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Hidden Garage Door Opener


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How To Install Your Own

 

Hidden Garage Door Opener

 

Have you ever come home and fumbled for the garage door opener in your pocket while trying to steer? One solution I used on my previous scoot was to velcro the opener to the handlebars. Looked kind of tacky plus I always had to remember to remove it when leaving the bike unattended.

After I got my new ride ('06 Venture), I decided to make something more permanent and easy to use. Here is how I did mine. Your own installation will vary depending on where you want to locate things, but the concept is the same.

You will need to split the faring for this procedure.

 

1) Go out and buy a small transmitter, or use a spare you might have around the house. The smaller the better, but don't go too small as it will be almost impossible to find the solder points you will need to get to on the inside.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/garage/image002.jpg

 

 

2) Key your new transmitter to your garage door opener. Since every model is different I cannot begin to tell you here how to accomplish this. You will need to consult the manual for your particular brand. Once you have it keyed, test it.

 

3) Go to Radio Shack (or any electronics parts place) and get a Single Pole Momentary On pushbutton switch. The size, color and feel of the switch is strictly an individual choice. Attach 2 wires to the posts (solder is best) and shrink wrap (I shrink wrap everything).

 

http://www.venturerider.org/garage/image004.jpg

 

4) Now pick a spot on the faring where you would like to have the button. Check locations when you are sitting on the bike to make sure that it is easily reachable and will not interfere with your operation of the bike. Once you have a location picked, make sure that the spot is reachable from the inside the faring. This picture shows mine under the left side. Since the button is black, it's hard to see. Look at the end of the arrow.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/garage/image006.jpg

 

One suggestion: Remove the transmitter battery before starting this next step. It will save you the trouble of having to explain to the neighbors why your garage is not possessed just because the door keeps opening and closing every few seconds.

5) Now open up the transmitter and find 2 contact points on the circuit board that are closed when you push the transmitter button. Solder 2 wires to these contact points and route the wires outside the body of the transmitter. I used a small round file to cut 2 notches in the case where it split to allow the wires to not get crimped when I reassembled the case. This process is what took me the longest to do, in all, about 1 hour to locate the traces and carefully solder wires to them. An ohmmeter is really useful for doing this. Once the case is reassembled (with the battery back in) you should have something like this.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/garage/image008.jpg

 

 

Test! Test! Test! If you have done everything correct to this point you should be able to touch the 2 bare ends of the transmitter wires together and your garage door should activate. If it does...congratulations!!! On to the next step. If not...go back to step 5

 

6) Drill a hole in the faring where you decided to locate the button and install it. A good idea is to put some silicone seal on the threads to keep the locknut from backing off.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/garage/image010.jpg

 

 

7) Now find a convienent place for the transmitter to sit on the inside of the faring and mount it. I use sticky back velcro just in case I need to remove the thing one day.

 

 

8) Connect the two wires from the button to the two wires from the transmitter. Since this is just completing a circuit it does not really matter which wire goes to which. In my case, I just twisted them together and then shrink wrapped the connections. Tidy up the extra wire with a couple of wire ties. Test it again! Put everything back together and you're ready to go.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/garage/image012.jpg

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