Auto Homelink issues?

[mspohr]

The auto open/close works great in most cases, and once I got used to it, I stopped looking at the console screen when pulling in and out of the garage.

And, that's a problem...

The auto open/close works great - when you have only one car using the garage door and you are leaving/arriving at the garage. But, if you have any variants, that automatic open/close creates unexpected results - and because you quickly get trained not to check the touchscreen when driving to/from the garage door, you forget that the door will be sent a command to open/close.

For example, if the garage door is already open when you approach it, the command will be sent to "open" the door - and since the door is already open, the door will start closing as you are entering the garage. As long as the door opener has a working and properly configured sensor at the bottom of the door, the door closing sequence should be aborted. But if there's a problem with that sensor - or there isn't a sensor, there is a risk the door will hit the car, as the car is entering the garage.

Like the auto-air suspension system - the auto open/close should provide an indication on the dashboard when something is being done affecting the driving conditions. Since you quickly learn to stop looking at the touchscreen when approaching/leaving the garage (and rely on the auto open/close), having something displayed on the dashboard would increase the likelihood of noticing that the car was doing something automatically for you - and warn you if it was something you didn't intend.

I'm not sure moving the notification to the dashboard would make much difference. Just as easy to ignore it there. Maybe an audible warning?
Also,the MyQ system knows if the door is open or closed and the car could make an informed decision to move the door (or not).

 

[Soolim]

The auto open/close works great in most cases, and once I got used to it, I stopped looking at the console screen when pulling in and out of the garage.

And, that's a problem...

The auto open/close works great - when you have only one car using the garage door and you are leaving/arriving at the garage. But, if you have any variants, that automatic open/close creates unexpected results - and because you quickly get trained not to check the touchscreen when driving to/from the garage door, you forget that the door will be sent a command to open/close.

For example, if the garage door is already open when you approach it, the command will be sent to "open" the door - and since the door is already open, the door will start closing as you are entering the garage. As long as the door opener has a working and properly configured sensor at the bottom of the door, the door closing sequence should be aborted. But if there's a problem with that sensor - or there isn't a sensor, there is a risk the door will hit the car, as the car is entering the garage.

Like the auto-air suspension system - the auto open/close should provide an indication on the dashboard when something is being done affecting the driving conditions. Since you quickly learn to stop looking at the touchscreen when approaching/leaving the garage (and rely on the auto open/close), having something displayed on the dashboard would increase the likelihood of noticing that the car was doing something automatically for you - and warn you if it was something you didn't intend.

As you approach the garage, watch what the door is doing! If it is opening, continue to proceed. If it is closing, stop and reopen using homelink. I watch the door more than the touch screen. The door is the reality.

 

[BertL]

As you approach the garage, watch what the door is doing! If it is opening, continue to proceed. If it is closing, stop and reopen using homelink. I watch the door more than the touch screen. The door is the reality.

Me too. I tend to always glance at the "countdown" on the Homelink dropdown when it first appears, but I still always look and watch my physical garage door as the true reality like I always have.

MyQ is fine as a future improvement -- I get that could be a boon for newer doors and those that want to spend the $100+ or so to add it to some existing doors, but the reality is most garage doors today do not have MyQ. The MS owner then is faced with the decision to use what Tesla has provided, or just keep it turned off as is the default, should they find it a nuisance or not working the way they would prefer. Tesla of course can always add improvements, but PLEASE make Homelink tweaks AFTER other acknowledged bug fixes and more important things like Nav and Media Player. Homelink is nice and I use the new auto features every time I go in/out of my garage, but it's not as important as fixing a lot of other things first.

 

[AWDtsla]

Like the auto-air suspension system - the auto open/close should provide an indication on the dashboard when something is being done affecting the driving conditions.

I wouldn't use the air suspension as a model of how to do things. It can be quite annoying at times with it's "smart" behavior. Exceed 35 mph between several tall obstacles? Well let's just lower the suspension for you.. Yeah how about NOT? It also does not have good dynamic location settings, i.e. does not use speed and location into account to raise the suspension to where you need it exactly when you need it. Sort of like my garage door opening way too early.

 

[mknox]

Tried it again but ended up turning it back off. For some reason it will always open the door when I arrive but almost never close it when I leave. It already presents the drop-down with the button, so I guess I'll just have to slum it and reach up to tap the screen.

 

[Andyw2100]

I'm not sure moving the notification to the dashboard would make much difference. Just as easy to ignore it there. Maybe an audible warning?
Also,the MyQ system knows if the door is open or closed and the car could make an informed decision to move the door (or not).

I could be wrong, but wouldn't Tesla have to pay Liftmaster for the rights to incorporate anything involving MyQ? My guess is that if that's the case, it just isn't / wouldn't be worth it to Tesla.

 

[apacheguy]

Tried it again but ended up turning it back off. For some reason it will always open the door when I arrive but almost never close it when I leave. It already presents the drop-down with the button, so I guess I'll just have to slum it and reach up to tap the screen.

Yup, same here. It has auto closed properly 1 out of 6 trials with the new firmware for me. Wonder if we have a bug that's somehow carried over from earlier firmwares? And others don't because their Model S never saw those earlier firmware revs?

 

[Soolim]

Yup, same here. It has auto closed properly 1 out of 6 trials with the new firmware for me. Wonder if we have a bug that's somehow carried over from earlier firmwares? And others don't because their Model S never saw those earlier firmware revs?

Have ever tried resetting your location to be some distance AWAY from your garage?

 

[msnow]

I could be wrong, but wouldn't Tesla have to pay Liftmaster for the rights to incorporate anything involving MyQ? My guess is that if that's the case, it just isn't / wouldn't be worth it to Tesla.

No they wouldn't have to pay anything. It's designed the accept Homelink signals.

 

[apacheguy]

Have ever tried resetting your location to be some distance AWAY from your garage?

It triggers perfectly for auto open. Given that I pass thru exactly the same geo fence when I back out I don't see what resetting the location would do.

 

[ohmman]

It triggers perfectly for auto open. Given that I pass thru exactly the same geo fence when I back out I don't see what resetting the location would do.

Interestingly, my auto-close triggers sooner than my auto-open. Similarly, my gate triggers within about 20-30 feet of the gate on each side. I am assuming that's just the radius they've assigned to the GPS location.. but it may make a difference.

Mine continues to work all the time after the SC appointment.. and I didn't reset my location. So who knows.

 

[mknox]

Mine continues to work all the time after the SC appointment.. and I didn't reset my location. So who knows.

Mine's at the SC today. They didn't turn Remote Access off and I got a notice that "New Software is Available" followed by "Software Installation Complete" messages on my phone. I thought I already had the latest version, but maybe I'll have to give it another go once I get my car back.

 

[Soolim]

It triggers perfectly for auto open. Given that I pass thru exactly the same geo fence when I back out I don't see what resetting the location would do.

My location is set to be about 40 ft from the garage door. It starts opening as I move past that location. By the time I reach the garage, the door is fully open, no need to stop and wait.
When leaving the garage, the door starts closing when I just barely exited the garage. In other words, car does not wait to reach the set location to start closing.
I believe one member tried this and it worked for him. YMMV

 

[mknox]

When leaving the garage, the door starts closing when I just barely exited the garage.

My problem is most of the time it doesn't even try. The one in twenty time it does, I get the little "abort" button like I do when it's auto opening, so that's how I know it's not even trying. No idea why this would be, other than when the car is in the garage, I open the door from the house (no easy way to get into the garage other than through the big door).

Do you think the car itself has to open the door from inside the garage in order for it to know to close it when you back out?

 

[ohmman]

Do you think the car itself has to open the door from inside the garage in order for it to know to close it when you back out?

It does not. I open and close the garage door with my wall button daily and it still self-closes on back-out. So the arguments for statefulness are probably not quite accurate. My coming-home flow looks something like:

Up the drive, auto-open works on the gate
Keep driving, auto-open works on my garage door
Park, get out, close the door right away or later in the evening with the wall button
Next morning, open with the wall button, put the car in reverse... auto-close works as soon as I back out.

 

[Soolim]

My problem is most of the time it doesn't even try. The one in twenty time it does, I get the little "abort" button like I do when it's auto opening, so that's how I know it's not even trying. No idea why this would be, other than when the car is in the garage, I open the door from the house (no easy way to get into the garage other than through the big door).

Do you think the car itself has to open the door from inside the garage in order for it to know to close it when you back out?

When you say "abort" you mean "skip" right? MikeBur had earlier reported that pressing "skip" during auto-close caused him to experience repeated "skip", i.e. auto-close not working. He cleared his auto homelink and reset the location. It worked for him from then on.

Auto-close works even when wall button is used to open garage. So it is not a requirement to open from inside the car.

 

[Andyw2100]

I could be wrong, but wouldn't Tesla have to pay Liftmaster for the rights to incorporate anything involving MyQ? My guess is that if that's the case, it just isn't / wouldn't be worth it to Tesla.

No they wouldn't have to pay anything. It's designed the accept Homelink signals.

While still acknowledging I could be mistaken on some of this, I'm not sure how the "accepting Homelink signals" factors in to your being sure Tesla wouldn't have to pay if Tesla wanted to do something that directly accessed MyQ's ability to inform about the open or closed state of the garage door. I'm not sure how your MyQ system works with Homelink, but for mine, I programmed one Homelink button from one garage remote button. The same Homelink button is used to open and close the garage door, just as the same garage remote control button serves both functions. The state of the door is not relevant information to either the Homelink system or the garage remote control.

What I'm saying is that the features of MyQ that indicate whether the door is open or closed--the data the Liftmaster MyQ app accesses--is not being accessed by Homelink. I still think it is likely that if Tesla wanted access to the data that the Liftmaster MyQ app accesses to be able to tell whether or not a door is open or closed, Tesla would probably have to pay some sort of fee for that access.

 

[AWDtsla]

A clever developer wouldn't need bidirectional communication with the GDO. The car knows it's location precisely, and the location of the garage spot precisely, it can tell if the door is open or not with ultrasonics. Just a bit of if's and else's will do it.

 

[msnow]

While still acknowledging I could be mistaken on some of this, I'm not sure how the "accepting Homelink signals" factors in to your being sure Tesla wouldn't have to pay if Tesla wanted to do something that directly accessed MyQ's ability to inform about the open or closed state of the garage door. I'm not sure how your MyQ system works with Homelink, but for mine, I programmed one Homelink button from one garage remote button. The same Homelink button is used to open and close the garage door, just as the same garage remote control button serves both functions. The state of the door is not relevant information to either the Homelink system or the garage remote control.

What I'm saying is that the features of MyQ that indicate whether the door is open or closed--the data the Liftmaster MyQ app accesses--is not being accessed by Homelink. I still think it is likely that if Tesla wanted access to the data that the Liftmaster MyQ app accesses to be able to tell whether or not a door is open or closed, Tesla would probably have to pay some sort of fee for that access.

That's a different question and for informing on the door status I don't know.

 

[Andyw2100]

That's a different question and for informing on the door status I don't know.

It's not a different question at all. It's what my original comment was in response to, and you then responded to that.

The original statement is below:

Also,the MyQ system knows if the door is open or closed and the car could make an informed decision to move the door (or not).

My point was that to have the information from the MyQ system as to whether or not the door was open or not would probably require that Tesla pay for the rights to integrate somehow with MyQ. You responded to that post by saying MyQ could handle Homelink commands, so Tesla would not have to pay. I pointed out the irrelevancy of being able to handle Homelink commands with respect to knowing if a door was open or not, at which point you then wrote the above.