[Bill-SD]

Are there any tricks to increase the range for the homelink? I have to be right up on my garage for it to open. Anyone else have this problem?

[!Xoible]

put 16" wheels in the back, and 24" in the front to make the car higher up from front so it sends better signal.

[OC Guy]

Sometimes there is a wire on your garage door opener (the overhead one). In my old place, we moved that wire so it was standing up a bit, like an antenna. The range is fine on my homelink, I think it may be your garage opener that is the problem. A way to test that is to go to a friend's house and try to program his garage door opener temporarily (hopefully he has a different brand). I can use mine from the middle of the street FYI.

[e92phreak]

I have great range with my Homelink. In fact, I'm able to open my garage door around the corner LOL...

What kind of garage door opener do you have? I have two Chamberlain belt drive openers, both with great range.

[Nemesis335i]

I have had the issue of programming my homelink. I have tried several times and not been able to get the door to open.

[MB330]

Originally Posted by Nemesis335i

I have had the issue of programming my homelink. I have tried several times and not been able to get the door to open.

Replace battery in your remote cotrol - help me a lot!
Edit: For ppl with ADD --> Replace battery in your Garage Door Opener Remote Control

[!Xoible]

Originally Posted by NIVKI89

Replace battery in remont cotrol - help me a lot!

what? i thought it gets its power from the mirror. what battery?!

[Majick]

Originally Posted by mantisG35

put 16" wheels in the back, and 24" in the front to make the car higher up from front so it sends better signal.

[!Xoible]

Originally Posted by Majick

not really. im missing that he has to stick his chin up to the homelink button before he does it

[noktekniq]

i get horrible range. i can't close from 50 ft away. but i can do like 40

[fer360]

There was an explaination of the limited range a few years ago on the Johnson Controls (the maker for BMW and all other automakers)website.

The device is designed you can't open your garage door unless it is in sight. That is both for saftey (can't close it on someone's body) and for security (so someone can't enter your garage without you seeing them.)

Keep in mind that the remote can be programmed to control almost any x10 certified device(Lights etc) not just a door.

[SGxi]

Originally Posted by Nemesis335i

I have had the issue of programming my homelink. I have tried several times and not been able to get the door to open.

If you have the newer rolling code ones, you need to press the learn button in the garage door opener motor to get it work.

If you have the older style, non-rolling code ones, you need to press and hold your remove and move it the buttons to get the homelink to sync w/ the correct signal (I find if I put it behind the mirror, it gets setup quicker)

[Professor///M]

I don't think there's anything in particular.

You can have a longer antenna placed on your garage door unit

[Professor///M]

Originally Posted by Nemesis335i

I have had the issue of programming my homelink. I have tried several times and not been able to get the door to open.

I had a problem too. I followed the directions intensively using BMW's manual.


What worked for me was printing out instructions for Homelink's website.

Go to Homelink.com and select your BMW and print out the instructions. It will work like a charm.

IT MAY NOT BE YOUR BATTERY

Just wanted to put that out there for you

[halB]

My 6 year old Sears Craftsman belt drive opener with rolling code and premium console (uses the premium console to learn, does not have a learn button on the motor unit) requires two persons to program - after holding an existing remote control close to the mirror and press bottons in both for HomeLink to learn the code, one person has to hold the HomeLink buttom under the mirror while one presses "Light" and one more button on the premium console on the wall to initiate the code rolling. This has to done within 30 seconds. When I did it by myself I used a piece of masking tape to hold the mirror button and ran to the premium console very fast to press the two buttons before the 30-second was up!! LOL

Rangewise I can control it from up to about 50' away. Your actual range may vary depending on how sensitive your receiver circuit is, and how much electromagnetic "noise" or interference exist in your particular area.

[Bill-SD]

My opener is an old Stanley. Don't ask...it came with the house. My wife can open it with the homelink in her Infiniti from down the street. I like to back into the garage. If I turn the car around to back in, the door won't open from the bottom of the driveway. The driveway is kind of a steep angle, but it is short. I did straighten out the antenna that comes out of the bottom of the opener. I wonder if I can splice another wire to it to give it more range

[halB]

For maximum efficiency the length of the antenna should be exactly one wavelength, half wavelength, or a quarter wavelength, and nothing in between. For a common place 390MHz garage opener full wavelength is 76.9cm or 2.5 ft. You can use one of these calculators:

http://www.1728.com/freqwave.htm

http://www.csgnetwork.com/freqwavelengthcalc.html

[Bubbles]

One thing I noticed was BMW's range seems to be limited. My old infiniti had a homelink mirror which range was about double of my 335i (the garage and gate remained the same). Not sure why.

[EHDEN]

[msimon18]

Mine operates at >200 feet with a 1/4 wavelength antenna hanging down freely from the opener. The Homelink device in the BMW will not vary, unit to unit, as the only difference is the receiver (on your opener) and hence the garage door opener itself.

Different manufacturers openers have different sensitivities to the Homelink (or opener) remote signal. Issues that affect the reception include receiving antenna, prevalent radio and other RF signals in the air around your home, weather conditions, metal vs. wood garage door ..... and others. Generally the battery is not the culprit here as (1) Homelink operates on a fixed DC voltage form the cars electrical system and (2) the openers remote usually uses a high quality battery that has a steep discharge curve meaning that when it starts to go dead it is usually dead very soon after.

My experience with Homelink and several different garage door openers over the past 10+ years is that you should get AT LEAST the same distance with Homelink as you get with your openers remote. One way to increase sensitivity and hence distance (a little) is to change from a 1/4 wave antenna on the receiver to a full wave antenna on the receiver. Someone has already posted info on this earlier in ths thread so I will not be redundant.

Good luck.

[poiney]

Two strikes against the homelink (3 if you include it is a PITA to program):
1) the range is reduced
2) you periodically move your mirror accidentally because of its location.

I would go back to using my controller, except I feel like I paid for this "feature"

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by poiney

Two strikes against the homelink (3 if you include it is a PITA to program):
1) the range is reduced
2) you periodically move your mirror accidentally because of its location.

I would go back to using my controller, except I feel like I paid for this "feature"

I agree with your number 2, maybe I need to be a bit more delicate. I wonder if there is a way to torx down the mirror to make it less prone to movement?