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Homelink? How does it work?

41K views 85 replies 29 participants last post by  firedfly 
#1 ·
I apologize if this has been discussed. I searched and couldn't find anything. There's a lot of discussion about homelink but I can't seem to figure out how it works and what if anything I'll need to use it.

I have a pretty standard lift master garage door opener. Is there some attachment I need to make it work with homelink in the car? How is homelink different than normal garage door buttons on any other car?

Thanks so much for answering my stupid questions!
 
#2 ·
Nothing special, the car will learn from your current remote and/or potentially need you to place your garage door opener in learn mode as well (usually only necessary for rolling codes).

You'll have a guide explaining the steps and it's very easy to setup!

You can have multiple doors as well so if you have more than one garage door and a gate to get into you're covered!
 
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#3 ·
Thanks so much! So no extra hardware required?

I wonder if I'll be able to control the garage door from my phone?
 
#4 ·
No extra hardware required.

If you want to control it from your phone you may need extra hardware. I have the LiftMaster app and can control the garage door anywhere in the world as well as getting push notifications when it opens/closes.
 
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#7 ·
On our S it was very straightforward to set up - if I recall it was 5-10 minutes. When it works well, it's awesome. Pulling toward the house the garage door starts going up automatically. We don't use it on close since that's a bit more fickle.

Early on we had some issues with LED lights in the garage causing interference. Our model is pretty standard, Lowes/Home Depot type, about 15 years old. Made sure to pull the 6-9" antenna down straight, and range works as expected now.

Recently the GPS trigger has started firing too soon, meaning it's still out of range and thus we have to manually touch the homelink button on the center console. Still easier than fishing around for the remote, but not as seamless. I've tried resetting the GPS trigger by parking further from the entrance point, but it hasn't worked better yet.

The HomeLink feature also works with Summon, which is a sweet demo for people new to Tesla and/or semi-autonomous driving features. We start with the garage closed, activate the summon feature - car wakes up, raises the door, backs out, lowers the door. Works every time!
 
#8 ·
Recently the GPS trigger has started firing too soon, meaning it's still out of range and thus we have to manually touch the homelink button on the center console.
do you think the range using the car's homeink is the same as using the garage door opener's stock remote? shorter range? or longer range?
I generally click my remote button when I turn the corner prior to my house (~200ft/52meters). Will the homelink antenna stretch to that distance or will it need to be closer?
 
#9 ·
A tip, if you're looking for remote opening/closing of your garage door and your existing garage opener doesn't support it...Here's how I came to want that remote capability....I had the feature turned on in my Model S where it would raise my garage door when I approach. It has worked well in the past...Well, until a few days ago...

I got a motion alarm from my garage Nest camera when I was at work, and sure enough, on my Nest phone app there was a person walking around in my garage and the MAIN GARAGE DOOR WAS OPEN.
Turned out to be a friendly neighbor who found my door open. He unlatched the door from the opener track and manually closed it for me. I didn't recognize who it was at the time and immediately came home to see what was going on...The door was closed by the time I got home.

In playing back the Nest video, I figured out what happened. I opened the door to go to work, rolled out onto the driveway and stopped because a lady was walking her dog and was walking slowly down the sidewalk. So I closed the door from the screen and waited several seconds for the lady to clear the driveway. As I'm watching the video, I see the door close properly as I'm sitting in the driveway. Then a few seconds later, it opens all by itself(!) And my car is out of view (I must have just pulled out and driven away). I think the Tesla feature got confused because I lingered in the driveway, and it thought I was coming home so it gave the signal to open the door....

So what did I do to fix the problem? I disabled the auto-open feature on the car, which isn't a big deal (I can manually open the door with the screen)...And I ordered the Nexx Garage remote garage door opener / closer from Amazon for $99 and installed it. I have an older Genie garage door opener. Now, with my phone, I can see what the status of the door is remotely and open or close it. And if I'm home, I can use my Amazon Echo to verbally command the door to open or close. It works very well. The device requires a nearby LAN wireless access point and standard push button contact closure on the garage door opener....Works great, Highly recommended....
 
#10 ·
I have the LiftMaster app on my phone and yet I find simplicity in tapping the Homelink button by my mirror rather than opening the app. I basically have the app for push notifications and the occasional call from my wife... "did I remember to close the garage door?"

With Model 3 I will test out auto open/close and possibly disable it in favor of manually pressing the button.

I am the second house in from a corner and I have a sneaking suspicion it will think I'm home too early and miss on on auto open and something about auto close freaks me out :)
 
#15 ·
FYI
Besides your garage door, Homelink can also control other things in your house like lights and appliances. It's a repackaging of the old BSR X10 home automation technology. Way back when (1980s) I use to have my whole home computer controlled with these modules. Besides lighting control I use to have my electric blanket turn on 15 minutes before I went to bed. Toasty!

If you google X10 and Homelink you'll find forums where people explain how to interface it with your car. You can do things like turn on your house lights AND open your garage door, change the thermostat, turn on your sprinklers, etc. etc, etc.

https://www.x10.com/
 
#18 ·
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#19 ·
As promised, I tested our Homelink setup as compared to our standard garage door remote. In our (non-refresh) 2016 Model S, the transmitter is located near the nosecone. I assume it's similar for the newer cars as well. This becomes relevant because the body of the car can block/interfere with the signal depending on your approach angle.

For example, pulling up to my garage door (within a few feet), the remote works great inside the car, outside the car, and homelink works great. Backing up to the garage door, I could not get Homelink to activate (only tried a few times though), whereas the remote worked well outside the car, and moderately well inside the car.

At the end of my driveway, neither Homelink nor the remote are able to trigger the door (60 ft). There is a spot to the side of the house on the roadway, while on approach the remote can trigger the door, but the Homelink system did not. This is about 70 ft away - further than the end of the driveway test, which was interesting. Must be a signal path through a window or something on the side of the garage.

In short - it seems to be no better than the remote, and in several cases shorter distance. I do still have the anecdotal experience of it working many times while driving up the driveway toward the garage. The main caution I would add is you don't get to choose where the automatic trigger occurs, but you might still be able to activate it manually.

Additional caveat - our garage door lift/system is ~12-15 years old, so some of the signaling tech may have improved. We also use LED lighting exclusively, which is known to potentially cause some signal interference.
 
#22 ·
I just upgraded software on my MS. Homelink now allows a distance in feet to be entered for when you want the garage door to open. This is great for me because I have a steep driveway and was having to get on the incline before the door would open. It was a good check of the Hill assit system, but much better to wait at the bottom of the hill for my garage door to open now.
 
#24 ·
I think you are thinking of something separate from Tesla...

There are homelink apps that work with wifi openers where you can control the door from your phone wherever you are... the Tesla homelink controller works from the car just like your stock door's remote control works with a RF signal.
 
#29 ·
I just upgraded software on my MS. Homelink now allows a distance in feet to be entered for when you want the garage door to open. This is great for me because I have a steep driveway and was having to get on the incline before the door would open. It was a good check of the Hill assit system, but much better to wait at the bottom of the hill for my garage door to open now.
I can confirm that this update also now allows us to set a distance that is very reliable for our Homelink. It's a shorter distance than I would prefer (have to wait in front of the door a bit), but the automation is better than stopping, pressing the button, and waiting longer. Great improvement!
 
#31 ·
I've got a Genie garage opener (maybe about 10 years old). Prius and BMW 328i were both operating the garage door fine. Set up TM3 fine as well. But, when TM3 is programmed to operate the garage door, the BMW stops operating it, and vice versa (when I cleared out and re-programmed the BMW homelink). Meanwhile, Prius works fine with the garage either way. Any theories?
 
#43 ·
I happen to be visiting the parents who have an intellicode. The learn button is up on the unit if you follow the antenna wire up from the bottom. Black button you can press with a long flathead screwdriver. As soon as you press it a red led will blink right below it, but you may not be able to see it with the lightbulb on. You have 30 seconds to run to your car and do what you need to. Pics below.

Rectangle Magenta Tints and shades Gas Wood
Gas Wood Audio equipment Tints and shades Cylinder
 
#55 ·
View attachment 6878

I tried pressing the red arrow button but the led (blue arrow) never illuminated
I've got one of those laying out in my garage right now. Too bad you aren't closer to Dallas I'd give it to you. It is about 15 years old and the motor / screw drive worked great still. I had taken the safety beam eyes apart a few years ago when I added some sheet rock and they never worked quite right since then so I replaced the whole thing last weekend with a Chamberlain. I can be a big geeky so I like wifi and battery backup on the new one, but the old Genie screw drive worked just as well as the new belt drive, it was just a bit louder.
 
#56 ·
So I'm in a condo, and on try #1 homelink isn't working. The GPS part is working, it lights green when I'm home, but it doesn't open the garage.

We have a brand new garage door. Is it less likely that it'll work than an older garage door? The old garage door did work with homelink on my old car.

I'm not sure I'd have access to, or there actually is a learn button
 
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