Golf mk7: Stealth Garage Door opener - Open Sesame!
Not sure how many mk7 drivers have a remote control in their cars to open/close the garage door, I certainly have one of these units mounted on the sun visor (or it's rattling around on to centre console)
Anyway, I thought that I would "integrate" the garage door opener/closer into the car in a way that was difficult to detect and this is how I did it:
Instructions
The instructions for fitting a remote control garage door opener/closer have been arranged into three parts as follows:1. Modify the switch for the centre console
2. Modify the remote control unit
3. Installation in the car
1. Modify the Switch on the centre console:
All mk7s are fitted with two rows of switches either side of the gear lever. In my case, the driver's side switch module only contains a single switch for the Parking Aid. The remaining two switch positions are vacant. It's possible therefore to use one of these vacant switch positions for the garage door opener/closer. However, a quick look at the wiring diagram for the internals of the driver's side switch module shows that there really is only one vacant switch position that will work. Here's how the switch internals are configured
As is clearly obvious, both the Parking Aid and Park Assist switches have one end of their switch terminals hard-wired to earth. This configuration is problematic for operating the garage door remote unless the remote also has one of its switch ends earthed ( which is unlikely). A better solution is to use the Tire-set button which has both of the switch-ends "floating".
Unfortunately, I was unable to source a RHS centre console switch with the Tire-set and Parking Aid switches populated. Instead, I found a RHS module with all three switches populated from the supplier below
Golf mk7:Centre Console Switch -Alliexpress
Together with the new and the existing switch, I was able to modify the arrangement as follows:1. Remove the existing switch - See 3. Installation in the car at the end of these instructions
2. Pull- off the blank cap on centre switch of the existing switch module for use in step 4 below (take care not to break the clips on the two legs of the cap)
3. Remove the base of the new switch by levering-back the tabs on lower two sides as shown in the picture below
4. Disassemble the new switch into its component parts as shown in the picture below. On the new switch module, remove the "white insert" from the centre switch (as shown) and replace the centre switch cap with the blank-cap from the existing switch as per step 2 above.
Note: Although I've shown all three switch caps separated in the picture, only the centre switch cap needs to be separated from the "white insert" (some force is needed to separate the two). So, to avoid the possibility of breaking the locating tags in the switch cap, I suggest that only the centre cap should be separated from the "white insert".
4 Reassemble the new switch module as shown in the picture below:
2.Modify the remote control unit
Of course there are lots of different remote control door openers, but they basically all require the same two modifications to work on this project.;1. two wires need to be soldered to the terminals of one of the buttons
2. Optional, but the battery in the remote can be replaced with a simple DC supply that is fed via the vehicle's battery
In my case, the remote door opener was manufactured by Merlin (Chamberlain) . A picture of the unit is shown below
To make the two modifications noted above, two wires were soldered to the PCB as indicated in the picture. Also I didn't want to have to replace the battery on the remote control unit, so the battery cage was removed and a replacement 3 volt power supply was constructed from a simple LM317 Voltage regulator . The circuit for the new power supply is shown in the picture below. It only needs 2 x resistors - for 3 Volts output, I used R1=360 ohms & R2=510 ohms, for 9 Volts I suggest a LM7809 regulator. For 12 volts, you could use a LM7812, but take care because this device has a drop-out voltage of 2-3Volts, so a more appropriate regulator in this instance might be a LM2940 - which has a drop-out voltage of about 0.5 Volts!
Once the modifications were completed, the PCB was encased in heat-shrink tubing as shown in the picture below. Note that I cut-off the heat-tag on the LM317 to fit - heating is not an issue for this low power application. Also note the liberal use of glue from a hot-glue-gun as filler around the new switch wires and the throat of the heat-shrink tubing as protection against wire movement and breakage.
3. Installation in the car
Much of the material in this section was sourced from the previous work of Mattaus (many thanks, again) who was a co-developer of the Auto Start Stop disable switch in the thread Auto Start/Stop disable switch - who wants to help?. This thread contains all the instructions for gaining access to the centre console switch
To remove the gear lever gaiter and the "C" section plastic shroud , see Mattaus's video:
https://youtu.be/-UX6UuEYKkM
Once the RHS switch module is removed from the 10 pin connector, two additional socket-pins need to be installed into the wiring-loom side of the connector (see picture below) on positions #9 and #10 - these are marked on the base of the connector:
Whilst the connector itself is a special VW item, the pins on the switch module appear to be bog standard PCB pins (i.e. square 0.64 mm pins with a pitch of 2.54 mm). So the extra socket-pins are readily available from any good hobby shop (like Jaycar - CAT NO: HP1260). However, I chose to use genuine VW pins because they appear to be more robust in construction. The part number is shown in the picture below (note: only one wire is needed as it has a socket-pin on both ends - cost $15, which is outrageous!)
To install the new socket-pins see Mattaus's video:
https://youtu.be/Ijyl0ogJW8s
Power supply for the control module can be obtained by splicing into a terminal 15 battery rail (i.e. switched with the ignition key). I sourced this supply by using a "piggy-back" fuse on position #40 of the C fuse box (the one behind the glove-box) which I had previously installed for the Auto Start Stop disable switch. I ran the two wires from the newly installed socket-pins to the C fuse box and made all the connections there. The new garage door opener is wrapped in bubble-wrap and placed in the bottom of the fuse cavity as shown in the picture below (together with the Auto SS disable switch)
The remote control device is now installed and it's operated perfectly every time that I press the Tire-set button (the button even lights-up when I have the headlights switched-on!
Cheers
Don
PS: For anyone contemplating this project, there is an alternative approach which is explained in the video below. Note that this alternative was originally designed for a motor-bike, but the principle equally applies to a car. I'm not recommending that the alternative approach be adopted, but if you have the courage - give it a go!
A further warning if you decide to proceed with the "alternative option". If you implement this approach it's very important to implement the required routine maintenance program.
The underpinning design for the automatic door opener in the video is based on what control system engineers call a "closed loop system with a positive feedback coefficient". The required maintenance regime for these systems targets the health of the latter part of this descriptor.
The routine process for maintenance is:
- Every time that the control module is used, the operator MUST express his sincere gratitude to the actuator
- On the shorter of 3 months or 90 cycles, the operator must give the actuator a bunch of long stem roses (preferably white)
Failure to maintain the control module in the recommended fashion WILL dramatically shorten the life of the system and the emotional wellbeing of the operator!
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Volkswagen Fanatic
Originally Posted by lu9999
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