Programming Garage Door Opener...

[Anonymous]

I have three garage doors and was missing this capability from our other cars. Plus I have one newer rolling code door and two older door remotes with the dip-switch settings. This after-market Homelink remote is working for all three doors. The buttons illuminate nicely at night. I bought it on Amazon and had it installed by one of the Car Toys shops in the Seattle area. $206 on Amazon and a similar amount before sales tax to install. Not cheap, but I'm happy. The headliner is a bit doughy in that area, but the remote itself stiffens it a bit. If you feel comfortable running the wiring harness, it might be easy to install yourself. I believe my installer used two of the 3 black foam gaskets to get a snug fit when snapping the buttons onto the HomeLink module, which then compresses onto the headliner around the perimeter of the hole that you have cut. Good installation instructions.

https://www.amazon.com/HomeLink-60-...-Headliner/dp/B00A79G9FY/?tag=myelecarfor-20&

 

[Anonymous]

I watched the video and I read the instructions in the owner's manual, but I cannot make it work. I have an older Genie opener that operates at 390 Mhz with 9 dip switches.
At the end-point where the indicator is supposed to start flashing rapidly, instead the indicator stops flashing slowly and just lights up solid without flashing. From video I noticed that you are supposed to push the start run button without starting the car to begin the process, which I did, but it still refuses to learn the code. This is very frustrating about my garage door opener.

 

[dcp123]

I am using GarageMate on my door: https://bluemate.com/
Works great. I got the kit and installed it myself

I'm glad that works for you, but I open my garage as I roll up to the house. Grabbing my phone, unlocking it, opening the app or finding a widget (if it has one) and pressing the button to open the door, all on a touchscreen is an awful lot of time with my eyes of the road. I'd probably hit a parked car or a tree.

I'll have to find something not too ugly with a physical button (those work by feel and are much safer) that I can mount in easy reach. Maybe on the visor, but hopefully not one those huge old-school ones that clamps on a mirror but is the size of 2-3 decks of cards.

I honestly don't remember the last time was that I had a car without this basic feature, but it was more than a decade ago.

 

[dcp123]

Or keep the tiny aftermarket one on your keychain, if you are worried about someone stealing it. I think that's why they call it a keychain remote. It's smaller than the Bolt key.

I actually have a keychain remote from about 15 years ago when I had a car with no built-in remote, but in that car, my keys were conveniently hanging out of the ignition. In the Bolt, they're in my pocket and if I rummage around for them, I'll have an accident or end up sitting in front of the garage wasting time instead of rolling right in.

I'll get something and mount it somewhere convenient, but it's a hassle and it's just a piece of clutter in the car that should be built-In and will be ugly, although not as ugly as those weird inserts in the dash. Anyone try painting those black or something?

There's no sugar coating it, not including an opener was an obnoxious way for GM to give Bolt drivers the finger.

The hardware and installation would probably cost about $2 in a car with wiring already going to the mirror and mine has autodimming mirrors. In a car with no electronics in the mirror, it might add as much as $10 to the manufacturing costs. If there's a licensing fee, that might add another $5m. The ONLY reason car makers don't install cheap stuff like this standard is because they want to signal that this is a cheap car in the hopes of getting you to buy an expensive option package, a higher trim level, or a more expensive model.

Cool. Everybody needs to make money somehow, but it doesn't make sense with the Bolt. I bought both option packages offered on the LT and there's no option at either trim level that includes this cheap basic feature. And Chevy doesn't sell a more upmarket EV. So, they've omitted a feature that would cost them about $10 and would be worth maybe $200 to people with a garage that they use to park cars in and maybe $50 on average, assuming a lot of people don't have garages or use them for storage. And GM did this to a vehicle with basically no opportunity for upsale. GM doesn't sell an EV with a garage opener and nobody (in their right mind) goes to buy a Bolt and drives out with an Escalade or whatever other cars GM feels are premium enough to rate a $10 opener.

That's just dumb. Anyway, I'm off to amazon to buy some cruddy clip-on garage remote.

 

[devbolt]

My 2005 Prius came with a Homelink compatible rear view mirror. My 2012 Plug-in Prius base model didn’t have one. In order get a homelink compatible mirror, I would’ve had to upgrade to the Advanced model which was $8000 more (~$40K versus ~$32K).while I would have gotten some additional desired features, like adapative cruise control and a better navigation unit, I opted for the cheaper version and consoled myself by using the remote that came with the garage door opener.

Same opener is being used in the Bolt. It’s really not such a huge deal.

First world problem...

 

[dcp123]

Update: I got the new mirror today, and it installed easily and works on my Bolt LT with autodimming mirror. Below is a text only description of the process. For relevant photos see the gm-volt thread above.

BTW, someone asked why go to the trouble and why not just use garage door remotes? In my case, there are three different remotes needed. Homelink on the mirror is a more elegant solution, plus it is what we are used to coming from the Nissan Leaf.

Cheers, Wayne

Thanks for this, Wayne. Just to be clear after you did all this, if you wanted to, you wouldn't expect to have any problems reinstalling the factory mirror, right? I'm tempted to do this, but am hoping not to damage anything so I can return the car to its original condition if the aftermarket mirror doesn't work out for me for some reason.

My wife has some car snob tendencies and I think she's looking for reasons not to like the Bolt. Lacking a garage door opener would be plenty of reason and having an ugly clip-on remote would be one strike against the car.

 

[wwhitney]

Just to be clear after you did all this, if you wanted to, you wouldn't expect to have any problems reinstalling the factory mirror, right?

Nope, I wouldn't expect any problems. I don't recall having had to make any non reversible alterations, and so unless my post a year says otherwise, I believe it would be entirely reversible. Not that I'd have any reason to reverse it, it works perfectly.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[dcp123]

Just to be clear after you did all this, if you wanted to, you wouldn't expect to have any problems reinstalling the factory mirror, right?

Nope, I wouldn't expect any problems. I don't recall having had to make any non reversible alterations, and so unless my post a year says otherwise, I believe it would be entirely reversible. Not that I'd have any reason to reverse it, it works perfectly.

Cheers, Wayne

Great. Thanks for the information.