DIY Stealth Garage Door Opener Button

[PatrickJohnson]

So, I was tired of keeping up with my garage door opener. I had stashed it in my driver's side glove box for the last year with some velcro, but i'm too lazy to keep opening up the glove box to open the garage. So, I dismantled my garage door opener to see how it works and see if I can rig up a nice, stock looking button on my door to use. It was easier than I thought it would be...

Here is my garage door opener dismantled. Although openers vary, almost all of them use the same basic topology: a momentary switch closes a circuit which triggers the signal sent to the opener to open/close the door. As a bonus, the board for the opener switch has pads for more switches right on the board. The pictures were taken after I had already soldered wires to the switch pads:


I then wired up the switch:

A quick test.... SUCCESS!
so then i started to decide where to mount the switch. The optimal place IMHO is in the push-button start button cover. But I had already mounted my cruise control switches there, so I opted for another good location, the forward most door sill trim piece:




Works like a charm! I used the same popular black momentary switch we all seem to be buying from radio shack. I drilled the hole just slightly too big, so I used a thin nylon washer I had lying around (after painting it flat black) to mount the switch, and i think it looks COOL...

I tucked the board for the opener down in between the factory door panel pad and the door panel.

[rningonfumes]

Nice and clean!

[yaris-me]

Good idea.

[counterfiend]

thats is awesome, couldnt you wire this into a power source in the car so you could null out the battery? use some resisters to bring it down to a propper level so you wont have to worry about doing anthing

[IsLNdbOi]

Nice.

I've been looking for a way to hide the garage opener too. I have to wait though. Not sure how much longer I'll be staying at this house. New house will probably have a newer garage opener model and remote.

[eTiMaGo]

hahahaha nice! I've been meaning to do this for ages but too lazy And mine runs off a lil 12V battery, even better...

[Sodium Duck]

Can you post pictures of your cruise control too? (sorry to get off topic)

[PatrickJohnson]

the cruise control is pictured in the DIY cruise control thread... search is your friend.

At some point I'll probably power it from the car, but mine is a 3 volt, so I have to build a little voltage divider circuit first. One day when i'm bored...

[Revsson]

That's a nice mod.
How about an antenna to extend the range? (might not be legal)

I live in an apartment and don't think the landlord would appreciate me
modifying the door opener.

[nickhjort]

There is a very popular garage door opener mod on my Yamaha R1 forums. It does exactly the same thing, but ties the switch into the high beams. So all you have to do is pull up, flash your highs and you're good to go. Flash once again to close it behind you :) Check it out. It has the 3V power source converter plans too...

HIGH BEAM GARAGE DOOR OPENER MOD

[Sodium Duck]

Originally Posted by Revsson

That's a nice mod.
How about an antenna to extend the range? (might not be legal)

I live in an apartment and don't think the landlord would appreciate me
modifying the door opener.

Don't they sell universal garage door openers? Or you could just pick up a replacement remote from the manufacturer.

[IsLNdbOi]

PatrickJohnson, would either of these switches:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1838/

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1909/


be too big for where you mounted your switch?

Also, can anyone here make one of those 12v to 3v converters?

[PatrickJohnson]

those switches are fine in size, but they are on/off toggles, you need momentary switch

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by IsLNdbOi

PatrickJohnson, would either of these switches:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1838/

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1909/


be too big for where you mounted your switch?

Also, can anyone here make one of those 12v to 3v converters?

Here's an off the shelf 12V to 3V adapter:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...ADAPTER/1.html

[IsLNdbOi]

Originally Posted by PatrickJohnson

those switches are fine in size, but they are on/off toggles, you need momentary switch

Cool. What about these?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6512/
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6099/

Originally Posted by CTScott

Here's an off the shelf 12V to 3V adapter:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...ADAPTER/1.html

Cool. How would I use that? It's kind of large. I'm guessing I'd have to gut it and set the switch to 3V then make the connection from one of the car's 12V power wires to the 3V battery receptacle on the garage door opener then just connect the same 12 power wire from the car to the 12V LED on the power switch to get the illumination.

Would a power wire going to one of the power door locks or window switches work with this?

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by IsLNdbOi

Cool. What about these?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6512/
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6099/



Cool. How would I use that? It's kind of large. I'm guessing I'd have to gut it and set the switch to 3V then make the connection from one of the car's 12V power wires to the 3V battery receptacle on the garage door opener then just connect the same 12 power wire from the car to the 12V LED on the power switch to get the illumination.

Would a power wire going to one of the power door locks or window switches work with this?

Correct on the wiring of the power adapter. With the plastic removed, the circuit board would be very small.

Those switches would be fine.

You'd probably want to grab two separate power sources. Ignition switched power (or maybe dimmer output) for the LED and always on for the opener supply.

[IsLNdbOi]

Thanks CTScott. Do you know offhand if there are ignition switched and constant 12v power wires going to the power door locks and windows switches?

The power door locks work even when the key isn't in the car (if you're in the car and press the door lock switch when the car is off, the doors still lock / unlock). The power window switches don't though.

[PatrickJohnson]

Originally Posted by IsLNdbOi

Cool. What about these?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6512/
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6099/

YES! Those will work and look great. You'll just have to run a little power to it to run the illumination. If you are going to use the spot i did to mount it, it should be easy to tap the illumination off the dimmer rheostat so that it brightens/dims with the other interior lights

Cool. How would I use that? It's kind of large. I'm guessing I'd have to gut it and set the switch to 3V then make the connection from one of the car's 12V power wires to the 3V battery receptacle on the garage door opener then just connect the same 12 power wire from the car to the 12V LED on the power switch to get the illumination.

Would a power wire going to one of the power door locks or window switches work with this?

this is a better (though more expensive) solution:
http://www.dimensionengineering.com/AnyVoltMicro.htm

but if i were to get the one CTScott posted, I would crack open the cig plug part (after switching it to 3 volts) and mount that board near the garage door opener board on the inside of the door. then I would run wires from the power points that went to the plug connections down to a +12v spot on the fuse block.

Then clip the wire part of the power board to a suitable length and wire it to the battery pads on the open remote board. make sure to remove the battery on the remote board, or else you will be sending 6 volts (2 3 volt supplies in parallel) and will likely mess up the opener.