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Any way to program Homelink without handheld remote?

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My other cars haven't needed a handheld remote, and I didn't get one when I got the house.
I tried using another car near the Tesla, but the Tesla keeps saying "Searching"

Do I need to buy a handheld one just so I can program the Tesla?

Traditionally there are two kinds of remotes, ones with a fixed code, and newer ones with a rolling code. The instructions say to use the existing opener inside the car, so that the car unit can detect that it isn't, in fact, a fixed code. You can do this by just waiting it out, without pressing anything. Then you press the "learn" button on the actual opener, and tell the car to transmit, and it will transmit its own rolling code, which the opener will then figure out and remember. You should be fine.
 
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How do I tell the car to transmit?

I try to program "Left". It searches and fails to find anything after 5 minutes or so. It gives me the option of trying again. Trying again just repeats the loop. I can also cancel. If I cancel, then Left is labeled as "Not Programmed", and pushing the button doesn't seem to do anything.
 
My other cars haven't needed a handheld remote, and I didn't get one when I got the house.
I tried using another car near the Tesla, but the Tesla keeps saying "Searching"

Do I need to buy a handheld one just so I can program the Tesla?

I didn't need a handheld remote to program Homelink on other cars. I doubt it's required for the Model S either. However, it might be dependent upon the type of garage door opener you have. The thing to do is find the instructions (online) for your garage door opener, then use a combination of the two instructions to make the Homelink work.
 
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I didn't need a handheld remote to program Homelink on other cars. I doubt it's required for the Model S either. However, it might be dependent upon the type of garage door opener you have. The thing to do is find the instructions (online) for your garage door opener, then use a combination of the two instructions to make the Homelink work.
The problem is that I can't figure out how to convince Model S to send out a signal. As far as I can tell, if it doesn't find a signal from a remote, it won't do anything since it's "not programmed". I have a wall mounted combination remote, and I tried driving the Model S so that the front bumper is near that. It wouldn't pick up the signal from the combination remote, and I haven't gotten it to pick up the signal from my wife's car.

Incidentally, I have two garage doors I need to program. They're both run of the mill 10 year old LiftMasters.
 
I have always found the answer to this question to be no. Even if you borrow a neighbors opener to program it to your door,
Program your s, then program it back to your neighbors door...

But more concerning in my opinion is how did you manage to loose 2-4 garage door
Openers?
 
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The problem is that I can't figure out how to convince Model S to send out a signal. As far as I can tell, if it doesn't find a signal from a remote, it won't do anything since it's "not programmed".

Is there a training button the garage door opener? Usually you need to press that and then press the Homelink button.
 
But more concerning in my opinion is how did you manage to loose 2-4 garage door
Openers?
The guy I bought the house from wasn't the most organized.
He still had his junk in the house days after closing and he wasn't paying me rent. Getting garage door openers from him was not a significant concern of mine.

- - - Updated - - -

Is there a training button the garage door opener? Usually you need to press that and then press the Homelink button.

yes, there is. but the Model S's homelink button doesn't seem to do anything when it's "not programmed".

I guess I can go to Target and get a replacement remote. I suppose having a handheld remote isn't a terrible idea, anyway.
 
yes, there is. but the Model S's homelink button doesn't seem to do anything when it's "not programmed".

Unfortunately, without a transmitter there isn't much you can do. The car uses the transmitter to sense whether it's an old-style non-rolling-code transmitter, a 310 MHz transmitter, a 315 MHz transmitter, or a 390 MHz transmitter. Without these, the car would have to generate and transmit multiple signals all the time (because it's a one-way mechanism, and the car wouldn't know which of the various version of Security+ are in use by your opener). There could be an "advanced mode", I guess, that would allow you to configure it, but since most people have a remote anyway, it makes sense to detect it.
 
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I'm just saying I've programmed two other cars' Homelink (Merc and Lexus) without a handheld remote so it can be done. I understand why Tesla would want to set things up to read the signal from an existing transmitter, but other car manufacturers have other solutions.

Pulling the wall mounted remote off of the wall, and holding it in front of the bumper did work. Odd that on a wall 4' high, 4' away from the bumper failed, but in my hand, 2' high, 2' away from the bumper worked. Is the search really that sensitive to signal strength?

Anyway, the car can open one door now, but not the other, as the wall mounted remote doesn't work with the other door, either. maybe it's the wrong frequency?
 
My experience with my non-rolling-code transmitter was rather horrible. Took 3-4 tries for my DS and I to do it right, and then when I had to re-program it (after the GPS issue was fixed), it took another 20 minutes for the ranger and I to do it. Also required a new battery in the transmitter.

It's likely you have two different frequencies in your openers. They've changed over the years -- see the table here, about halfway down the page.

In theory, Tesla should be able to do this by asking you to press the learn button on the opener, then sending messages on the three different frequencies, then ask you to hit the button until the door opens so it knows which frequency you're on. Alternatively, they could just choose to send 3 signals each time you push the button too - one on each frequency.

Like other subsystems in the car, they may have a Homelink module from a third-party manufacturer, and they've just made it work for now based upon the traditional GM-style "hold the transmitter here" method.
 
I just purchased 2017 model s, its not programming to wayne dalton garage door. I have lost the remote. Please help to program it to homelink.

I had an issue with a different manufacturer on an older vehicle in which I didn't have the remote and it was an older model. I was able to go to a hardware store and pick up a new remote that had the ability to be programmed to a range of older and newer model openers. I was able to program the remote, then use the generic remote to program the car.

Maybe that was all overkill but it worked for me. Was able to use the same generic remote to program my new Tesla.
 
I just purchased 2017 model s, its not programming to wayne dalton garage door. I have lost the remote. Please help to program it to homelink.

Break down and purchase a replacement remote. Homelink needs to listen to a working remote so as to know what frequency and protocol to speak. Once it knows what type you can then tell your door opener to accept the car. Perhaps you can borrow a remote for a moment to teach your Homelink what protocol to speak? A neighbor perhaps? This will not grant you acces to their door. Only the learn button on their door motor can do that.

Many do not understand that it is the door receiver which gets programmed to recognize the remote, and not the other way around.
 
And remember this is beta software.
The car will not know if the door is open or closed so it may do the opposite of what you need.
Wifey had the garage door open with boxes for Goodwill all around. I pulled up in Nicki and Nicki closed the garage door onto the boxes. Also if you have more than one car, or use the garage door with the remote or button, the car can get out of sync and need re-programming.
 
What if you used one of your other cars, if they are programmed to fire the first signal for you to program the Tesla?

Might work. But my experience programming the Homelink was that the Tesla needed quite a while to recognize the signal I was using while I continuously pressed the button on the remote. Not sure if another car would be able to continuously send a signal for the time required. Plus, I had to get pretty close to the Tesla to program it and depending on where the transmitter is on the other car, it might not be able to get close enough.
 
Success! I ran into the same issue as the OP. I just moved into a house in Florida and the previous owner was sketchy, didn't leave any remotes. Real estate agent wasn't able to get them.

The garage door opener is on the older side, but the keypad is wireless. Initially I took the keypad off the wall and tried to use it to program the Tesla, but that failed. The problem (I think) was the keypad only sent a burst signal and it wasn't long enough for the Tesla to recognize. This was true even when I held down the enter button.

What ended up working was reprogramming the keypad PIN. The instructions on the pad said to press the learn button on the garage, enter the new code on the keypad and HOLD DOWN the button on the keypad until the garage blinked. So I put the Tesla in learn mode, pressed the learn button on the garage, typed in my new pin on the keypad and HELD DOWN the enter button on the keypad while standing in front of the bumper. The garage recognized the new pin right away, but I continued to hold down the button and 5 to 10 seconds later it too registered the signal. Now I'm good to go!

tl;dr If you garage has a wireless keypad, use the set new pin functionality to send a continuous signal to the Tesla from the keypad.
 
For those that ended up on this thread because - like me - in attempting to set up homelink their remote clickers stopped working...

...you probably reset the clicker by hitting the button on back of the clicker and now it is no longer communicating to your ceiling mounted garage door opener. HERE is a link to the user manuals for lots of clickers - if you find yours it will tell you how to make your clicker remote communicate with your particular garage door opener. Once you fix that you can go back to setting up the Tesla homelink.

I reset my clicker remote because I interpreted the Tesla instructions incorrectly. Step 1 has you hold the clicker next to the bumper (and I believe many homelinks are set up with only step one). Step 2 (if you are given a step 2) tells you to push the button on the back of the garage door opener and then press the homelink button in the tesla. This does not refer to the button on back of the remote clicker, this refers to the button on back of the ceiling mounted garage door opener.

Hope this helps someone.
 
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