Johnny

Here's a procedure I wrote when I programmed my LS 460, LS 600hL and later my RX 350. The Lexus manuals are ambiguous, but the bottom line for Lexus cars is that the Homelink buttons in the vehicle are like a handheld remote and therefore must be trained to emulate the handheld unit, first and foremost. Once that is done, then the Homelink in the car can be programmed as you would the handheld, by activating the Learn button on the opener, and then going to the car to complete the handshake between the two systems. Here then is what worked for me using a Chamberlain opener, which is identical to the Sears Craftsman as well:

Before starting, set up a ladder to access the "Learn" button on the garage door opener. No need to depress the button at this time. Also made sure the car does not obstruct the passage of the garage door, as it is activated during this procedure.

1. I left the engine running.

2. Cleared the Lexus Homelink.

3. Held the Chamberlain remote about three inches away from the LS Homelink keypad.

4. Depressed and held the appropriate Homelink keypad. Steady LED on observed.

5. Depressed and held the Chamberlain remote keypad until the Homelink LED began flashing rapidly. Released both.

6. Got out of the car and climbed the ladder again to access the "Learn" button. Briefly depressed the "Learn" button.

Note: The LED came on, but the opener's light did not flash yet.

7. Within the allotted 30 second period, returned to the car and depressed the chosen keypad briefly one time.

The opener's lights flashed indicating a handshake between the opener, and the car's Homelink. Tested the operation of the Homelink under various operating modes.

I performed this sequence successfully on my 2007 LS 460, and likewise when I acquired the 2008 LS600, and now the 2010 RX 350.

SouthLake

Johnny,
this thread isnt about lack of programming skills. we know how to program our HLs. many of us have it functioning just fine on multiple cars...

its about the 2010/2011(early) HL devices not working with the security +2.0 opener devices. i looks like at some point in 2011 2012 HL got its act together and the devices are working with 2.0+, but i know my 2011 328xi was not compatible with the opener. i wouldnt have bought a security +2.0 had i known that....

jayclapp

The problem lies entirely with Homelink. They revised and released Homelink V, which is not backward compatible with the older Homelink that is in most cars since Homelink came about. Even if every auto manufacturer would have included the new V technology in their cars, that would not help people with cars that have the original Homelink and need to replace their garage door openers.

I just went thru this during the past few days. Purchased the high-end Chamberlain HD920EV with battery back-up. Thought I was getting the very best replacement for my old Chamberlain belt drive that had just failed after 13 years. After 5 hours of installing and getting everything running, I found that I could not connect to my 2004 LS430 UL.

After exhausting every possible method provided, including a method found on the Homelink web site that gave specific instructions for specific car/model/year, I called Chamberlain support and found that the unit I had purchased had a new version of Homelink and that it was not backward compatible with the previous version. They offered to send me a "repeater" for free only charging me $7 for shipping. This "repeater" is to be plugged into a socket in the garage. It receives the signal from the car (which has to be programmed to the repeater) and then translates and sends a signal to the opener that accepts the command to operate. How wonderful! When I asked about how would you open the garage when there was an electrical failure and the repeater would not work, they suggested that I put one of the transmitters that come with the garage door opener in the car as it would work in that situation. Again, what a wonderful solution!

I am awaiting the receiver so I can actually use my new opener as it is supposed to be used.

Incorporating technology for technology's sake is ridiculous! The next time I have to purchase a new garage door opener, the first thing I will do is take the motor out of the box, plug it in and see if it can be programmed to the car. If not, it goes back.

SouthLake

thanks for posting Jay
post #42 shows the repeater your getting, it will work, it resolved my issue. great info on the "homelink V"... now it makes sense why these new openers arent working with the "older" devices. in my case my device was in a 2011 car, less than 12 months later i bought the same opener you did and started posting to this thread.

as i talked about in this thread, the community here mentioned updating the device in the car itself but when i discussed it with BMW it really didnt go anywhere.

this information needs to be out there, written on the box, on the web, in the homelink information section in our car books.... because you did exactly what so many of us did ourselves... we bought one of the top end openers and assumed 'it would all just work'... there needs to be disclaimers on the opener box...

your repeater will work. i know its cheesy but you could plug it into a UPS... also the keypad on your garage door will also make the unit work during a power outage, again these really arent proper 'solutions' by any means.

BTW, we had no power here for over a week on the shore, and this opener worked really well, those first few battery cycles are a life saver.

Dgdesign10

I too cannot program the Liftmaster 8550 opener by chamberlain to my 2010 rx350. But what is even more frustrating is that the tech and I could not get the homelink button to reprogram by using the instructions in the Lexus manual. Help! So frustrating. I was able to program 2 other devices on the other 2 homelink buttons with no problem.

SouthLake

your suffering from the problems this thread is about. 2010 car with a new opener. that is the same as the opener we were posting about. you need to call homelink and have them send you a repeater for your 8550 to work with your Rx350.

jayclapp

I just received my repeater today. There were no instructions or other paperwork included. Just the repeater and a small remote with a single button. Went to the homelink web site and managed to download an instruction sheet.

Very poorly written and almost impossible to determine what steps they were trying to describe. Nearly gave up on it altogether, but pulled my LS430 manual out and was able to try again. The first step was to forget the repeater and put the included small remote up to the homelink in the car and hold down the car button and the remote button simultaneously for 20 seconds or more. That apparently programmed the car homelink to be able to accept a signal from the opener. I then plugged the repeater into the electrical socket that the opener was also plugged into. I then followed the car instructions. Pushed the opener learn button and within 30 seconds I pushed and released the car homelink button 3 times. That allowed the car to make the connection and the door could opened and closed from the car. Discovering this proper sequence only took me about 30 minutes of learning from many failures from trying to discern their instructions.

But what do I know, I'm only a stupid, retired Aerospace Engineer!

jayclapp

Ref above saga.

Just when I thought I had successfully mastered the programming of the new door opener, I found yesterday morning that all the other wireless remotes failed to respond after getting the car connection done. They all had to be reprogrammed. Hopefully everything is now working and will continue to.

I have noticed that the car button has a couple of second delay before anything happens. This is consistent and somewhat annoying, but I guess I'll probably get used to it.

wallmarg

The issue is Chamberlain changed the mhz of the new Liftmaster garage door openers, so the pre-2013 Homelinks won't work with it. You need to get a repeater. They will send you a repeater for $7 shipping if you have a vehicle from 2006-2008, otherwise it's closer to $40. Don't forget you can tell them the 2006-2008 vehicle of a family member or friend who might use the door opener. Here's the trick with the repeater. It says to plug it in close to the garage door opener, but misses a key sentence. Do Not Plug It Into the same outlet as the opener. Plug it in elsewhere in the garage. My Lexus dealer called Homelink and found that out for me. Once I moved the repeater away from the outlet with the actual opener, it worked perfectly.

wa3cuj

We built a new house and moved in about 5 weeks ago. We have the Chaimberland/Liftmaster with Security +2. After reading this thread I put off trying to program the Home Link in my 2010 450h and my 2007 Audi, expecting to have problems. I finally did it about 10 days ago and had no problems with either. My openers have the purple learn button on the motor units

ovrpar6

I thought this was a Lexus forum not BMW

SteveHarma

I'm not personally a Lexus owner, but I found this very interesting because I also have a chamberlain garage door opener. I have a 2011 Nissan Pathfinder Silver edition. Anyway, all of the troubleshooting and steps that everyone went though to get HomeLink working really helped me in my own situation, so I thought I'd share with everyone. Hopefully by sharing someone else will have an easier time than me. Here are the steps I took:
1. Press button A and C simultaneously for about 20 seconds until all codes are clear.
2. With my garage door opener remote, Simultaneously press desired HomeLink button and my garage remote button until I get that rapid flashing light on the HomeLink. (it's funny, but this part goes very quick and seems so easy)
3. FINAL PART, LOL VERY IMPORTANT
4. Once you have synced your HomeLink button in your car, truck or whatever. Get out and press the LEARN button for about 1 second on the opener itself, then quickly get back in your car and press the button you just synced. About 2 or 3 seconds later VIOLA!!! SUCCESS!!! Whew, that was a pain.
I wanted to share one other note - I did have LED lights in my garage and I left them OFF just in case that was a factor. Thank you everyone for your posts, I really appreciated them. Steve

dci4life

iTrader: (3)

I tried to click on a few of the videos in this thread and some were expired. So heres the one I found that explains it good. First try and I got it. Although in the video posted he said that after you press the "learn button" on the unit itself that It was 3 times to press the homelink button before it was programmed. Mine was only twice before the button activated the garage door.

floridaman

I have a 2013 RX350 and just installed the Liftmaster 8550 opener. Homelink programmed in less than 30 seconds and works perfectly. I believe 2012 models and earlier require the repeater.

deilenberg

Hmmm... Does Liftmaster make their own Homelink receiver? Just curious, Raynor uses one from "MegaCode" (millions and millions of codes) from a company named "Linear." I rather suspect this is the case with the majority of garage door openers since getting FCC certification costs money, and garage door opener companies are good with motors, chains, gears and such, and less good with semi-intelligent electronics. Linear mentions on their website a number of the large name brand openers that they supply receivers to.

http://www.linearcorp.com/radio_control.php

On my BMWs and Porsche - the receiver had to learn the transmitter, ie - push the learn button on the receiver (on the opener) and within 5 seconds, press the button on the Homelink transmitter that you want to use (or handheld remote also.) The BMW was an '03, the Porsche is an '06. It's a cooperative process requiring two people unless you're REALLY quick getting down off a ladder.

That didn't work for the Lexus. Had SWMBO in the truck pressing HomeLink buttons for all she was worth, and no response from the opener.

So.. decided to try something dumb, and try the point a remote at the Homelink and press the button and hold it.

Worked almost instantly. Whod'a thunk it? The HomeLink must have to learn what the remote code is (even with a rolling code transmitter and receiver), and it must have the smarts to create compatible rolling codes to mate with the receiver.

I think the confusion comes in with out of date instructions. The "dumb" thing I tried was how you used to teach the older HomeLink transmitters a fixed code (one where the remote had dip switches to set the code.) Now it appears it can use the same learning technique with rolling code devices.

Moral of the lesson? Different cars used different versions of HomeLink, hence what works for one.. may not work for another.

The receiver on the Raynor door opener: http://www.linearcorp.com/product_de...?productId=941