Homelink programming troubles
 

I know programming Homelink, at least from my past experiences, has always been very easy. In nutshell, you clear the codes then you press one of the buttons you want to program, then press the button on the remote and the light should blink real fast (at which point you go to your garage door opener to "learn" the signal.

Well, needless to say, it's not working for on my 2013 RDX. The codes are cleared but it doesn't matter how long i hold down both buttons (the remote and the homelink button), it just won't take. It's almost as though it can't receive the signal from my remote. I've also tried to vary the distance i held the remote to the Homelink button with no luck. I've since changed out the battery on the remote and i end up with the same failed result.

The Acura dealer even tried it when I got the car serviced and they gave up and told me to call Homelink. That's not a good sign. I haven't called the Homelink 800 number yet, but just wanted to know if anyone's seen this before or know if I'm missing something obvious.

Thanks in advance for any insight on this.

First try programming with the remote held near the home link buttons in the car. If you have the "rolling code" type opener, you will do the next step.

Press the "learn" button on the garage door opener, and you have about 30 seconds to press the home link button you just tried to program with the hand held remote. Hold the button down for a long time, until the flashing lights change speed, and the door should go down. Release the homelink button.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...light=homelink

Check the above link for a very good write up on setting Homelink up.

Thanks for the feedback and the link.

Unfortunately I'm still stuck on the step where you get the Homelink to start blinking fast. I'm holding the remote at different distances from the Homelink buttons and even going so far as to holding it so close that it's almost touching the button AND i'm using brand new batteries.

Could it be the remote itself? It's a Liftmaster two-button remote that's about 7 years old.

I'm tempted to go to the hardware store and buy a new remote and see if that's a factor.

Scatter, If you get to the fast blinking and it still doesn't work, check my addition to Andy's write up. If you have a rolling code in your garage, then you need to get out the manual for the Liftmaster and follow it's instructions for set up the rolling code. Its something you have to do after you get to the blinking lights and is different for each brand.

scatterebrain....as Texasdriver stated, I doubt your problem is your remote but simply that you have a "learn" button directly on your garage opener in your garage. Its a matter of getting a stepladder and press the code allowing your Homelink to Learn the code in your garage opener.....Best of luck

OK... so FINALLY I had some time to fiddle with it again. This time I only spent about 20 minutes but it FINALLY TOOK. :)

My friend told me to vary the area in which you hold your remote. This time around I found that it FINALLY took when I held the remote around the light on the passenger side about 1.5 to 2 inches away from the Homelink buttons.

From that point I was finally able to get to the part where the I can make the garage door opener "learn" the new remote. That was like 30 seconds of the 20 minutes I spent. At least now I don't have to spend anymore time on this. :)

Thanks all for your input on this!

Even though I was finally able to get mine set, it is still pretty flaky. I bet that it usually takes about 4 or 5 presses before I get the garage door to go up or down. And it definitely won't work unless I'm either in the garage or just barely outside the garage. If I'm more than 5 feet away from the garage door, it won't work!

Gregg

It took maybe two minutes to program mine and it works from about half a block away. A lot depends on the door opener and how it's installed, where your garage is located relative to your house (front, side, back), etc.

Finally reprogrammed mine. It took but was very flaky. Sometimes it opens from 50 ft away, other time it won't work from 5 ft away. Often it opens but not close the garage door. Wife's Altima homelink has no such problem and works flawlessly from 50ft away ALL the time.

The problem is that the remote use to program the homelink is also flaky. Sometime it works and sometime it doesn't work. I have changed fresh battery and have reprogrammed. Same problem. Mine is a Craftman.

Then on a hunch, I disconnect my Foscam wireless camera I have mount in the garage. I power down the Foscam, and the homelink and craftman remote works flawlessly ALL the time. Reconnect the Foscam and the homelink and original remote is flaky again.

There is some interference from the FOSCAM WIFI but it doesn't bother the wife's Altima. Still stump but no matter what I do, it is flaky. It opens but often won't close the garage.

Well, that is very interesting. My homelink is very flaky and never works from more than a few feet away from the garage. And I also have a Foscam wifi camera in the garage (and my garage door opener is a Craftsman). I guess I should try powering off the Foscam, though it would just be for curiosity, since we like having the camera in the garage.

Gregg

I think you guys just found the problem. Try changing the channel of your wifi. That might help. It's probably a parameter in your wireless router.

Try it. The funny thing with mine is that with the FOSCAM powered up, the homelink and the Craftman handheld remote will open the garage but has a hard time closing the garage. I powered off the FOSCAM and had my son test the homelink. It works flawlessly. Immediately power back the FOSCAM and it still works. BUT let the FOSCAM sit for more than 3 minutes and let it finds it's bearing(reconnect to wifi, etc) and it will interfere with the homelink and handheld remote again.

BTW, the car garage in Florida's heat is often 100 degrees(no insulation in attic above garage. And surprisingly, the $60 FOSCAM is still working. I was purposely testing it and sacrificing the $60 but the darn thing still work despite the heat. It's nice not to ask each other if the garage is close and to know when the garage door is open since the FOSCAM can be programmed to send out email when it detects motion at a specified time slot.

I am going to switch the Foscam to the 5GHZ channel on my router and see if it makes a difference.

It seems FOSCAM is well known to interfere with garage door opener:

http://foscam.us/forum/garage-door-o...nce-t1332.html

I'm going to try the aluminum foild sheilding before I try and solder the wire and run it to the front of the garage.

Update:

I wrapped aluminum foil on the base of the FOSCAM since that's where all the circuit boards are. I had to cut hole in the aluminum foil to match the vent hole on the FOSCAM since it was already very hot in the garage. That enable the homelink to close the garage while sitting just outside the garage. If I move 5 ft down the driveway, it's flaky again. But my original remote now works 20ft away. So the shielding did help but of course it was no where near it was if the FOSCAM is powered down.

I unplug the GDO(garage door opener) and inspect where the antenna wire goes. It was soldered to the board. One guy on the FOSCAM forum desoldered the antenna cable and replaced it with a 12 ft shield RCA audio cable and ran that all the way to the front of the garage. He then attached the original antenna cable to the shielded RCA cable. I wonder if that was necessary. I am going to simply extend the original antenna cable with a shield RCA audio cable before attempting to desolder and resolder. If it works, I'll just staple the extended cable along the roof of the antenna.

I could program my homelink to my home from my remote. But when I tried to do that with my mother's remote for her garage door, it would not work no matter what. I had to actually drive into her garage and do it directly from the garage door opener. That worked well.

Anyone notice that on the new RDX, the homelink is not nearly as strong as on previous car models? I had an '06 TL and an '12 TL, they both opened my garage from down the street. Now I have to be right in front of the garage door to open it. Lame!

There's a whole thread devoted to this problem in this forum going back a year or so. Just have to get used to stopping about 5-10 feet away from your garage to open/close. Sucks.

Guess I'm lucky, my home link works better than my regular opener, probably good from about 60+ft or so

Yeah, from what I can tell you are lucky. My old Infiniti Homelink could open from about 60ft out too as well as the 25yr old transmitter in the pickup. Don't know what the deal is with so many of the the Homelink systems in the RDX. I have to be no more than 15 ft away from the door for it to work.

Maybe you could try repositioning your antenna wire on the opener?

Yeah, I could but it worked fine with the Homelink on the vehicle I traded in on the RDX. It also works from the street with my two 25 yr old transmitters in my other two vehicles. So I'm afraid I'll get one working better and the other two not working so good. Maybe I'll try it but it isn't such a big deal now that I'm used to it.

I have a new MDX and a Chamberlain HD900D model. When I tried to program it, everything looked like it had worked, even the light on the motor unit flashed off and on, but the door would not respond.
I contacted Chamberlain support, and apparently some garage remotes have a limit as to how many remotes can be programmed. They suggested clearing out the memory on the unit by holding the learn button for 7 seconds, and then reprogramming one of the handheld remotes.
I then started reprogramming the MDX again ,and this time it worked.
Just wanted to save anyone else the hassle and time if the above posts don't seem to help.

Go to www.homelink.com
 

I have had the same issues since both the garage door opener companies and Homelink are trying to solve the same problem without working together.

Their site (HomeLink) will give detailed instruction for your Make/Model/Year and GD opener you have.

Just did it the morning for the second RDX in my fleet.