First off, I'm very anal-retentive and I don't like extraneous stuff lying around my car. I park my car in my garage, and I have an automated gate at the entrance to my driveway. I have remote openers for the garage door and the gate, and they have been stuck to my sun visor. I had thoughts of getting a Homelink rear-view mirror that could be programmed with the openers. However, this would cost a couple of hundred $. While surfing around some Boxster web pages I came across the following page which shows an interesting hack where a guy connected his garage door opener to an unused switch in his center console:
http://www.patricktam.net/Weblog/Per...daa1b23f5.aspx
I figured I could easily do the same in my Lancer
There are three unused switch holes to the left of the steering column in my '08 Lancer ES. I went to a
dealer and asked what switches might go there. The parts guy said there is an "ASC OFF" switch (he didn't know what it was for, but I figured something to do with stability control) and a switch that does something to the headlights. I purchased one of the ASC switches (part # 8602A009) for $50. My car doesn't have ASC. The point was to simply buy a switch that can be connected into the garage door opener.
I'm not an electrician, but my understanding of the garage door opener is that it contains a circuit with the transmitter and a battery. This circuit is normally open, so nothing happens. When you push the button, you simply close the circuit. You can easily take some other switch and wire it into the opener so that pushing the new switch closes the circuit. This is what I would use the ASC switch for. Note that this has nothing to do with putting Active Stability Control into my car!
For tools, all I needed was a soldering gun and relevant supplies.
Parts: the ASC switch $50.
Step 1
Here is a picture of the dashboard showing the three slots to the left of the steering column. I had already removed the plug for the leftmost position. The fuse access panel has been removed. Interestingly, two of the blank plugs have wiring harnesses attached, even though they aren't functional. You can see the wiring harness (white) from the left plug dangling into the fuse panel access area.
To get to this point, open the fuse access panel. Reach up and disconnect the wiring harness from the plug. Push the blank plug into the dash from the outside. This took a fair amount of force, and I thought I might break something, but eventually it popped.
Step 2
Get the ASC switch ready. I used a RadioShack multimeter to check the different terminals for continuity. There are six terminals on the ASC switch. Sorry for my photography:
The top two terminals are in continuity when the switch is pushed. ("Top" refers to when the switch is held in proper orientation.) The middle two terminals are for illumination when you turn the parking lights on. The bottom two terminals don't do anything. So, the key here is the top two terminals.
Step 3
I soldered two wires to the proper terminals of the switch. Notice I did this on the inside of the switch. I decided I wanted to be able to plug that white harness onto the switch to get the illumination with the lights. Had I soldered onto the outer ends of the terminals, I wouldn't have been able to plug in the harness. I thus had to drill a hole in the case of the switch, so the wires can come out.
You can see how the middle two leads are for the light.
Step 4
I had to figure out how the garage door opener is wired. I opened it up, found how the button works, and tested the relevant terminals for continuity.
I found two points that are put into continuity when the button is pushed. I soldered these two leads to the wires from the ASC switch. There is no need to worry about matching one to the other. The ASC switch simply completes a circuit, no need for polarity. (Am I using proper terminology
) I made the wires long enough that when the switch is placed in the dash I can still conveniently access the garage door opener. One of these days I may need to replace the battery, and I don't want to have to take the whole thing out.
Step 5
Before going any further, I took the assembly to the garage and tested it. It worked
I then drilled a couple of holes in the cover of the garage door opener, and put it all together.
Step 6
For the heck of it, I cut the two wires of the dashboard wiring harness (the white harness from the first picture) that would otherwise connect to the top two terminals of the ASC switch (the ones I just connected to the garage door opener). I don't think leaving them connected would do any harm, but I just didn't want anything unexpected to happen when pushing the switch. I left the two middle wires connected to illuminate the switch. I plugged this harness from the dash into the back of the ASC switch, then inserted the ASC switch into its position in the dashboard. I wrapped the garage door opener in a paper towel and stuffed it up under the dash in a place where it would be reasonably secure (the paper towel is just to keep it from rattling around). Finally, close the fuse panel access door.
Here's the finished product:
No more horrible, unsightly garage door opener hanging from my visor
Just push the ASC switch (ASC now stands for automated security control
) and my garage door opens or closes.
Now, maybe I'll do the same thing for my gate opener???
