[Eric]

I figure I'd do a quick little write up on this... I was tired of not having a good place for my garage door remote & not wanting to clip it to my visor, so I decided to put it out of sight. The best way, I found, was to use one of the knockouts, or blanks, to the left of the steering wheel & add a button. My wife liked the idea, so I'm going to add it to the Camry as well... I'm now thinking that, because it's not as user friendly as it could be, I might relocate it to the knockout to the right of the shifter.

It's super easy and all you need is a soldering gun, fine solder, wire & a button. Here's the button I got from Radio Shack for a couple bucks:

Simply take apart your garage door remote, find the (usually) four solder points on the back of the remote for the button. Having already attached the wire to the new button, touch the other end of the wire to two solder points on the remote at a time until the new button works. I've found on the two that I've done that they're diagonal from each other. Solder the wire onto the remote. Drill a hole in the knockout. Insert the button into the hole. Hide the reassembled garage door remote up under your dash somewhere. You're all set.

If you want to go crazy, you can hard wire, but I've rarely had to replace a battery on my garage door opener remotes, so I'm not going to worry about it

Oh, and if you mess up, the part # for a spare knockout/cover is 55539-52060-B0

 

[zoltiz]

I had it done in my tC, and then when tC got sold I moved the contraption to my girl's xA.

xD does not have knockouts on the dash at all - only on the console between the seats and it's too far out of sight for the remote to work reliably, so my opener is hooked to the rear view mirror stalk for now.

Btw, to make the install / removal easier for the "semi-hardwired install" I used 2 quick-connects for the button wires.

 

[Eric]

Finally got around to taking a picture of the button

 

[rockthebeef]

I like that a lot. Great job! I would like to do something like this myself or install a homelink transmitter in the headliner. The only thing is that my garage is not connected to my house so I have to take the remote with me when coming and going. Otherwise I would go for it myself.

 

[Eric]

Thanks ...it took me a minute to realize you must mean you don't have a side door out of the garage

 

[ScionScene]

This is a cool mod, but what Im worried about is how you can extend the range of the remote. I have a big ugly clicker style one on my visor. Was going to go with a rearview mirror homelink unit for the Prius, but those are going for about $210 on ebay, a little steep for that mod. This mod would be perfect, Im just worried that once I put the remote into the dash like you did, is it still going to have the range as if it was on the visor? I dont want to have to drive all the way up the garage door before it would open.. hmm.. maybe if i can somehow incorporate this into the overhead console instead...

 

[Eric]

Usually mine opens when I get to the edge of our property line & we have a normal style house & yard... My wife's works when she passes the neighbor's house so it's slightly better. Occasionally, for whatever reason, mine decides to stop working until I get right up to the garage door. I'm considering working on it to improve range, or go w/ the homelink. It still works well enough that it's not a priority right now.

I've seen homelink for a lot less than that on eBay... like this one for example...

 

[eviljack]

Yeah I would love to do this mod but considering the I rent the place I can't really mod the garage door opener unless I buy a new one.

 

[ScionScene]

Usually mine opens when I get to the edge of our property line & we have a normal style house & yard... My wife's works when she passes the neighbor's house so it's slightly better. Occasionally, for whatever reason, mine decides to stop working until I get right up to the garage door. I'm considering working on it to improve range, or go w/ the homelink. It still works well enough that it's not a priority right now.

I've seen homelink for a lot less than that on eBay... like this one for example...

Yea Ive seen those too.. but that one would require you cut a hole big enogh to mount it in. I dont know if the visor is thick enough to mount that in and to cut a big hole like that in the overhead is kinda risky. The $200+ unit is the auto dim rear view mirror with compass that has 3 buttons for the homelink. I added that to my G35 and it took my stereo shop like 20 min to do. The type u showed me is often found on domestic vehicles where the visor is very thick. I ordered a button like yours but in blue and ill have my LED guy try it out for me.

 

[Maddman]

The mod was perfectly explained in this diy and i installed the radio shack button in shifter consloe in the knock out on right of shifter and tucked my clicker under to the right of shifter and have no problems with distance i do need to be about 70 or 80 yards away from door, but i never have to wait for door to open when i pull up to garage

 

[Eric]

Nice!

 

[wudstoc]

I have to tell you really cool idea. I went to Radio Shack got the push button went home and took apart the garage door opener. You were right the connection was diagonal soldered in place and works great. Thanks

 

[Eric]

No problem! This is one of my favorite things I've done so far

 

[wudstoc]

The only hard part was finding the push button, its looks big in the picture. :rofl:

 

[newkid69]

This looks like a great way to solve the problem of where to stash the remote and I think I have found an alternative site for the button. I have the overhead console and on the rear door is a place for a logo, picture or whatever that is covered in thin plastic but underneath is a small hole so I am thinking about putting the button up there and keeping the remove inside on of the pockets so it would be easy to change batteries in the remote from time to time. I have also purchased a Homelink unit on eBay and will be investigating the possibility of incorporating that unit in the overhead console. As soon as I figure which route to pursue, I will supply some pictures of the finished product.

 

[rollaball]

I really like this idea a lot. My question is does anybody know where to get the blank factory switches for those holes? I’ve seen the switches for the older models online but not 08’s and up.
I bought used homelink on ebay and was going mount it the headliner, but I couldn’t get the homlink remote to work with my garage opener no matter what I did. I wasn’t about to cut the hole in the headliner without remote working my door.

 

[giarc1234]

I just did this, a little different place and I did two for both my doors. Here is the finished product.

Craig

 

[TARDIS]

That's cool but the nice thing about using a blank in the dash is it can be replaced and returned to stock. Not so much with the headliner.

 

[SamCarroll]

I wonder how i could do this to my gate transmitter without completely ruining it. Not wanting to buy another when i move.

 

[zinger]

If your gate opener is homelink compatible, you can buy a homelink unit on eBay.