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      04-02-2019, 11:21 PM   #1
TaranF32
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DIY Garage Door/Gate Opener

Unfortunately my car did not come with the HomeLink garage door opener as an option, it's quite rare in the UK but seems popular in the US. I thought it'd be very convenient to have a button in the car to open the electric gates at our house, instead of fumbling around for the fob. The cost of retrofitting the OEM homelink mirror and wiring it seemed far too much effort, so I went for a DIY job. Mounting a switch on the drivers side window switch panel, using the free space. Here's what it looks like, completed:


Here's a quick guide I made up...
FYI, I'm not a technical expert or a professional, just a weekend warrior. Apologies if the soldering is a bit crap haha

Thing's you'll need:
Trim removal tools
Drill and drill bits
Soldering iron and solder
SPST switch
Wire
Garage door/gate opener fob

Firstly, you'll want to open up your fob and using a multimeter find which contact points make the circuit. Once those are identified, solder two pieces of wire to them.



Go on ebay and have a look at some "push to make" switches, loads of different styles and variations so choose which style you like. I liked this one as it looks very OEM.


Once you've done that you'll need somewhere to mount the switch. Loads of places in the car, I could've mounted it by the dome lights but the window panel seemed easier. To remove the window switch panel, I chanced it and removed it using trim panel removal tools. I got lucky and didn't break any clips, some would recommend removing the door card.


This is the area in which we're going to drill through for the switch, BMW have been incredibly kind and even marked out the centre for us!


Start with a small drill bit and work your way up to a larger size, when purchasing a switch on eBay it should tell you the diameter which you need to drill, mine was 13mm.




My drill bit set only went up to 10mm, so I used a file to make the hole larger, It doesn't matter if it's not perfectly round, just so long as the switch fits through.


Test fit it and make sure it's secure. Mine moved around a little bit, so I used some hot glue to keep it in place.



Now you'll want to solder the switch to your fob. As the switch is secured/glued in place you'll have to do this carefully.



Once it's soldered, give it a test and check to make sure it works. If it does then we're ready to put it back in the car!
It fit's quite nicely in the gap provided.


Push it back in and it should clip in perfectly.


I'm very happy with how this turned out, was a lot cheaper than retrofitting the Homelink mirror and it looks perfectly OEM to me. I very much doubt anyone would notice it's any different!
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      04-03-2019, 07:18 AM   #2
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Nice work. Looks good!
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      09-14-2021, 10:03 AM   #3
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Good work. However, you could have bought the Homelink mirror for about £150 from BMW, as thats what I did. It is a 2 minute job as its plug and play.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=03_5107
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