Model S Homelink Details?

[brkaus]

My homelink is terrible. Works fine on our 3.

I have to push the button many times to open the door and it only works when right in front of the door. I've reset, reprogrammed, etc.

Tesla looked at it and determined it was working fine. I have 800 miles left on my warranty...

Before I simply give up and carry a remote in the car...

Looking for some details on the Homelink module -

1. What is the pinout?

2. I assume it isn't connected to the CANbus? I'm guessing the Tesla computer somewhat emulates the push buttons in most cars?

3. Are there different revisions - would a newer one be better (and still work)?

4. Can it be swapped out w/o magic Tesla software update?

Thanks!

 

[D.E.]

It may be the antenna on the garage door motor unit. Extend that if you can. It looks like a wire about a foot long. Then redo the pairing process to your car.

 

[JasJ]

My 2017 model S is the same - I need to be within 27" of my garage door for it to work. This all started when we replaced our door opener with the new Myq 2.0+ security architecture (liftmaster and chamberlain). The old liftmaster unit worked from the end of the driveway. I think the MS does not have the tri-band frequencies of the new MyQ system. Ironically, my wife's older infiniti works at a much longer range than the MS. I tried two different antenna extensions and it made about 1" difference in range.

 

[brkaus]

I've extended all the wire antennas. It is actually pretty short off the board in the opener.

It is a lift master 8500.

I'm also not clear what device a remote is actually communicating with on this particular unit. I get mixed messages from Liftmaster too... Is it talking to the wall button or the device? Now that I think about it I could easily disconnect the wall unit and see if the remote still works

I was hoping a 2019 S had a different homelink module and it would be plug compatible!!!

My other thought is to add the repeater kit to the door that makes it compatible with older homelink buttons and then program it that way...

 

[D.E.]

There are certain light bulbs that can interfere. If you have mercury or LED bulbs installed on the motor unit, you might try removing them.

 

[brkaus]

There are certain light bulbs that can interfere. If you have mercury or LED bulbs installed on the motor unit, you might try removing them.

Thanks! Yes, I do have LED bulbs, but I've removed them and there is no difference. This particular model has the light model also controlled by homelink. The light is a separate unit that also plugs in directly to the wall.

 

[steve841]

One other thing .... try using a different remote when programming the homelink.

In my case, the fob type remote would not work. I had to use the keypad remote to get it working.

 

[d21mike]

My 2017 MS has worked great since the beginning. I auto open the gate as I enter the complex. As I drive up to my house it opens my garage normally as I am turning into my driveway from the street. On occasion it waits until I am in the driveway but not often. Almost never do I have to manually open by pushing the screen icon. Just got a M3 and the add on Home Link and it appears to work fine but it is new and opens my wife’s garage door.

 

[brkaus]

Interesting - I did disconnect the 888LM wall button module and the remotes no longer worked. So the homelink is talking to the far end of the garage. I guess I could try to move the button to be next to the car door and use a remote by the house door.

I could also try to add an antenna to the wall button unit.

Anyway - anyone know the pinout of the homelink module?

 

[ibdb]

Replaced our entire garage door and opener with a new Liftmaster and I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to get it to work correctly with our S. I'm not having any issues with our 3.

With the S, it will open the door from the outside at expected ranges. It will not close an open door from any range. That didn't make any sense until I thought about what else might be different with an open or closed door -- the status of the lights on the opener.

I thought I'd narrowed the issue down to LED bulb interference after some trials last night, but this morning brought a new issue. Last night, I manually turned off the lights on the garage door opener while the door was open and my wife was able to trigger the door to close from a reasonable distance outside the garage. Once the lights were on, she was unable to open the door again. I manually turned off the lights, and she was able to open the door from outside the garage. Seemed settled.

This morning, she opened the door using the wall switch, then manually turned off the lights once the door was open. She pulled into the driveway and tried to close the door, only to have the light turn on, but the door not close. Once the light was on, she wasn't able to get the door to do anything. She used the phone app to close the door.

Again, with our 3 I've had zero issues of any kind, whether the lights were on or off. Same for the opener that came with the door and the keypad I have installed outside the garage.

I'll pull the bulbs from the opener when she gets home tonight and run some more trials before I proceed, but right now all signs are pointing to LED interference combined with a signal from the S that might not be as strong as the signal from the 3. In the past, with out old opener, I'd found the S to have less range than the 3 to both open and close the door.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

We have three Liftmaster 8500 openers and have never had a problem with any of our Teslas over the years (2016-2019). It opens them from over 100 feet away, even when we are perpendicular to the garage doors, still on the street.

Ok, we did have one issue years ago when my neighbor left her house at the same time we were programming HomeLink in my car. Then we noticed whenever she left or came home, our garage door would open or close. Once we programmed it again, no issues since! We were able to program everything with the remote while at the end of the driveway.

 

[brkaus]

Looks like the pin configuration on the 3 and S/X modules are similar from various eBay pictures. Wonder if they are plug replaceable and the new one is stronger? I have a friend with a logic analyzer. Guess I could connect to each and see how they behave.

Here is the wall controller board - wonder if the serpentine trace on the upper right that also appears to go around the board is the antenna?

I'll also grab a different remote and try reprogramming again.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Have Liftmaster 8500 openers as well (these seem to be popular with the Tesla crowd! The manual states not to use LED bulbs in the external overhead light units, been using CCFL bulbs since the start and never an issue. There were problems with the 888LM wall control buttons where a population of them were defective. Call LM support to see if yours is covered and they will send you a free replacement. For me, my doors were randomly opening and closing at all hours of the night!!

 

[brkaus]

@Tim-in-CA thanks. I'm using regular bulbs in the opener lights. My regular overhead lights are led tubes - motion detector switch. They aren’t in when I have the problem.

 

[Bmac]

Just wondering, has it ever worked for you? If so, that there was a time when there were no problems with home link, have you considered trying to set it up again?

 

[brkaus]

It worked great with a different opener (which basically imploded when a door spring broke while opening).

And the model 3 works great.

I’ve redone the S several times.

 

[ibdb]

Replaced the LED bulbs with CFLs and everything is working perfectly. I'm now getting better range with the S than I had with my old door and opener, comparable to the best I'd experienced with any car previously.

Sorry, @brkaus. I know that you've already tried different bulbs. Anything else you can power off that could be a source of interference?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

We have the flat Philips LED bulbs and don't have any issues. As I mentioned above, ours work from over 100 feet away.

 

[Big Toys]

I've noticed that my S has a much greater range when approaching the door, as if Doppler changes the wavelenth/frequency. It has trouble up close and stationary.

 

[RSS-X]

Picked up my LR MX a few days ago, and wasn't able to get Homelink set up. I called tech Liftmaster tech support, and was told that they recommend the Liftmaster 891LM Remote for programming a Tesla. Ordered one from Amazon ~$25, and received it in two days. The remote programmed immediately, and once that was done, Homelink in the X programmed the first time. FWIW, I had LED bulbs in the opener, a Remote Keypad outside, and a Remote Operator inside the garage at the door to the house. Liftmasster tech support will walk you through the installation: 800-528-5880

I set the options to open the garage door on arrival, and close on departure. The open on arrival works, but I haven't seen the close of departure work yet. Anyone know how far away you have to be before the door closes? I'd like to see start to close before I leave.