest/tunnel thingy where it meets about the driver's thigh / knee.

i'm pretty particular about things and here 4 months later i can't find a single reason to change. it's clean, stealthy (i get concerned about my garage door opener sitting in the standard sunvisor position whereby any thief can come along and press it should i forget to lock the car) and easy to reach. heyul, i'll go snap a photo if it'll come out...



i should mention, this didn't affect the range at all. it still works from the entrance to my driveway ~80 ft. away.
pj

 

OP (Mike), I guess I should explain that it's small-scale work requiring patience on modding that switch. It's a black rocker-style with a built-in little round green LED. Normally, the switch will only light up green when it is pressed to the "on" position. That's not helpful if you only intend to press it up then off again momentarily to activate the sender for your opener. What I did was take the leads to the LED and put the small resistor required in-line with a thin power cord to the blue accessory line inside the kick panel and the ground is attached to metal behind the dash. Now when the Prius is powered up, the LED is always on. That allows me to see it at night when I pull up to my garage and I don't have to fumble to find it.

I have notice though that the position I placed the old sending unit behind the dash must be blocking the signal from time to time. nwprius is right in that I think I need to relocate it so it always works. I'm going to experiment this weekend with that. I left the original power supply as a 9 volt battery since I was fearful 12 volts could fry the sender. It would be much slicker if it could run off of the Prius battery. If I get around to it, I will include some photos.

 

http://priuschat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89136

Here you go...

Btw...the reason I chose this over homelink is because our HOA will not let anyone program the gate code...they want you to pay for additional gate remotes...also it was cheap even with eBay deals.

 

No problem. You can choose whatever button looks better or works out better for you. I chose these ones because with some modifying I was able to fit two of them in there. It's pretty easy to find where to solder your wires...just follow the circuits to the button and tap a wire across them...should work. Sorry I suck at explaining things lol. I figured all this out with the help of google and looking at other people's methods.

Btw, you could tap the opener to use a power source in the car but I decided to just use the opener's battery just in case we end up moving or whatever. There's space behind the dash to hide any remotes. I opted to use some velcro.

 

That's exactly how I handled the problem in my III. Two strips of Velcro, and placement under the "bridge."

It is out of view from the curious, but easy to activate when needed.

Cost? About one-dollar.

 

My Homelink opens my Pop's gate into his developement (HOA) no problem. Just use the "learn" feature on the Homelink or exising garage door opener that supports rolling codes.

The other possibility (and I have had this on motorcycles). is a "push to flash" highbeam garage door opener. You wire it in and just hit the high beams on and off. The signal is sent and the door or gate will open per normal use.

this one worked for me on my Civic Flash2Pass Garage Door Opener - Complete set | 383-091 | J&P Cycles

 

I have homelink in my current car, but in past cars I've simply velcro'ed the opener to the back of my rearview mirror. Velcro...it's your friend.