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Auto Homelink issues?
- Thread starter tliving
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- Model S User Interface
Forty Creek
Member
Ditto. Working flawlessly now after resetting the homelink setting (with front of car only a couple of feet from the garage door).
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
I still think the Auto Homelink process's GPS routine is "assisted" by seeing the home wifi connected. Similar to "phantom chargers", every time they I've noticed them, the car wasn't connected to the wifi.
Lost me on that, particularly the part about it seeing the home wifi connectivity.
beeeerock
Active Member
I'm seeing odd behaviour on both arrival and departure.
On arrival, the auto-open function appears reliably. However, I find that the door often begins to lift, then stops about 6 or 8" up. Odd. Almost as if Homelink sent the signal twice and the second signal served to stop it (as it should). I'm not sure if this is a problem with the door being almost perpendicular to the car as I arrive on the street, or if snowbanks are messing with the signal. Frustrating anyway. I've reset the location a few times, to be right in the driveway, but the function still triggers out on the street.
Departure is hit and miss. I can't work out what sequence of events might be causing it to fail (or work for that matter). Simple logic would suggest that if the car leaves the garage, the door is in the up position... Duh! Therefore, why would it matter whether you lift the door with the wall switch or from the car? And clearly, if the car knows it entered the garage when last driven, it must therefore assume when it moves next (in the opposite direction), it's leaving the garage. It just doesn't seem like the logic should be that hard to code.
On arrival, the auto-open function appears reliably. However, I find that the door often begins to lift, then stops about 6 or 8" up. Odd. Almost as if Homelink sent the signal twice and the second signal served to stop it (as it should). I'm not sure if this is a problem with the door being almost perpendicular to the car as I arrive on the street, or if snowbanks are messing with the signal. Frustrating anyway. I've reset the location a few times, to be right in the driveway, but the function still triggers out on the street.
Departure is hit and miss. I can't work out what sequence of events might be causing it to fail (or work for that matter). Simple logic would suggest that if the car leaves the garage, the door is in the up position... Duh! Therefore, why would it matter whether you lift the door with the wall switch or from the car? And clearly, if the car knows it entered the garage when last driven, it must therefore assume when it moves next (in the opposite direction), it's leaving the garage. It just doesn't seem like the logic should be that hard to code.
The Release Notes are somewhat vague, saying that Auto-Close will close the door "when you leave your home." The Owner's Manual is more precise, saying that it closes the door automatically as you "drive away".
Andyw2100
Well-Known Member
You can bang your head against the wall, say "This is how it should work", and keep struggling with it. Or you can incorporate what Cyclone figured out, which is the way it is actually programmed for now, and where it in fact does matter whether you open the garage door from inside the car or not.
In a nutshell, what Cyclone figured out is that the car will only send a signal automatically once per time the car has been powered on.
So if you get in your car in your garage, turn it on, and open your garage door to leave, the car is not going to close the garage door for you. On the other hand, assuming it is set up properly and otherwise working, if you either open the garage door using the wall opener, or get in the car and open the garage door using the Homelink button, but do it before you have actually powered the car on, when you pull out of your garage the car very well may close the garage door for you. You will know as soon as you power the car on if it will or it won't, as if it will, you will have the Homelink screen up, with the countdown / skip option showing. If that isn't up, the car isn't going to close the garage door for you when you leave.
Do I think this needs tweaking by Tesla? Of course. But when you write above "Why would it matter..." it makes it sound like you think it shouldn't matter, and are unaware of the fact that it has been pretty conclusively determined that for now, due to the way Tesla programmed this, it just does.
Users shouldn't have to care. Shouldn't take a software engineer to figure out how the car does/doesn't work then tell Tesla how to do it right.
beeeerock
Active Member
Interesting. I did read this upthread after doing my own experiments. FWIW I tried using the Homelink control perhaps twice to open the door while parked inside. That was just to see if it NEEDED that process to trigger the auto close function. My less-than-scientific conclusion: No. Every other time, the door has been opened via the wall switch as per my habit. And that procedure has been hit and miss. So I'm not sure if I can say Cyclone's answer is the whole story... although it certainly seems reasonable.
Perhaps the same programming group responsible for the trip planning looked after this feature...
Andyw2100
Well-Known Member
Did you see me defending Tesla? I was just trying to help beeeerock, and others who are still struggling with this until such time as Tesla fixes it.
For now people who don't have it working can pout and complain about why they shouldn't have to jump trough hoops to get it to work, or they can jump through the hoops and have it work. I was trying to help with the hoop-jumping.
I'm with you 100% that Tesla can and should do better.
beeeerock
Active Member
Absolutely. The possible situations faced by users are limited. The logic shouldn't be that tough to nail down.
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
If you or someone you know has an iPhone, you can test this. Turn off wifi and then open an app that uses GPS. The phone will complain that GPS accuracy is better with wifi. I.e., the phone can use the wifi networks it sees in range to help assist the calibration of the GPS and determine its location better.
I suspect similar things happen in our cars and when the car can see your home wifi network, it more accurately thinks it is at home vs. a neighbors house and this may help Homelink.
As an experiment, I deleted my home wifi from the car for a week. Homelink stopped working every time and one time I got a "visited charger" a couple doors down from my house. Since connecting to my home wifi again, Auto Homelink has been flawless for me. Perhaps this is a coincidence, but it didn't hurt anything either, so my car is programmed to connect.
Okay I see what you're saying now, thanks. In my case it's working fine too. Homelink also detects my location a few houses in either direction before I come in range of my own network but I'll test it out.
Soolim
Member
I guess Tesla program it this way:
1. Your car does not know what is the state of your garage door (open or close)
2. Upon arriving at the geolocation of your home (mine is detected 20 ft from the garage door), your car issues a command to activate the garage door. If it is open, it will close. Most likely it is closed so it will open.
3. When the car is power cycled from off to on at your geolocation, it knows the car is at home. The Home Link countdown starts when you put the car on drive or reverse. Once you move your car by 15 ft, your car issues another command to activate the garage door. If it is previously open, it will close.
If auto-open on arrival works but auto-close for departure does not work. Reset your geolocation while the car is parked inside your garage. YMMV.
Try using the wall button to close the garage door after arrival, and to open the garage door prior to departure. I think this simplifies matter. This has been working for me since day 1.
1. Your car does not know what is the state of your garage door (open or close)
2. Upon arriving at the geolocation of your home (mine is detected 20 ft from the garage door), your car issues a command to activate the garage door. If it is open, it will close. Most likely it is closed so it will open.
3. When the car is power cycled from off to on at your geolocation, it knows the car is at home. The Home Link countdown starts when you put the car on drive or reverse. Once you move your car by 15 ft, your car issues another command to activate the garage door. If it is previously open, it will close.
If auto-open on arrival works but auto-close for departure does not work. Reset your geolocation while the car is parked inside your garage. YMMV.
Try using the wall button to close the garage door after arrival, and to open the garage door prior to departure. I think this simplifies matter. This has been working for me since day 1.
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Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
I would just add 4. The command will only activate once per power cycle. So if you pull up to your house and the garage door opens, you must exit the vehicle and get back in before it will auto-close. So if you had a passenger go inside to grab something, you won't get auto-close.
I tested that Saturday night. Pulled into the garage, put car in park but stayed in the car while my wife went in to get something she forgot and when I pull back out the counter displayed and the garage closed. Strange that you and I got different results.
