Since trading in my old 2007 Dodge Caliber for my new 2013 JKUR, I have not missed a thing about the old car, except for the Homelink Garage door opener... Seems like something so simple to include on a Jeep, yet Chrysler hasn't done it yet. So I decided to install one myself. I did a lot of research into what other people have done, and decided to install it above the rear view mirror - I think someone on a different JK forum did it here too.
I wanted to share back with the community and hope this helps others out there looking to do the same thing.
I bought a Homelink unit off of ebay for ~$35.
I knew that the location I wanted to install it was very space limited. I took out the front overhead to get a better look and measure the space. I saw that it would fit with a little downsizing, so I had to trim the one end of the unit where the circuit board sticks out of the box. Here, I soldered the pos(+ White) and neg (- Black) wires directly into the circuit board and clipped away the rest.
From here I measured the holes and created a template to drill the holes into the overhead. This part is very important to measure twice, drill once!
From reading other threads, I knew that the thickness of the overhead would not allow the homelink faceplate to clip into the homelink unit. Some people used cotter pins or tried glue.. I wanted to avoid that if I could, so what I did instead, was drill the holes just big enough that the faceplate would clip into the holes and overhead instead of through the overhead and into the unit.
For the three buttons I used a 15/64 drill bit.
For the LED, I used a 13/64 drill bit.
For the clips, I used a 5/32 drill bit (This worked perfectly)
When placing the unit onto the overhead, I tried to fit it up as high as I could, however, there is a slight curve to the plastic and I tried shaving the corner of the unit to fit more flush with the inside of the overhead.
Here comes the next problem. Because of the extra thickness of the overhead plastic, the rubber buttons on the faceplate will not reach the buttons on the circuit board. I found that the best thing to use was eraser ends from a mechanical pencil. I lucked out because the diameter of the eraser fit perfectly with the button holes in the Homelink unit. This idea I got from another creative Jeeper. You will need to shave the eraser ends to get the perfect thickness.
Now that this all has worked out so far, time to place the homelink unit onto the inside of the overhead. This is tough and there are other ways to do this. First I used a glue gun to glue the unit down. Then I melted 4 small holes on the plastic walls beside the unit and strung fishing line through them to tie it down more firmly. Then I used electrical tape to tape it down.
In hindsight, I wish I had used something more sturdy (and not elastic), such as metal strapping...
Next step - wiring into the Jeep. I didn't want to run wire all through the dash to the lighter... seemed like a lot of pulling things apart that I didn't want to do. Instead, I spliced it into the power source for the rear view mirror. This may not be an option for some Jeepers out there, so you may have to open up your dash afterall...
I honestly thought this part would be easy. I found the wiring connector pin identification diagram for the mirror at this website:
Mopar Connector Repair Kit Website
There are 5 wires going to the mirror. Two are thicker (a white and a black). At first I thought that the white would be the source, but it wasn't, even thought it is the "Backup Lamp Feed", I registered no voltage on my multimeter. The Black is the ground though. The Red is a source only when the keys are in the ignition set to ON, however, when the keys are out, the voltage reads 0 V. The Yellow with Light Blue (pin 4) is the "Reading Lamp Driver" and has a 12V source when the keys are in and set to ON. It also has a small 0.7V feed when vehicle is off. This I think is what you need in order. I hope that this will enable the homelink device to at least remember garage codes.
It would have been nice to have something more substation for a source, but I think this will work (I'll let you know if it doesn't later)
After splicing black to black and white to yellow/LB, I wrapped everything up and put the Jeep back together.
Here's how it looks!
Hope this helps others out there looking to do this great Mod!
I wanted to share back with the community and hope this helps others out there looking to do the same thing.
I bought a Homelink unit off of ebay for ~$35.
I knew that the location I wanted to install it was very space limited. I took out the front overhead to get a better look and measure the space. I saw that it would fit with a little downsizing, so I had to trim the one end of the unit where the circuit board sticks out of the box. Here, I soldered the pos(+ White) and neg (- Black) wires directly into the circuit board and clipped away the rest.
From here I measured the holes and created a template to drill the holes into the overhead. This part is very important to measure twice, drill once!
From reading other threads, I knew that the thickness of the overhead would not allow the homelink faceplate to clip into the homelink unit. Some people used cotter pins or tried glue.. I wanted to avoid that if I could, so what I did instead, was drill the holes just big enough that the faceplate would clip into the holes and overhead instead of through the overhead and into the unit.
For the three buttons I used a 15/64 drill bit.
For the LED, I used a 13/64 drill bit.
For the clips, I used a 5/32 drill bit (This worked perfectly)
When placing the unit onto the overhead, I tried to fit it up as high as I could, however, there is a slight curve to the plastic and I tried shaving the corner of the unit to fit more flush with the inside of the overhead.
Here comes the next problem. Because of the extra thickness of the overhead plastic, the rubber buttons on the faceplate will not reach the buttons on the circuit board. I found that the best thing to use was eraser ends from a mechanical pencil. I lucked out because the diameter of the eraser fit perfectly with the button holes in the Homelink unit. This idea I got from another creative Jeeper. You will need to shave the eraser ends to get the perfect thickness.
Now that this all has worked out so far, time to place the homelink unit onto the inside of the overhead. This is tough and there are other ways to do this. First I used a glue gun to glue the unit down. Then I melted 4 small holes on the plastic walls beside the unit and strung fishing line through them to tie it down more firmly. Then I used electrical tape to tape it down.
In hindsight, I wish I had used something more sturdy (and not elastic), such as metal strapping...
Next step - wiring into the Jeep. I didn't want to run wire all through the dash to the lighter... seemed like a lot of pulling things apart that I didn't want to do. Instead, I spliced it into the power source for the rear view mirror. This may not be an option for some Jeepers out there, so you may have to open up your dash afterall...
I honestly thought this part would be easy. I found the wiring connector pin identification diagram for the mirror at this website:
Mopar Connector Repair Kit Website
There are 5 wires going to the mirror. Two are thicker (a white and a black). At first I thought that the white would be the source, but it wasn't, even thought it is the "Backup Lamp Feed", I registered no voltage on my multimeter. The Black is the ground though. The Red is a source only when the keys are in the ignition set to ON, however, when the keys are out, the voltage reads 0 V. The Yellow with Light Blue (pin 4) is the "Reading Lamp Driver" and has a 12V source when the keys are in and set to ON. It also has a small 0.7V feed when vehicle is off. This I think is what you need in order. I hope that this will enable the homelink device to at least remember garage codes.
It would have been nice to have something more substation for a source, but I think this will work (I'll let you know if it doesn't later)
After splicing black to black and white to yellow/LB, I wrapped everything up and put the Jeep back together.
Here's how it looks!
Hope this helps others out there looking to do this great Mod!