[GregBrew]

I finally wired up a garage-door opener in my 2017 Premiere. This is something I've been doing to my vehicles for 20-odd years. Cycling the garage door requires nothing more than to hit the high beams for a moment.

It uses a standard garage door opener remote, but replaces the battery with an ignition-switched zener-regulated power source and uses a standard automotive relay to trigger the opener button contacts when the Bolt's high-beam headlights are engaged. The opener remote needs to be modified, and the high-beam harness in the Bolt needs to be modified. By using switched power, the opener is disabled unless the Bolt is "on", just in case I park in the driveway, for security. Be sure to pair the remote to the garage door opener *before* doing all of this. It can be done after installation, but before is much easier.

In the 2017 Premiers, high-beam enable is the white wire in the harness going to the headlight module plug. I cut mine, and solder-spliced additional wire so it could be extended to the auto relay. I tapped fuse location 79 in the under-hood fuse block for an ignition-switched power source using an add-a-fuse, and picked up ground at the battery post clamp.

I mounted the opener remote (using sticky-backed Velcro) to the top of the fuse block cover. The relay is mounted to the bolt that secures the little battery shield. All but the high-beam wire mod is reversible for removal. Note that my battery shield (below the photo) has a 150A fuse holder mounted to it for my emergency power tap. Its Anderson connector can be seen to the right, and the red cable can be seen going to the battery post. Things are getting really busy under my Bolt's hood, near the aux battery!

Below is a schematic and photo of the finished install. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All vehicle modifications are done at your own risk. This is for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to modify your own vehicle. Working on your Bolt can expose you to lethal voltages that can cause severe damage to your vehicle and even death to yourself. Again, proceed at your own risk!

 

[Chwkev]

That looks great! I like the idea. Do you feel like explaining the set up in more detail to someone with less experience? For the Remote power it looks like you use a resistor in series with the remote to get your 12v supply down to 9v (?). What are thecapacitor and zener diode in parallel for? You show a “ground” between the “Left Brights” and “Sw 12V” and also the -12v battery post at the bottom of the schematic. Wha is the “ground” point for? Thanks!

 

[GregBrew]

That looks great! I like the idea. Do you feel like explaining the set up in more detail to someone with less experience? For the Remote power it looks like you use a resistor in series with the remote to get your 12v supply down to 9v (?). What are thecapacitor and zener diode in parallel for? You show a “ground” between the “Left Brights” and “Sw 12V” and also the -12v battery post at the bottom of the schematic. Wha is the “ground” point for? Thanks!

Set up properly, this zener diode regulates the voltage to 3.0V across its leads, which is the same voltage as the button battery I took out of the remote. Zeners come in various voltages, so one can be properly chosen to match the battery voltage in the specific opener remote.

The series resistor controls the amount of current to the zener and remote control, to put the zener in it's regulatory current range (a few mA) without being too much to burn it up, while providing enough current to run the remote control. The capacitor across the remote's battery voltage is to eliminate AC noise on the DC battery voltage. I put it there because it's generally good practice to do so. Since the remote uses radio frequency (RF) to operate, introducing more AC into it can't help things, and automotive power systems are notorious for being electrically noisy.

On the schematic, only the places where lines cross that have a big dot on them are actually connected together. Ground is not connected to either Left Brights or Sw 12V directly. The vehicle "chassis ground" (not Earth ground) provides a current return path after the current from Sw 12V goes through the resistor and zener, and provides the return path for current after it goes through the relay coil that engages the remote button contacts. The "Ground" point on the middle of the schematic doesn't really go anywhere, it's just there as a label. The notation on the bottom indicates that the ground connection goes to the Bolt's aux battery.

Essentially there are two independent circuits at play here: One to provide 3V power to the garage door opener remote, and the second one to trip the relay using the signal that controls the high-beams.

I could have just left the button battery in the remote, and only used the high beam control signal to trip the relay for the remote's push button. The problem with this is that you'd still need to replace the button battery periodically, and the opener could still be activated, even with the Bolt's ignition turned "off", by toggling the high-beams. Not very secure, with the Bolt sometimes sitting in the driveway.

 

[jon8491]

I finally wired up a garage-door opener

My garage opener is circa 1965. The terminal that goes to the ring circuit measures 30vAC. As such I am unable to replace my old, unsecure remote with a modern remote unless I also replace my otherwise perfectly operating and capable door opener (the one I tried fried on the first operation). I've been thinking about putting a relay across the terminals for that ring circuit so that a modern remote can operate my door. My problem is that I don't know what voltage a modern remote receiver expects to see at the door operator external terminals. 12vDC?? Some other voltage?

Can you offer a suggestion regarding the voltage requirements? I think just need a relay that will temporarily close when the remote receiver is triggered and that will handle 30v AC. I am envisioning that a modern receiver will apply voltage (or maybe break voltage?) when it is toggled by the remote. Then the relay should close when toggled to trigger the door, immediately returning to the open state.

 

[Chwkev]

Set up properly, this zener diode regulates the voltage to 3.0V across its leads...

Thanks for the explanation! That all makes sense to me.

 

[ai4px]

Not to be a wet blanket, but I’ve got a potential issue for you.... rolling code transmitters use a pseudo random number (ie it predictably skips around). The synchronized receiver predicts the next 255 numbers in the sequence. Each time the receiver hears one of those 255 numbers, it predicts the next 255. So if you press the transmitter key when you are our of range, the receiver will still re-sync with the receiver. But it the transmitter has advanced more than 255 numbers, the receiver will never recover the sync. At any point in time the receiver is waiting to hear 255 numbers out of a possible 4 billion. So your idea will work as long as you don’t flash your high beams more than 255 times while away from home. Not likely to happen on a day trip, but what about when away from home on vacation?

In the 1970’s-80s the normal garage remote had a fixed code that you set with dip switches... these aren’t secure, but would work like a champ with the high beam idea.

Just food for thought.

 

[Chwkev]

The terminal that goes to the ring circuit measures 30vAC.

What do you mean by “ring circuit”? I am not familiar with that term.

 

[Chwkev]

So your idea will work as long as you don’t flash your high beams more than 255 times while away from home. Not likely to happen on a day trip, but what about when away from home on vacation?

It seems unlikely that I would EVER be away from home long enough to select high beams 256 times. Anyways, my remote still uses dip switches so I guess I am ok.

 

[jon8491]

The ring circuit is the wires between the terminal on the outside of the door controller box and the push button that is located on a wall somewhere so you can manually trigger the opener. In my case it is actually a doorbell button. It merely shorts the connection at the terminal and triggers the door to open. That same terminal is where one typically connects the remote receiver, although looking at photo's of new installations, apparently the terminal is now located inside of the door controller box and the remote plugs into it rather than being wired to the terminal like mine is.

 

[Bolt Action]

Are you available for hire? ;-)

 

[Chwkev]

The ring circuit is the wires between the terminal on the outside of the door could ntroller box and the push button that is located on a wall somewhere so you can manually trigger the opener. In my case it is actually a doorbell button.

Thanks. I thought that is what you meant. Our opener is an older one but it is 8VDC.

 

[GregBrew]

My garage opener is circa 1965. The terminal that goes to the ring circuit measures 30vAC. As such I am unable to replace my old, unsecure remote with a modern remote unless I also replace my otherwise perfectly operating and capable door opener (the one I tried fried on the first operation). I've been thinking about putting a relay across the terminals for that ring circuit so that a modern remote can operate my door. My problem is that I don't know what voltage a modern remote receiver expects to see at the door operator external terminals. 12vDC?? Some other voltage?

Can you offer a suggestion regarding the voltage requirements? I think just need a relay that will temporarily close when the remote receiver is triggered and that will handle 30v AC. I am envisioning that a modern receiver will apply voltage (or maybe break voltage?) when it is toggled by the remote. Then the relay should close when toggled to trigger the door, immediately returning to the open state.

The garage-door opener controls I'm familiar with are wired with open contacts to the motor unit. Shorting the two contacts together triggers the motor unit to open/close. This sounds like what your "ring" circuit does, too. I suspect that I would have also tried an add-on unit like the Genie GIRUD 1T, expecting it's output to be simple dry relay contacts that could easily handle 30V AC....and possibly fried it, too. Maybe the one you tried (and fried) used semiconductors that were expecting DC, instead of a relay that could handle either AC or DC?

I looked at the specs of the Genie unit, and could not find a anything about output's electrical capabilities. I'd be inclined to buy and take apart a unit like the Genie one and look to modifying its output to add a simple relay that's capable of at least 50V AC, which should be pretty easy to find. The relay's coil voltage requirement would depend on what the remote receiver box output looks like. Sounds like a fun project, if you've got the time. Good luck!

 

[GregBrew]

Not to be a wet blanket, but I’ve got a potential issue for you.... rolling code transmitters use a pseudo random number (ie it predictably skips around). The synchronized receiver predicts the next 255 numbers in the sequence. Each time the receiver hears one of those 255 numbers, it predicts the next 255. So if you press the transmitter key when you are our of range, the receiver will still re-sync with the receiver. But it the transmitter has advanced more than 255 numbers, the receiver will never recover the sync. At any point in time the receiver is waiting to hear 255 numbers out of a possible 4 billion. So your idea will work as long as you don’t flash your high beams more than 255 times while away from home. Not likely to happen on a day trip, but what about when away from home on vacation?

In the 1970’s-80s the normal garage remote had a fixed code that you set with dip switches... these aren’t secure, but would work like a champ with the high beam idea.

Just food for thought.

I've never toggled high beams on any vehicle I've ever owned more than 50 times during the time I've owned them (except to open the garage door). That concern's not even on my radar, but thanks for mentioning it!

 

[Chwkev]

The series resistor controls the amount of current to the zener and remote control, to put the zener in it's regulatory current range (a few mA) without being too much to burn it up, while providing enough current to run the remote control.

How did you decide how much current is needed for the remote control? Did you measure it or just make an educated guess?

The capacitor across the remote's battery voltage is to eliminate AC noise on the DC battery voltage. I put it there because it's generally good practice to do so.

How did you decide what size capacitor to use (how many microfarads)? Does it need to be a 3V capacitor? Or just “at least” 3Vs?

I could have just left the button battery in the remote,...[but] the opener could still be activated, even with the Bolt's ignition turned "off", by toggling the high-beams.

So you’re saying that when the Bolt is turned off, there is still power to the high beam wire? I’m going to have to go and check, but I don’t think the high beams will come on when the car is turned off (car isn’t home right now).

 

[Chwkev]

Disregard. I just confirmed for myself that the high beams do flash when the car is off.

 

[GregBrew]

How did you decide how much current is needed for the remote control? Did you measure it or just make an educated guess?

How did you decide what size capacitor to use (how many microfarads)? Does it need to be a 3V capacitor? Or just “at least” 3Vs?

So you’re saying that when the Bolt is turned off, there is still power to the high beam wire? I’m going to have to go and check, but I don’t think the high beams will come on when the car is turned off (car isn’t home right now).

I measured the battery current, and doubled it for the original design (1k ohm, 1/4W), but evidently, my DVM didn't keep up with the pulsing surge current needed by the remote to repeatedly flash its LED, because the resulting current wasn't enough to run the remote. It's LED weakly flashed, but didn't trigger the opener, so I paralleled another 1k ohm to double the current, and double the power capacity. It *does* need 1/2W, and 510 ohms is the nearest "standard" resistor value. Since I didn't have any 510 ohm 1/2W resistors, I opted to parallel two 1k ohm 1/4Ws instead. Calculated power through the 500 ohms of resistance is .288W IIRC.

1uF is a value I adopted from my years as an R&D EE for telecom circuits. We used them like candy on circuit boards with ICs on them, as decoupling capacitors, for noise elimination. I could probably have dug out my old design guides and found the "ideal" value for this environment and circuit, but I took a SWAG at it, instead. It will probably work fine without it, but I wanted to eliminate any possibility of noise in the circuit, that could muddy things if it didn't work. The one I used was a non-polarized ceramic capacitor, with a 50V rating, from Amazon. I'll link my parts, below. At least three volts, but you'd probably be hard-pressed to even find a ceramic with that small of a voltage spec.

The high beams do flash momentarily with the ignition off.

Resistors:

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0792M83JH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]



Capacitors:

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078PHKNNT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]



Zeners:

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BTKVRG8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]


Colored Wire:

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LH1FYR4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]


I got the relay at Pep Boys, and already had 1/4" female crimp spade connectors from a different project, but you can get those at Pep Boys (or most any auto parts store), too.

I already had shrink wrap, a temp-controlled solder station, heat gun, and a voltage and current-controlled bench power supply for testing. I'm a little leery of testing things on a >$40k car.

I found that buying a single component of the preferred value was stupidly expensive, so I bought the variety kits instead. Now, I have lots of toys to play with, and my garage lab bench is almost complete. Yes, I do have an o-scope, but didn't use it...this time.

 

[Chwkev]

I measured the battery current, and doubled it for the original design (1k ohm, 1/4W)...

Thanks! That’s interesting and helpful.

1uF is a value I adopted from my years as an R&D EE for telecom circuits...

That helps too...knowing that the people coming up with cool projects that I only partially understand are actually electrical engineers! I don’t feel quite so bad not understanding

Yes, I do have an o-scope, but didn't use it...this time.

 

[Sean Nelson]

That helps too...knowing that the people coming up with cool projects that I only partially understand are actually electrical engineers! I don’t feel quite so bad not understanding

At this level electrical circuits aren't really all that complex. Heck, now that we have Arduinos and Raspberry Pis you can put together projects that have quite complex functionality with a surprisingly small amount of expertise. But you do need to put in a bit of time learning the concepts. Of course everyone prioritizes their time differently and if you're not "into" these kinds of projects then there's not a lot of payback for the time invested.

 

[Chwkev]

Of course everyone prioritizes their time differently...

(Sigh)...too true. There are so many interesting things to learn and do in life and only so much time!!

 

[Bolt Action]

What would be the design for serially activating two different buttons on the Linkmaster remote? I have a gate before the garage.