Homelink in headliner...any thoughts?

[benaslan]

I got a homelink transmitter, grey to match my grey interior and it's pretty close. I've looked all over at people's suggestions on where to put it and I don't like any of them. The only one I thought looked nice, was the one that was integrated into the batwing panel from "arenared" but there wasn't any info on how it was done. If he did it himself, I don't think I could do that good of a job.

So, I'm thinking of putting it into the headliner right above the driver's visor. There is a TON of room there, I can feel it and I can just splice the power from the visor...

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Loren]

That should work but realize the visor only has power when it is forward in it's locked position.

[benaslan]

That should work but realize the visor only has power when it is forward in it's locked position.

Yeah, but since it would be from the lead before the visor, it'll be always hot. Which brings another question...I'd rather have the homelink be on switched power if not too difficult, is there any switched power up there? Maybe I could use the sunroof lead, I guess that's switched...

Lastly, as far as removing the headliner, is there any trick to it? It does not look like that suede or whatever would be cheap to replace if I screwed it up. I only need to remove the driver's corner which would include removing the visor and support.

Thanks!!!

Ben

[benaslan]

I got the headliner...what a PIA! If I had known I would have saved this for another day. A-pillar, C-pillar....looks like I'm not driving that car tomorrow! Anyway, it should be interesting mounting the homelink there since there isn't a smooth surface. for the wiring, I don't think I want to splice into any of those, and since I already have the darn A pillar off, I may as well run a wire down it to power. We'll see.

I'll take some pics and update maybe tomorrow, but I'm done for the night.

Ben

[KevinMac]

Where did you get the home link, I have been searching for some time?

[benaslan]

I got the headliner...what a PIA! If I had known I would have saved this for another day. A-pillar, C-pillar....looks like I'm not driving that car tomorrow! Anyway, it should be interesting mounting the homelink there since there isn't a smooth surface. for the wiring, I don't think I want to splice into any of those, and since I already have the darn A pillar off, I may as well run a wire down it to power. We'll see.

I'll take some pics and update maybe tomorrow, but I'm done for the night.

Ben

I bought it on ebay from seller "cbpa40". It was $35 as a buy it now auction, shipping was cheap, he packaged it very well, and sent it very quickly. I was impressed and I'd buy from him again. I tested it (temprarily wired) as soon as I got it, and it works great. It's also a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

Here's a link to his store with the search "homelink" and you will see two there. One tan and one dark grey. He seems to get them frequently.

http://search.stores.ebay.com/cbpa40_homel...1809190QQsofpZ0

[benaslan]

Okay, so I did it...all done and I'm pretty happy with it. It was not easy getting in there and mounting it though. I used double sided tape, and there is not a smooth flat surface, so hopefully it stays there well enough, cause it's never going anywhere else.

In the picture below, you an see the wire I spliced into. It is switched power that will stay on after you shut off the car as long as the key hasn't been removed. It's brown with a green stripe (at least on my '02 TT) and it the power wire going to the sunroof switch. Only thing I noticed is that sometimes after you shut off the engine, it may not get enough power...but it works great for any normal use (while the car is running and shortly after you shut the car off- my issue also may have been because I hadn't driven the car and I'm sure my battery was lower than average).

In this one, you can see what I used for ground. The screw that is missing, is where I attached my ground wire.

Here is a not so clear (due to space) picture of the homelink mounted above the headliner. You can see that it only mounts on part of it. It's so light though, that this should not be a problem. If I had to do it over, I would probably try it with heavy duty velcro so I could adjust it to be straight without starting over...(wasn't easy and my arm is all scraped up.

Look! All done and how pretty is that! I absolutely did NOT enjoy cutting my suede headliner that I'm sure would be costly to replace had I screwed up. I am happy with it and it works great, and looks like it came stock that way. [You can also see the bad luck I had in removing the ugly airbag sticker...still shows there, and the other side is worse, as I used goof off and it ate away the plastic on the mirror. I'll have to get new visors at some point that come w/o the sticker.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone! I sure could have used the help.

[midlifez]

VERY NICE! Wonder if there is room in my cab to do that.... Will check tomorrow AFTER I finish up the final bits and pieces left of my new clutch and AASCO lightweight flywheel install.

[KevinMac]

Thanks Ben!

One question checked the EBAY site, looks like the Homelink has 4 wires, understand the power and ground what's the other two, battery hold wire maybe?

Edited November 6, 2007 by KevinMac

[benaslan]

No, it actually only looks like it has 4 wires. the connector is a crappy self splicing connector that's really annoying if you don't have the exactly wire to replace the original wire (don't ask me how I know).

In other words, two of those 4 wires are the same wire (and so are the other two). it goes in one side and out the other. You'll see when you get it. Black is ground, the other is hot...or at least it was for me.

No battery hold...it does not need battery to maintain the memory, it's stored in the chip. I know for sure, as I programmed it by doing a temp wire job so that I didn't get it all installed and then figure out that it was broken.

You can go here for programming instructions: http://www.eurohomelink.com/_uk/programming.html

It says Europe, but it seemed the same for me.

Ben

[Q-Ship986]

The number of wires and what they do depends on the homelink unit. I am finally installing a homelink in my 986, using a unit harvested from a GM overhead console. This particular homelink had three wires:

black= ground

orange= +12VDC

brown w/white stripe= switch/button backlighting

I like the solution presented in this thread, which I originally considered, but I don't have the headliner. That lead me to my current endeavor.

--Brian

[benaslan]

CRAP! Now that you mention it, there was a spot for a third wire in mine, but nothing was there. I didn't even think about backlighting until I was on my way home the other night and couldn't see it.

I think I'm going to have to go back in there and see if I can get lucky with that third spot, but yes, the wiring on yours does have a different connector than the one I got. Yours looks newer.

[Q-Ship986]

CRAP! Now that you mention it, there was a spot for a third wire in mine, but nothing was there. I didn't even think about backlighting until I was on my way home the other night and couldn't see it.

I think I'm going to have to go back in there and see if I can get lucky with that third spot, but yes, the wiring on yours does have a different connector than the one I got. Yours looks newer.

No, you have nothing to fear/regret. The device you bought does not have backlighting built into it.

I pulled a homelink unit out of a GM overhead console. It is a different module from yours. The console had buttons that were backlit by tiny blue-covered bulbs inside the homelink device. See below.

I scoured the internet and determined that there are many variations of these devices, depending on their vintage and original installation. However, I noticed the ground and +12vdc connections seem to be the same from device to device, but don't hold me to it.

Anyway, I think your installation is all good.

--Brian