Cool Garage Door Opener Switch

I installed this thing and I absolutely love it. It's a rocker switch with wires hacked onto a garage door opener remote. Check it out: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PORSC...8804QQtcZphoto You can install it next to the radio on the dash, or in the spots near the center console. It took me about 2 minutes to install, and 1 minute to reprogram to my garage door. This guy deserves your business in my opinion - I was so happy to have found this available. The price was a bit high, but I thought it was worth it because the fit is perfect and doesn't junk up the car in any way and is totally reversible installation. Well worth it I say. I know this sounds like a plug - but I am not at all affiliate or related to the seller of this item - I just wanted to share with you guys this must have "mod" No more garage door remote cluttering my interior! Now if only some other company would make perfectly fitted black rubber mats for my 1999 C4 - Still looking for something that's going to keep the muck out of my interior in winter - still have not found the perfect solution for that yet.

Can you post a picture of it installed? I'd be curious to see what it looks like. Thanks!

awesome!

Actually, the guy got a lot of good reviews on ebay, so I'm sure he's legit and 100 bucks aint't too bad. Plus, it's an easy DIY for people that aren't tech savvy.

You installed to your door lock switch?

This hack been happening for YEARS in the P-Car community and is a hack you can DIY very easily for about $40 total. Where this guy went wrong is he used the door lock switch when he should have used the Targa shade switch which looks just like a garage door opened and closed.

But it looks so easy to install.. just plug n play. The other method i've read requires removing consoles and splicing and taping... I'd rather be golfing then sitting in the garage working on my car. Maybe this winter...

I don't have a picture, but there isn't much to see - except now you are going to be having 2 buttons with a "key icon" on it. You could probably scrape or buff off that white key icon paint with a dremel. You have those spare oval plug spaces on the dash near the radio and also behind the electric window buttons on the center console (near the parking brake lever), and that's where this stock rocker switch goes. I put mine 2 spaces below the "PSM OFF" button on the left side of the radio. The panel clicks out easily, as does the button blank, and then you just install the button on the panel, and throw in the hacked transmitter and then snap the whole thing back together - good as new. It makes me think that I could get that other kit and attempt the "spoiler" button thing - but that's only if you really care about the spoiler - which I don't personally. Still, it's cool to have a perfect stock looking mod like this. Still looking for the ultimate winter rubber car mats, and the absolute best radar detector install.

That's not bad. I use the Targa Roof Switch, as the images appear to be garage doors open and closed, and it's also a two-way, so I can open two different doors. Wired through the panel, to the fuse, up through the firewall and into the battery area where the remote is stored. Soldered to the 'on' position at all times, then the switch triggers the power/open/close function. Flawless.

I wonder if someone has a hack like this for the "gate", you know like your gate remote for your community. Garage and Gate are the two remotes I cary...........ahh the joys of homelink

Try this one out: The Orient Express DIY Garage Door Opener

can you hard wire this or is battery the only way?

The transmitter can be wired either way. I chose to keep it on its battery because it has been my experience that the batteries last 3-4 years, and it was less hassle then deciding if I wanted it on switched or unswitched power.

Damn, I'd be all over it if it were a targa switch instead of the key lock switch. Aside from the potential confusion, two key lock switches on the console totally ruins the aesthetics for me.

plantraco, where is the transmitter installed? And why is there the need for 2 buttons? I thought the garage door is operated with one single button, push once to open/close...push again to do the opposite.

for those of us with pre 02, targa switch isnt an option as it only comes with matte fininsh. pre 02s come with glossy finish so the switch would look out of place. ive been deseparate for a solution and this looks good and reasonably priced. just priced out switch from sunset and transmitter from a web vendor and we're already at $50. so plantraco, i dont think you overpaid. as an aside, this guy on ebay sells the switch alone for 47... not sure why when sunset charges 18.

pre-facelift cars that have the matte finish buttons can make the button shiny by simply applying a gloss finish. It has been done before and posted. Do a search. Remember.......where there is a will there is a Rennlister that will find a way

I dont think there's two button, I think he meant you will have two door lock buttons. One for the real door lock and the other for the garage.

I think you could get 2 of them - there are many extra spots to put switches on the dash.

Yep, correct. You are adding another button to the dashboard and removing one of the inert filler plugs - your choice where you want to put it. This install has nothing to do with your original door lock button. The button is wired into an included remote that you put inside the dash. I was concerned that it would bounce around and rattle, but it does not rattle so far, and if it does, I just have to open it up again and zip tie it down somewhere. The remote runs off battery, I wouldn't want to wire it into the car electrical system. It's true, you do get the end result of having 2 "key" icons on the buttons of your dash, but that didn't bother me - I know what it does. I guess if you really want to you could change that button to another icon picture with a little effort. I saw the picture of the targa lift button, and I guess it's just personal taste about the icon picture on the button. I'd take either.

If you don't wish to alter the appearance of your car at all; or don't wish to spend a cent, or even if you don't have a spare switch slot in your dash .... you can simply wire your garage door opener to function each time you pull on your "flash to pass" lever. A bonus is that you never again have to replace your opener battery, as it now uses 12v from the car. Its a great hack that I found on the net early in my 996 life.

There's a company that sells a product that does this "flash to open" idea. I guess it has enough logic to pick up an induced current as a signal when there's a momentary blip of the high beams? There's so many "blanks" on the dash ... I think I'll put the Targa switch in just to fill up some of those damn blanks!

Hmmm very interesting... Is there a DIY on this forum?

For Garage Door Openers click here Yes?

lvdell... i would opt to do the targa switch if i felt that it would give it a seamless look. while im not averse to "glossing " the matte button, im not quite sure how the end result will be. i tried searching here but came up zip. tried other sites, zip. do you know of a post? has anyone tried lacquering it and what has been your experience? thanks.

Did you try Renntech.org? I don't know of the exact thread(s) off hand but it has been discussed by those that have done it.

Kirby's DIY helped with my install . I opted to wire 12v to the battery connector too.

Here is a similar thread started by OE. Check out posts #6 & #7, which show examples of the matte button sprayed with gloss. In post #8, the another guy said to do 3 to 4 light coats. BTW - I did a search on gloss to find this thread. https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ighlight=gloss

thanks tim. i dont recall what combo i tried but gloss/button was def one of them. never thought to try gloss solo... i knew that it would give me 10 pages of threads on the exterior and waxing.... but you are my hero.

please help.. i dont have the schematics for the headlight/hi-beam wires. would anyone happen to know the color of the flash beams for an 03 c2? I was digging around last night and was able to get to behind the carper and lights. I dont have to disassemble the headlight unit right? tia

I used the same switch as Eric: the Targa sunshade switch. I bought a key-fob remote, took the case off and soldered a couple of wires to do mine. I mounted the switch in the upper dash and the electronics in the A-piller. Having them in the A-piller gives me almost double the range.

Did you wire your 12v battery to the transmitter or used the stock battery? I have a silly question, the transmitter requires a 3v battery. Would wiring the transmitter to use the car's 12v battery be ok for the transmitter? suncoast sells the targa shade buttom for 23 bucks,..

If you really insist on using your cars electrical system to power your garage door transmitter, then it is necessary to stick an appropriate resistor inline on the + line to drop the voltage to the proper input voltage for the device. The resistor will get hot, so make sure that it is not next to something that it will melt. Or better yet, just leave the transmitter on its 3v battery, and in 5 or so years worry about changing it. In the end there is no advantage to hard wiring the transmitter. As an example, I have a 3v Genie digital transmitter in my Audi which I placed in there in 1998. It is still on its original battery.

I have the Targa Shade switch on order and it should arrive on Tuesday. About a year ago, I did the in dash spoiler switch, but I did not wire it to illuminate. Yesterday I tapped into the light power feeding the windshield wiper rheostat and created two pair of connectors; one for the Spoiler switch and one for the pending Shade (garage door) switch.

I would totally agree with that. Wiring this stuff to the vehicle is just asking for another way to drain your car battery or mess something up. If you know your electrical system, you can do it easily, but if you don't, you're better off with the simple method - use the built-in battery I say.

3v it is...

With all due respect .... I disagree. In my set-up, using the flash-to-pass signal to trigger the door opener: replacing the opener battery with 12vdc from the car makes for the simpler installation, by far. I did it for the simplicity .... certainly not to save on opener battery replacements. My opener, a common, Overhead Door brand, uses a 12 v battery .... so there is no voltage mismatch be be concerned with. Its a 10 minute hack.

plantraco... or anyone else who care to chime in, when you say dash panel clicks out easily, can you elaborate? im assuming prying along the outer edges but was hoping for confirmation before i do any unneccessary damge. i thought long and hard and ive decided on the hardwire install for the button illumination. my only question is which wire do i tap into once panel is removed. if possible, i wanna stay within that cluster. any help here is appreciated. my garage door opener brand is overhead so i need a 12v feed. i ordered the targa/tip switch from sunset and will be clearcoating meself to have it all perfectly done as i own 01 c4. thanks.

You can just slide a plastic spatula behind the "horseshoe" and it should pop out. I usually start at the top corner (left or right), and once the top is loose, I move the spatula down about 2/3 of the way to the bottom and pry that part out. Repeat the process on the other side. Just to clarify, you don't HAVE to hard wire for the opener to work, but you DO have to tap into the existing wiring to get the switch to illuminate when you turn the car lights on. Illumination Wiring - On the Windshield Wiper Rheostat switch (or another illuminated switch), look for a blue wire that has red hash marks on it (not a red stripe up the side of the wire). That is a positive (+) line for the icon lighting. Then find a brown wire (ground wire) on the switch, which is the negative (-) wire. Those are your 2 leads to tap into. Illuminating the Switch - The 2 outside vertical spades are the correct ones to use for switch illumination and they will work either in parking or headlight mode. In post #9 by Eric (BumperPlugs) in this thread shows a pic of the Targa Shade switch. That pic actually shows the Shade switch up side down, and it looks like open/closed garage doors. I installed the switch on the left side of my horseshoe so the switch "bump" and closed garage door icon are on the left, and the open garage door icon on the right. All you have to remember is that the positive (+) lead is on the closed garage door side of the switch (the side with the bump) and the negative (-) lead is on the open garage door side of the switch (the flat side). For instructions on wiring your Garage Door Opener to the middle three spades on the switch, check out Kirby's DIY with pics. http://gallery.rennlist.com/gallery/albur29 Hope this helps.

thanks tim for your very detailed instructions... you seem to be DA GUY when it comes to my queries. it is very clear to me now. i did try last night, using the spatula as you suggested to remove the trim piece, and the spatula cracked. it seems the spatula was too brittle and the trim piece too pliable. it gave but not enough and as i kept prying, spatula cracked. i tried a putty knife - a fairly large one 4"?? - but that too was too flexible. i'll try a butter knife as someone suggested in a post tonite. thanks again, tim.... you are my yoda.

You are welcome. I am glad the info helped.

Thanks for the help guys... Did the install in 20 mins last night.. It was pretty straight forward. I just taped into the rear wiper switch for the lighting bc I didnt want to mess with the PSM button.. I didnt want to splice into the LED wires midpoint so I just wrapped and taped the two LED wires to the ends of the spades. Hope it doesnt rattle off.

Yes! The Targa roof swith is two way.....Push it one way for the gate, push it the other way for the garage....All you need is a spare homelink transmitter....I got one for like $10 on ebay from an Audi visor....since it was already designed for 12v power, I EASILY hard wired it into my car, and in my dash....Tapped the illumination and it looks like a completely stock homelink setup that operates my gate and my garage.

I did this with the Targa switch about 18 mo. ago along with the PSE switch. I used clear laquer to "gloss" it. 3 light coats followed by a thick coat. It looks like factory and is holding up excellent. I also did the switch to a friends and had it control his entry gate on one side and the garage on the other. Tom

finally got around to doing the switch install. works well and looks beautiful. for what its worth, when i connected the feed off the rheostat for the illumination, my connections were the opposite of gota911's instructions of running + to the open door icon(the flat side) and - to the close door icon(bumpy side). no biggie but i thought i mention it. thanks all for the assist.

I'm glad you got that working. You were correct about the switch polarity. I had initially listed the wrong polarity of the switch. The positive (+) wire (Blue wire with Red hash marks) should connect to the "closed door" side of the switch (side with the bump) and the negative (-) wire (Brown) should connect to the "open door" (or flat) side of the switch. I have updated my earlier post (#39) to show the correct switch polarity.