Front license plate reduces Homelink Garage Door opener range from 100 feet to 5 feet

I have the same model as you and got the front place installed last week. Don't see the drop in range.

eco5280 said:

The range was 100 feet before I put on the front license plate. Now it's five feet. I have to be RIGHT in front of my garage door before it'll open. Bummer. I doubt there is or ever will be a fix for this one.

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For what it's worth, I'm not having this issue with the front plate on.

Don't have a front plate on mine. Max range is ~20 feet. Worse if I'm backing out as the transmitter appears to be in the front. I would love to see 100 ft range. Is there an applicable TSB for this?

This might just be on the classic MS but I thought the home link was in the rear view mirror? Maybe try cleaning dusting that off (the part that faces the windshield) this also helps with the intensity of the electrochomatic mirrors

Here's another datapoint. I have a classic Model S. I put the front plate on 2.5 years ago, and never had a problem at my old house. I would typically hit the button about 30 feet from the house as I went up and down our long angled driveway.

We moved about a year ago, and this house has a short straight driveway. The homelink usually works, but sometimes even when I'm right in front of the door, it is balky. We keep a separate garage door opener in the car for when that happens.

The funny thing is that my wife says it works better from father away. Sure enough, when it doesn't work up close, it works better from 50' away. However, at that point the car is 90 degrees from the house, rather than facing straight at it.

So I wonder if it has something to do with the angle the car is at...maybe the transmitter is right behind the plate (that is very near where we held the garage door opener to train it) and the plate blocks signals going straight forward, but they still come out the side.

On my Classic, the range isn't very far, but it didn't change when I put on the plates. I believe the range doesn't appear to be very far because I don't have a straight shot into the driveway, so the car is at right angles to the door when I press the button.

There is a bumper behind the (official) license mounting point. I would not expect the antenna to be in that area. Tesla has so many things well thought out they must have selected an appropriate location. It will be interesting to see the answer to this transmitter range question.
~Larry

About 20 feet on my P85D. That compares to about 400 feet on my Infiniti home link where I can open the door as soon as I turn the corner and see my garage door all the way down the end of the street. In my P85D, I have to actually drive up on to the driveway to the front of the garage door. It's the shortest range I've ever had on homelink.

Larry93535 said:

Tesla has so many things well thought out they must have selected an appropriate location.

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Umm.. It's true that Tesla has made many good design decisions, but they've also made many poor ones. For example, the lack of ventilation to the third row, or the points on the B pillars that get worn out easily. It's not hard to imagine they could screw up something like this.

I don't use a front plate and refuse to. Sorry, but screw 'em. I don't like the look. I'll pay the $20. But my range, without the front plate, is perhaps 30-50 ft. Though I do have an old Genie door opener. Works just fine, but it is probably an antique by now. The one thing I note is that the pop up to open is exceptionally consistent. It always comes up at the exact same point. I may have had a couple times when the door didn't open on first press. But I do not believe it is related to SW version.

ChadS said:

The funny thing is that my wife says it works better from father away. Sure enough, when it doesn't work up close, it works better from 50' away. However, at that point the car is 90 degrees from the house, rather than facing straight at it.

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Perhaps it is a directional antenna? Has the placement of the antenna been changed over the model iterations? If so, is a TSB available for the classics, anyone know?

one of the variables here is the wire antenna on the opener itself. Make sure it sticks out free and clear of any metal. Your could also try arranging the antenna in different axis.

I back into my garage, for best results I have to be about 20 feet away.

I'm just glad it has any reception behind the car when backing up... I didn't think about it if it'd work til after I took delivery

I noticed that my range can be anywhere from 3 feet, to 150 feet, and it differs throughout the month. Consecutive days generally have the same range, then it slowly drifts one way or the other and stays there, then drifts back.

I think environmental factors like temperature & humidity is a larger factor than the placement of the transmitter.

I recently picked up an antenna extension kit - I will post back with the results. (Though I really need about a month to tell whether it's really working).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004K2YH4E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Take plate off

Take the plate off and see if your range goes back to normal. Maybe something got disconnected.

Back when Reagan was Prez, whenever he came into town (Santa Barbara), my door would not work at all. I figured it was all the electronic surveillance going on. It was really annoying. So I think that EMT could be a factor for deonb. Other radio waves, etc, can make a huge difference by creating too much noise for the very weak signal needed to open a garage door.

Just thinkin'