How I reproduce the Model X Homelink failure and my analysis

[SoCal Tsla]

Greetings my friends! I've been posting videos on my Tesla Model X everyday since I get the car. Yesterday I was able to reproduce a Homelink failure happened before. Let me know if you guys tried to reproduce it with your garage door opener as well and what you found!

 

[carteriii]

I have experienced the same (frustrating) problem, though I haven't been able to reproduce the root cause. When my Tesla Homelink fails to operate from the Tesla (either auto-open, auto-close, or a manual open/close), pressing the Homelink button 4-8 times (additional) gets a single open/close action to work. It feels like there is a rotating sequence number as part of the code and it gets out of sync. I've never had the Tesla HomeLink fail to work completely, but it will take many presses to work. I'm not home now to try to reproduce the root cause as you have, but I will try next week.

 

[Thumper]

I believe "homelink" is actually a brand. My experience with it is that it is a poor quality brand. I had homelink in my previous car, a Passat wagon, and it worked very poorly. I had to be almost on top of the gate to get it to open and even then it was hit and miss. I complained to VW and they told me they buy the module form homelink and install it in the drivers sun visor. There was nothing they could do. Homelink works slightly better in my Model S but is still hit and miss and often the gate will start to open and then stop after a short travel. Sometimes it works perfectly. The gate works reliably and from a great distance with the fob. LOL.

 

[scottf200]

I have experienced the same (frustrating) problem, though I haven't been able to reproduce the root cause. When my Tesla Homelink fails to operate from the Tesla (either auto-open, auto-close, or a manual open/close), pressing the Homelink button 4-8 times (additional) gets a single open/close action to work.

I have the same problem. It is very inconsistent even tho the homelink on my 2011 Volt worked flawlessly ... as do my remotes.

 

[wallstguy]

I can barely get it to work on my car when I'm trying to reverse into the garage or driving out....when the car is facing the garage it works better. So useless.

 

[SoCal Tsla]

I have experienced the same (frustrating) problem, though I haven't been able to reproduce the root cause. When my Tesla Homelink fails to operate from the Tesla (either auto-open, auto-close, or a manual open/close), pressing the Homelink button 4-8 times (additional) gets a single open/close action to work. It feels like there is a rotating sequence number as part of the code and it gets out of sync. I've never had the Tesla HomeLink fail to work completely, but it will take many presses to work. I'm not home now to try to reproduce the root cause as you have, but I will try next week.

Agreed it's super frustrating, auto-open when arriving also doesn't work for me because at the distance the Homelink was triggered, it's too far to actually trigger opening the garage door...

 

[SoCal Tsla]

I believe "homelink" is actually a brand. My experience with it is that it is a poor quality brand. I had homelink in my previous car, a Passat wagon, and it worked very poorly. I had to be almost on top of the gate to get it to open and even then it was hit and miss. I complained to VW and they told me they buy the module form homelink and install it in the drivers sun visor. There was nothing they could do. Homelink works slightly better in my Model S but is still hit and miss and often the gate will start to open and then stop after a short travel. Sometimes it works perfectly. The gate works reliably and from a great distance with the fob. LOL.

yes it is a brand, and agreed it's an unbelievable poor quality one...

 

[SoCal Tsla]

I have the same problem. It is very inconsistent even tho the homelink on my 2011 Volt worked flawlessly ... as do my remotes.

I now keep a remote in the car at all times, coz my wife was locked outside with two kids once... that's not fun...

Now I just wish Homelink will not be so bad that it trigger the door with my car right down there...

 

[SoCal Tsla]

I can barely get it to work on my car when I'm trying to reverse into the garage or driving out....when the car is facing the garage it works better. So useless.

I don't have that problem, if that's happening maybe you can ask Tesla to send a ranger to check it up for you...

 

[DrComputer]

Homelink on my previous Model S and my current Model X are inconsistent and dismal like many others have said. Auto-open works about 75% of the time and sometimes you need to press the homelink button 3-6 times to finally get it to work. Interestingly, the homelink that Tesla used in the Roadster works far better than that used in the Model S or X. My Roadster opens and closes the same garage door 99% of the time without issue.

 

[BrettS]

The funny thing is that for me homelink on my model S has been flawless and I've been really happy with it. In contrast, on my 2010 Prius I really struggled with it... it would work maybe once out of every 2 or 3 attempts and often require multiple presses to get it to work.

One thing I did see recently, though, was that LED and compact flourescent bulbs can apparently cause interference with garage door openers. I guess they can generate noise on the same frequency as the remote. The article I read suggested only using conventional light bulbs in garage door openers because of this issue. I have LED bulbs in my garage door opener and I read this after I replaced my Prius with my model S, so I never tried replacing the LED bulb since it's working for me now, but if you have an energy saving bulb in your garage door opener it might be interesting to replace it with a conventional bulb (or even just remove it temporarily to test) and see if that makes things more reliable.

 

[Sawyer8888]

Greetings my friends! I've been posting videos on my Tesla Model X everyday since I get the car. Yesterday I was able to reproduce a Homelink failure happened before. Let me know if you guys tried to reproduce it with your garage door opener as well and what you found!

Thank you for posting your detailed video. My experience is identical to yours.

When parked in my driveway (within 5 or 10 feet of my garage door):

• Garage door is open = Homelink works about 90% of the time.
• Garage door is closed = Homelink works about 10% of the time.

When parked in my garage:

• Homelink works 99% of the time with the door open or closed. However Homelink sometimes purposely skips auto-close after backing out using Summon - not sure why.

Conclusion:

• Homelink's signal is extremely weak. It appears the garage door creates a barrier that prevents Homelink from operating as intended.
• I do not believe stopping the garage door operation while the door is in motion has anything to do with "breaking" Homelink's setup. It is the garage door itself that is preventing the Homelink signal from reaching the garage door receiver.

Workarounds:

• Speed into my driveway so that by the time auto-open triggers, my car is facing my garage door straight on and is close enough to the door. This approach is unsafe and it rarely works anyway.
• Park within inches of my garage door, either straight on, or at a slight angle and then manually press Homelink in the car (usually requires multiple attempts).
• Use my garage door remote since it can operate the door from a much greater distance (100+ feet) even when closed.

I am disappointed with Homelink. It does appear to be somewhat useless due to its inconsistency and unreliability, especially when outside of the garage with the garage door closed.

Garage door unit: Liftmaster 8500 (Jackshaft)

 

[SoCal Tsla]

Homelink on my previous Model S and my current Model X are inconsistent and dismal like many others have said. Auto-open works about 75% of the time and sometimes you need to press the homelink button 3-6 times to finally get it to work. Interestingly, the homelink that Tesla used in the Roadster works far better than that used in the Model S or X. My Roadster opens and closes the same garage door 99% of the time without issue.

If they are using the same Homelink component and firmware then Tesla need to have a better understanding of how that module works...

 

[SoCal Tsla]

The funny thing is that for me homelink on my model S has been flawless and I've been really happy with it. In contrast, on my 2010 Prius I really struggled with it... it would work maybe once out of every 2 or 3 attempts and often require multiple presses to get it to work.

One thing I did see recently, though, was that LED and compact flourescent bulbs can apparently cause interference with garage door openers. I guess they can generate noise on the same frequency as the remote. The article I read suggested only using conventional light bulbs in garage door openers because of this issue. I have LED bulbs in my garage door opener and I read this after I replaced my Prius with my model S, so I never tried replacing the LED bulb since it's working for me now, but if you have an energy saving bulb in your garage door opener it might be interesting to replace it with a conventional bulb (or even just remove it temporarily to test) and see if that makes things more reliable.

I'll try that when I have time, that could be an interesting experiment... do you still have the link to the article?

 

[SoCal Tsla]

Thank you for posting your detailed video. My experience is identical to yours.

When parked in my driveway (within 5 or 10 feet of my garage door):

• Garage door is open = Homelink works about 90% of the time.
• Garage door is closed = Homelink works about 10% of the time.

When parked in my garage:

• Homelink works 99% of the time with the door open or closed. However Homelink sometimes purposely skips auto-close after backing out using Summon - not sure why.

Conclusion:

• Homelink's signal is extremely weak. It appears the garage door creates a barrier that prevents Homelink from operating as intended.
• I do not believe stopping the garage door operation while the door is in motion has anything to do with "breaking" Homelink's setup. It is the garage door itself that is preventing the Homelink signal from reaching the garage door receiver.

Workarounds:

• Speed into my driveway so that by the time auto-open triggers, my car is facing my garage door straight on and is close enough to the door. This approach is unsafe and it rarely works anyway.
• Park within inches of my garage door, either straight on, or at a slight angle and then manually press Homelink in the car (usually requires multiple attempts).
• Use my garage door remote since it can operate the door from a much greater distance (100+ feet) even when closed.

I am disappointed with Homelink. It does appear to be somewhat useless due to its inconsistency and unreliability, especially when outside of the garage with the garage door closed.

Garage door unit: Liftmaster 8500 (Jackshaft)

Very nice summary! I think it will be nice to keep the remote in the car and use it whenever you need to. Don't use workaround 1 as it's really unsafe as you said...

 

[SoCal Tsla]

Thank you for posting your detailed video. My experience is identical to yours.

When parked in my driveway (within 5 or 10 feet of my garage door):

• Garage door is open = Homelink works about 90% of the time.
• Garage door is closed = Homelink works about 10% of the time.

When parked in my garage:

• Homelink works 99% of the time with the door open or closed. However Homelink sometimes purposely skips auto-close after backing out using Summon - not sure why.

Conclusion:

• Homelink's signal is extremely weak. It appears the garage door creates a barrier that prevents Homelink from operating as intended.
• I do not believe stopping the garage door operation while the door is in motion has anything to do with "breaking" Homelink's setup. It is the garage door itself that is preventing the Homelink signal from reaching the garage door receiver.

Workarounds:

• Speed into my driveway so that by the time auto-open triggers, my car is facing my garage door straight on and is close enough to the door. This approach is unsafe and it rarely works anyway.
• Park within inches of my garage door, either straight on, or at a slight angle and then manually press Homelink in the car (usually requires multiple attempts).
• Use my garage door remote since it can operate the door from a much greater distance (100+ feet) even when closed.

I am disappointed with Homelink. It does appear to be somewhat useless due to its inconsistency and unreliability, especially when outside of the garage with the garage door closed.

Garage door unit: Liftmaster 8500 (Jackshaft)

BTW mine is Genie Pro 1024

 

[ToddS]

I followed another TMC suggestion: splice a wire into the antenna and run it along the garage ceiling (I used a staple gun) to the edge of the door. Before it worked about 10% of the time on auto-open, it now works every time.

 

[Sawyer8888]

I followed another TMC suggestion: splice a wire into the antenna and run it along the garage ceiling (I used a staple gun) to the edge of the door. Before it worked about 10% of the time on auto-open, it now works every time.

I considered this, but I read or saw something about the current length of a garage door antenna already being optimized for the unit. Being that it's only a few inches long, I wonder if I would negatively affect the function of the unit, let alone void the 5-yr warranty.

I am leaning toward the splicing option since the auto-open is pretty useless right now.

 

[MXFan]

My Tesla homelink has been flawless. Even the auto-open and auto-close work very well, even better than my old handheld device that I used to have to press several times to get it to work or drive my car closer to the garage door before pressing it. I am surprised how far away I can use the Tesla homelink and how consistent it is.

 

[SoCal Tsla]

My Tesla homelink has been flawless. Even the auto-open and auto-close work very well, even better than my old handheld device that I used to have to press several times to get it to work or drive my car closer to the garage door before pressing it. I am surprised how far away I can use the Tesla homelink and how consistent it is.

You are the first satisfied customer I have ever seen lol, there may be more out there but you are the first one...