Old Library

sunroof motor cover of my car.

I also, (while I was at it) installed a garage door opener button in the
sunroof motor cover and tucked the unit up under the headliner.  No more
hunting for the opener, it's always in the same place and the battery
never goes dead. :-)

- --
Mike

Mike Bigus ==&gt; &#103;tivr6r&#64;chicagonet<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>

Christopher J Jacques wrote:
>
> Mike,
>
> Does your garage door opener use 12V?  Mine uses a 9V.  If I could get it
> to work, it sounds like a great idea!  Tell me more.

Hi Chris,

No Mine also uses 9 volts to power it.

I got a potentiometer from Radio Shack, (don't remember what part number or
size) I put 12 volts from the car battery to it, and used a digital volt/ohm
meter to dial it down to 9 volts.  A drop or two of super/crazy glue and it's
a permanant step down voltage from 12 to 9 DC volts.  :-)

Been working fine for 1-1/2 years now. :-)

--
Mike

Mike Bigus ==&gt; &#103;tivr6r&#64;chicagonet<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>

Hi guys -

While I'm glad this worked for Mike, if it was mine I'd feel more comfortable
using a 9V zener diode in paralell with the opener's power input; then you
could rest assured you wouldn't blow anything up due to power variations or pot
value changes; you could also use a fixed-value resistor.  Make sure you put
the zener _after_ the opener's power switch to avoid battery drain while the
thing's unused.

Email me if you want specifics, like zener power ratings, the resistor value,
which way to connect the zener, how to hook this mess up, etc...

Am I rambling?  Maybe it's time to head home and have a Homebrew (and
Relax!)...

Cheers,
- - Bob T.

Even better, use a 3-terminal voltage regulator (again, after the switch).  I don't
have a Radio Hack catalog handy, but I'd guess they'd probably have one for about
$2.

Bob Tillman wrote:

> Hi guys -
>
> While I'm glad this worked for Mike, if it was mine I'd feel more comfortable
> using a 9V zener diode in paralell with the opener's power input...

(also note misspelling of "parallel" in above line... ;)

Cheers,
- b


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I opened up the garage opener and took out the circuit board+battery,
soldered two wires to the leads on the switch (open/close garage switch) and
connected the ends of the wires to a black momentary switch that I got at
radio shack.  Now you can place the RS switch anywhere you want on one of
the dummy plastic covers on the dash, and just stick the circuit board
somewhere underneath the center console.  On the A3 I used one of the covers
next to the AC/Recirc buttons for the switch and the circuit board and
battery are nicely tucked under the cup holder (conveniently accessible for
battery changes).  I friend of mine saw it and did the same thing to his 99
passat, so I'm sure you can find a way to do it on a Mk4.

Laters,

Brian