Garage Door Opener Remote Control Switch D.I.Y.

[yanimac]

Hello everyone,

Here is a DIY I did for the Garage Door Opener Remote Control. This has been posted before and the inspiration did come from richbking and fuze. Since photos from those posts were lost I decided to take some during my mod so to enlighten people who may be confused.

Enjoy.

(DIY Follows)

[yanimac]

First off you need to get the hardware which can be found at Radio Shack.

This is what I got:

and some tools I used:

[yanimac]

Put your car in gear and then proceed to remove the gearbox cover. I used a fake plastic credit card to nudge it out. Just don't go crazy or you will break the tabs or the cover underneath.

Notice the tabs in the following photo:

and a sideview:

Here you can see the cover (in white). It's fragile so handle with care or it will tear.

Modified by yanimac at 12:27 PM 1-27-2009

[yanimac]

Remove the 2 Torx screws

Warning! Be careful not to have the screw drop down the gearbox. You can leave the white cover to avoid it...

... or use a magnetic tool to secure the screw:

[yanimac]

Next lift up the top section to reveal the two connectors:

I popped out the connector on the left and then disconnected it:

[yanimac]

The connector on the right next:

[yanimac]

Now that the top section is off we can get to work on placing the switch in its place:

Just pop out one of the free slots.

Here is a closeup:

Now with a little help we will proceed to put the switch from Radio Shack into the empty slot

But it won't be that simple...

[yanimac]

I forgot to show you the tabs on the top section for when you remove it.

and the free slot

Here is how I proceeded:

I secured the empty slot and started to cut it in two. You can use different tools but this worked quite well for me.

Just get a good blade

and slowly cut through it

and you are left with this (I know it's raw so you need to file it)

[yanimac]

Here is a top and bottom view of the severed slot put back in place:

Now the actual switch and the top part of the slot needs to be filed so it can fit nice and snug

(tools)

The top slot

As you file it make sure you don't file too much and test it to see if it will fit

[yanimac]

Here is a view of the switch placed inside the slot. I actually did not need to use any glue but you may have to.

[yanimac]

I had an old garage door opener but you can buy one at Home Depot which doesn't use a 9V battery like mine did.

All it is, is a board connected to the battery.

You now need to solder the 2 contacts from the remote to the switch. This will vary depending on your remote but you get the idea.

Modified by yanimac at 1:22 PM 1-27-2009

[yanimac]

I then placed the whole contraption under the top cover

The 9V battery was attached with velcro or tape but I'd avoid the 9V battery remotes. The disadvantage is that you have to take the top cover off when the battery dies but usually batteries can last long enough that it didn't bother me.

You then glue the top that you cut off earlier onto the switch and voila

Last step is to put everything back into place in the reverse order

[FckShoes]

nice diy

[RedDevil]

Nice work!!

[Ice2002]

very clean mod, and a complete DIY... gives me some ideas for mine

[BrandNew]

how do you change the battery

[Golfsyncro18T]

Looks great! Now I need to see if I can do something similar to my MKIV R32. I would really like to have the opener powered by switched power, then when I leave my car on my driveway no one can easily open my garage by breaking into my car. I never leave a remote in my car for this very reason. Any ideas?

[burton727]

thats sick!

[yanimac]

Quote, originally posted by BrandNew »

how do you change the battery

To replace the battery requires you to take it apart again. There are ways to get power from your car battery but I wasn't going to go that far in the project. Batteries last long enough that it's not such a big deal, at least for me.

[TimWhaley_89]

sweet DIY, it was nicely broken down into easy steps

[BrandNew]

Quote, originally posted by yanimac »

To replace the battery requires you to take it apart again. There are ways to get power from your car battery but I wasn't going to go that far in the project. Batteries last long enough that it's not such a big deal, at least for me.

just wondering

it would be something that would drive me insane
but if it works for you then

[J377AR1D3R]

nicely done... great DIY.

[stv1der]

Clean DIY- Will use in future I'm sure- Great Job

[egibbys]

Very nice. Clean install.

[dirtymanpon]

Great mod. Thanks for breaking it down for us dummies.

[Danielo_bolo]

excellent writeup

[f1daniel]

The end result is very clean, nice write up.

The process looks quite work intensive though. Here is what I did:
My MKIV Jetta has a sunroof. There is a panel to cover up the inner workings of the sunroof right in front of it. I got a little switch from Radio Shack like you, but I just drilled a hole into that panel that can be removed by just popping it out (no tools) and inserted the button. On the inside of the panel, I attached the garage door opener and wired it to the button. Done. Battery change would be super quick, even though it's been fine for 3 years now. For those that want to, they can grab the power from the sun roof and never have to worry about batteries.
Just another idea for some of you looking to integrate an opener.

[GTImeister]

Nice job on the DIY. Mine turned out perfect!

[Gotsol]

sorry for the old bump but couldn't you just tap power from the ESP button or the power socket?

[stevies3]

How did you determine how low to set the switch into the housing so that the cap cover was flush with the other caps? Excellent work !


Modified by stevies3 at 4:33 PM 12-16-2009

[tesh0boy]

Very creative, I'll be trying this sometime soon

[jon102034050]

Just giving you a heads up, you probably want to blur those credit card numbers out....

Great write up, I will probably try this out soon

[DeMarco]

He mentioned using a fake credit card, as demonstrated in the images. I think it says "Your Name Here" on the card.

[iPinch]

Thats amazing!

[GodHarri]

So does this disable the ESP button?