Auto Homelink issues?

[Cyclone]

I have issues with auto-close and I do have wifi connected.

Having said that, I believe you are misunderstanding how AGPS works. The wifi antenna simply has to be enabled so that it scans for available networks. It need not be connected. What your iphone does is it uploads the MAC addresses of the nearby wifi networks even if it is not connected to wifi. The server receives this upload and matches the known locations for those APs and triangulates your position. This is especially useful in dense cities where GPS coverage may be hindered. Thus, I am skeptical that have the wifi connected to your home network provides useful location data by itself.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I agree with your description of AGPS. I was suggesting that Tesla wasn't using AGPS in its normal fashion (any network in range), but comparing the list of only its known networks instead, regardless of whether it actually successfully connects or not. But it still just conjecture on my part.

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I didn't see anything to indicate Tesla was using wifi for location services. I know this because yesterday for some reason the GPS lock was WAY off. Like probably a thousand feet. Therefore neither the auto-open or auto-close triggered. The car logged into wifi and the location did not change. In fact it took about of minute of driving to get the GPS back on track this morning.

It was conjecture on my part. The only time I had any phantom chargers and auto-open/close problems was when I deleted the known networks on wifi. Anecdotal yes, but all I could come up with given my success and others having such problems with it.

The only other thing (off the top of my head) I can think of is that the car simply often doesn't maintain a GPS lock for some users and there is sadly nothing the owners can do to improve that.

 

[zwede]

The only other thing (off the top of my head) I can think of is that the car simply often doesn't maintain a GPS lock for some users and there is sadly nothing the owners can do to improve that.

I've checked the phone app while parked in my garage, and it displays the correct address. The car knows where it is, but still won't auto-close. The problem is something else.

 

[Soolim]

If I get in, touch the brake, then put on my seatbelt, sort out my phone and generally dilly-dally for a short moment, I will get the dropdown when I finally select reverse.

My theory is: Your dilly-dally is allowing time for the car to get the GPS. If you do not need to dilly-dally when you are parked outside your garage (assuming you then have a better GPS signal) then maybe the GPS signal strength does have some bearing on the auto-close.

Until now, we don't seem to care about GPS when we are home in the garage, but if S needs the good GPS signal to work the auto-close, it just opens a new tinkering project for some, a GPS repeater kit at $50<.

If GPS signal is in fact the culprit inside your garage (after you exhausted all other avenues), here is a link for experiment by the desperate:wink:
Amazon.com: GPS Antenna Receiver Repeater: GPS Navigation

 

[brec]

... Regarding the "close" operation... that is automatically determined by the start point of the car, parked in your garage. You get in the car, hit the Homelink button to open the door, and put the car in reverse. Right then, the car should start the 20' countdown to auto-close. GPS position for this is irrelevant. It knows you a) started the car b) opened the garage door c) are backing out of the garage so it starts the countdown.

It doesn't know you opened the garage door; for all it knows, you might have closed it; it just sends a signal to the garage door motor controller.

Also, for me and others, using HomeLink to open the garage door is not a required step; we open the garage door with a wall switch before entering the car. The HomeLink drop-down is available upon entering the car, but it acquires the distance count-down and Skip button when I shift into R.

 

[beeeerock]

My theory is: Your dilly-dally is allowing time for the car to get the GPS. If you do not need to dilly-dally when you are parked outside your garage (assuming you then have a better GPS signal) then maybe the GPS signal strength does have some bearing on the auto-close.

Until now, we don't seem to care about GPS when we are home in the garage, but if S needs the good GPS signal to work the auto-close, it just opens a new tinkering project for some, a GPS repeater kit at $50<.

If GPS signal is in fact the culprit inside your garage (after you exhausted all other avenues), here is a link for experiment by the desperate:wink:
Amazon.com: GPS Antenna Receiver Repeater: GPS Navigation

Absolutely, that's exactly what I think is happening. The GPS receiver is unlikely to be active when the car is off, or sleeping. And the lock would be marginal behind a garage door even if it was active. Once the garage door is open, the signal should be acceptably strong to begin the process of shrinking the radius of accuracy... which would begin when my foot touches the brake pedal.

I wouldn't doubt that resetting the location, *AFTER* sitting in front of the garage for a few moments to allow the GPS to settle, might help a few people having trouble. Especially those with driveways that don't have good views of the sky (trees, tall buildings etc).

As well, lifting the door and hitting reverse as soon as it's high enough might also be preventing the GPS from getting a solid positional lock. I don't think a GPS repeater would be necessary if the car was given enough time to locate itself before engaging reverse... assuming, of course, that GPS is actually the issue!

 

[f-stop]

I've checked the phone app while parked in my garage, and it displays the correct address. The car knows where it is, but still won't auto-close. The problem is something else.

same here.

on both the iOS app and also the car nav, it clearly knows I'm at home. correct address always shown on the app. I've also tried parking just outside the garage after returning from driving around the block (to make sure GPS acquisition) pretending I'm inside the garage and going through the whole sequence (park the car, walk away/lock, come back, get in the car, press brake, reverse...) and more often than not the auto-close in 5m drop down never appears when I get in the car/press brake/put in reverse.

BTW, in the cases when I get into my car and auto-close does NOT work, what I see is the normal HomeLink dropdown appear as soon as I get in the car - the normal dropdown without the "...in 5m" and skip button.
in other words whenever I get in the car, it knows I'm at home and offers to let me press the HomeLink button to open the door (i.e. pre-7.1 HomeLink menu button behaviour)

 

[LeoJ]

I'm having zero luck with auto-close. Here's what I'm seeing and what I've done:

1. Auto-open works every time!
2. Auto-close never works
3. I get into the car, turn it on and put it into reverse. Garage symbol is green, the "HOME" button displays automatically, but there is no countdown. *update* Garage door opened by using the wall switch.
4. I can press the HOME button at any time after pulling out of the garage and it closes. So there is no issue with the garage opener, range, or anything like that. The car just refuses to send the signal.
5. I have reset the location inside the garage, and in several spots on the driveway. Makes no difference.
6. I have reset the location while on WIFI and while not on WIFI. No difference.
7. I've also reset the location after coming back from a drive to make sure GPS was connected. No difference.
8. The NAV map shows the correct location of the car. The phone app shows the correct address while parked in the garage. The car knows it's home, yet won't display the auto-close countdown.
9. Yes, I have selected "auto-close" in the home link settings.

Anyone have any ideas? This is annoying me. I can't figure out why it's not working.

I previously had the same exact situation as you're having but I finally got the drop down menu (countdown 20ft) to appear when I put it in reverse to back out. I'm not sure if the procedures I followed in my post #102 cleared things up but for the most part it works every time when backing the car out. I follow the same procedures as you do but on the occasion that I do not get the drop down menu to appear, I put it back into drive then back into reverse and then the drop down menu will appear.

 

[zwede]

I previously had the same exact situation as you're having but I finally got the drop down menu (countdown 20ft) to appear when I put it in reverse to back out. I'm not sure if the procedures I followed in my post #102 cleared things up but for the most part it works every time when backing the car out. I follow the same procedures as you do but on the occasion that I do not get the drop down menu to appear, I put it back into drive then back into reverse and then the drop down menu will appear.

I'm pre-AP so no summon for me.

Some were saying they get the countdown if they wait between turning the car on and putting it in reverse. I tried that last night, but no go. I'm thinking this must be a SW bug that hits certain cars and the only thing I can do is wait for new SW.

 

[AWDtsla]

Found another way to accidentally disable auto-close. If you used the homelink button to give another command, let's say if you didn't pull in enough and your garage door aborted, you hit the button again to close it. Now auto-close is disabled, even tomorrow!


So the implementation of this feature lacks an sophistication at all. If you don't do things exactly in a simple and same way every time, it will not work.

 

[GoBlue88]

I'm having zero luck with auto-close. Here's what I'm seeing and what I've done:

1. Auto-open works every time!
2. Auto-close never works
3. I get into the car, turn it on and put it into reverse. Garage symbol is green, the "HOME" button displays automatically, but there is no countdown. *update* Garage door opened by using the wall switch.
4. I can press the HOME button at any time after pulling out of the garage and it closes. So there is no issue with the garage opener, range, or anything like that. The car just refuses to send the signal.
5. I have reset the location inside the garage, and in several spots on the driveway. Makes no difference.
6. I have reset the location while on WIFI and while not on WIFI. No difference.
7. I've also reset the location after coming back from a drive to make sure GPS was connected. No difference.
8. The NAV map shows the correct location of the car. The phone app shows the correct address while parked in the garage. The car knows it's home, yet won't display the auto-close countdown.
9. Yes, I have selected "auto-close" in the home link settings.

Anyone have any ideas? This is annoying me. I can't figure out why it's not working.

Same here. Auto open works every time and is really nice. Auto close never works. When leaving in the morning I MUST open my garage door with the wall button in order to hang up my charge cord - the back of my car is only a few inches from the garage door so with it closed I can't get to the other side of the car to hang up the cord (cord hangs on the wall to the right of the car). So basically at this point auto-close is useless for me, though I'm very pleased with auto-open. Pre-AP car.

 

[beeeerock]

Found another way to accidentally disable auto-close. If you used the homelink button to give another command, let's say if you didn't pull in enough and your garage door aborted, you hit the button again to close it. Now auto-close is disabled, even tomorrow!

Now that's interesting. I was having trouble with the door stopping on the way up, about 8" off the ground. This was happening with the auto-open function operating. I'd have to manually operate Homelink to get the door down and back up again. My auto-close fails might have been tied to that, as I think back.

I found that if I slowed down when I saw the transmission start, I wouldn't have the open function fail. I can't say I've had a problem with the auto-close since I found the sweet spot on the street that ensures the door opens all the way. So my 'delay a moment before selecting R' could simply be coincidence. Your connection has more logic to it, and can be explained from a programming perspective!

I haven't worked out why I get the door opening to fail if I'm on the wrong spot on the street. The fact that the door opened indicated the signal had been received. The fact that it stopped suggested a second signal was received... but only one should have been transmitted. Multi-path around the snowbanks on the street?

There has been a full moon lately... perhaps it's a moon-bounce problem and the return signal is delayed from the trip out and back and therefore seen as a second signal. The car does use 3-500Z tubes for the Homelink transmitter, right? Running a full kW into the circularly-polarized antenna? (before someone chastises me about suggesting those triodes could manage Homelink frequencies... yeah, I know...)

 

[jeffro01]

To add some more confusion to the mix... The first day or two I had issues with auto-close not working (auto-open has worked every time without issue). Now it simply just works both ways regardless of whether I open the door from the wall, or the car. I have no idea what I changed or what I did to get it to work but it's been a dozen+ times in a row where auto-open AND auto-close has worked flawlessly...

So... Yeah... I have no idea...

Jeff

 

[Andyw2100]

Same here. Auto open works every time and is really nice. Auto close never works. When leaving in the morning I MUST open my garage door with the wall button in order to hang up my charge cord - the back of my car is only a few inches from the garage door so with it closed I can't get to the other side of the car to hang up the cord (cord hangs on the wall to the right of the car). So basically at this point auto-close is useless for me, though I'm very pleased with auto-open. Pre-AP car.

Needing to open your garage door using the wall button first should in no way prevent auto close from working. Other people are doing that and using auto close. Your issue lies somewhere else.

Edit: One recent post supporting this, but there are many, MANY others--

To add some more confusion to the mix... The first day or two I had issues with auto-close not working (auto-open has worked every time without issue). Now it simply just works both ways regardless of whether I open the door from the wall, or the car. I have no idea what I changed or what I did to get it to work but it's been a dozen+ times in a row where auto-open AND auto-close has worked flawlessly...

 

[Bill D]

Auto Homelink is working as advertised in both our Teslas. We have incandescent bulbs in our Chamberlain garage door openers and I recall that the instructions warn not to use LED bulbs due to RF intererence:

Those of you having Auto Homelink problems may want to check if you have LED bulbs and unscrew them for a quick test.

 

[AWDtsla]

Auto Homelink is working as advertised in both our Teslas. We have incandescent bulbs in our Chamberlain garage door openers and I recall that the instructions warn not to use LED bulbs due to RF intererence:

View attachment 108858
Those of you having Auto Homelink problems may want to check if you have LED bulbs and unscrew them for a quick test.

Given that different model LED drivers have completely different designs, this generalization sounds like BS, but if someone is actually having a signal issue worth a try. I have 42 watt CFL's in mine and I don't have signal problems, and I know those are much noisier than incandescents.

 

[Andyw2100]

Auto Homelink is working as advertised in both our Teslas. We have incandescent bulbs in our Chamberlain garage door openers and I recall that the instructions warn not to use LED bulbs due to RF intererence:


Those of you having Auto Homelink problems may want to check if you have LED bulbs and unscrew them for a quick test.

Most of the people having problems have pointed out that their Homelink settings work just fine manually, and that the option for the Auto-Close / Skip isn't even showing up, so it's pretty clear the issues they are having are not with the Auto-Close firing the Homelink and not working, but rather with the software never attempting to fire the Homelink in the first place.

 

[Bill D]

Most of the people having problems have pointed out that their Homelink settings work just fine manually, and that the option for the Auto-Close / Skip isn't even showing up, so it's pretty clear the issues they are having are not with the Auto-Close firing the Homelink and not working, but rather with the software never attempting to fire the Homelink in the first place.

I agree, but unscrewing the LED bulbs is probably worth a quick try for those that are stumped, since while in the garage, their car is directly under the bulbs which could affect the GPS signals.

 

[AWDtsla]

I agree, but unscrewing the LED bulbs is probably worth a quick try for those that are stumped, since while in the garage, their car is directly under the bulbs which could affect the GPS signals.

If the car doesn't tell you it's transmitting, there's no point in this. It DOES tell you, if you watch the dash.

 

[Bill D]

If the car doesn't tell you it's transmitting, there's no point in this. It DOES tell you, if you watch the dash.

Maybe the car is not transmitting because its incoming GPS signals are affected by the LED bulbs. Many of the problems described above could be due to inaccurate GPS positioning.

 

[jeffro01]

I agree, but unscrewing the LED bulbs is probably worth a quick try for those that are stumped, since while in the garage, their car is directly under the bulbs which could affect the GPS signals.

FWIW, I have a Chamberlain MyQ opener that I put in late last year to which I installed LED lights into and have never had an issue with interference...

Jeff