I was looking for a use for the third switch blank to the left of the steering wheel. Someone here suggested a remote garage door opener. Great idea! Unfortunately, I can't quite get it to work. The problem is soldering wires to the tiny contacts on the back of the remote circuit board. I watched the KipKay video, and everything but soldering worked fine.

I made three attempts on two remotes, but the contacts were not secure enough to work consistently. Getting the wire soldered to the board wasn't the problem. It was getting it soldered and also making electrical contact.

So, I have a momentary push button installed in that third blank. Now all I need is something for it to operate. I could replace it with an On/Off switch. I just need ideas.

 

Hey Silver -- I don't know if you are experienced in soldering - but one thing that will aid in this problem is typically using a fairly fine tip electric soldering iron and FLUX. Flux will typically aid in cleaning and ensuring a good bond to the contacts... Both these items can be found at the hardware store. For such a small job you won't need very much. My experience has shown that for these small jobs the best method is to dip the tip of the soldering iron into the flux first.. Then apply a small amount of solder to the tip of the iron - not much at all. Then dip the wire from the switch into the flux and then apply the tip of the iron onto the switch wire. This should give you a nice soldered tip to the switch wire... Then re-dip the solder iron into the flux and then heat the solder joint on the circuit board and then attach the switch wire to the circuit board - between the solder on the circuit board and on the switch wire you should be able to get a good bond. Hope that helps...

 

Thanks. I've done quite a bit of soldering, but not with such a tiny target. I think I have flux, but not a fine tip. I've ruined two remotes, and I have just two left, one for each car. I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.

 

get homelink they are fairly compact to get mounted some where hidden.
works well as universal garage opener
search ebay for homelink

 

I'll look into that.

 

SilverEX15, I am not sure how your remote works, but before I installed my Homelink, I was using a momentary on/off switch to close the circuit between the battery and the battery contact on my garage door remote. I soldered one lead to the positive (or negative) terminal of 9 volt battery, and the other to the corresponding battery contact point.
I rigged the remote control so that the button was always depressed. IIRC, I used duct tape and a piece of wood to keep the button held down.
So at this point, whenever I depressed the momentary switch, the circuit would complete. This would activate the remote control, and the garage door would open.
I am not sure if this would work for all garage door openers, but it worked for me.

 

Good idea. You can either get a Homelink mirror or buy a Homelink visor & pull the guts out & install in your Fit.

 

I don't know. $250 for a remote seems a bit high. I'll leave the standard unit on my sun visor.

 

The Fit isn't listed as HomeLink compatible. Is that because it doesn't have the built-in panel for the electronics? I don't understand HomeLink.

 

where did you get $250?
homelink is same as a universal remote.
you can find visor homelink remote that was gutted from other cars on ebay for $15-20
all you need to do is run power to the unit and program the homelink to your garage opener

 

I bought a Homelink visor from an Audi on fleaBay IIRC it was under $50. I took the guts out & used it in my wife's old Subaru.The Homelink mirrors are pricey.

 

Here's where I got the $250 price.

Welcome to MITO-Auto

 

You mean like this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-HOMELINK-TRANSMITTER-GARAGE-DOOR-OPENER-UNIVERSAL-TESTED-ROLLING-CODE-/261590267262?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3ce7feb57e&vxp=mtr

 

yup exactly it just need 12v power source and you can basically program it like a universal garage opener remote

 

Will it work on any garage door, or only those that are compatible with HomeLink?