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No, that is not a misprint. I just spent a few precious hours programming an additional garage door opener. For the last few years Mrs. Pessimist has driven a large SUV that could not fit into our garage because of the tall cabinets I had installed to hide all the junk that tried to drive us completely out of the garage. I used to look down on people who could not use their garage because they had accumulated too much junk. All of my essential garage junk is neatly stored in huge floor-to-ceiling cabinets. All was good in the world. I parked my old Honda CRV in one bay, and Mrs. Pessimist parked her golf cart in the other bay. She also parked her large SUV in the driveway.
My son needed a new car, so we gave him Mrs. Pessimist's overly large SUV, and she bought a Lexus hybrid sedan. It was said to be compact. Compact, my a..! It was two feet longer than my old Honda SUV, but it managed to fit in our garage with two inches to spare on each end. No problem. I accepted my demotion from the garage to the driveway, but needed a garage door opener to bring groceries into the house and also stock the garage refrigerator that contains our essential libations.
Programming a universal remote to match the factory remote was a five-step process that took longer than any twelve-step program to sobriety. I honestly don't know what I did to make it actually work. It must have had something to do with how long you press down the various buttons before moving on to the next step, but when it finally worked I was ecstatic. I foolishly tried to do it again with the other universal remote I had bought. (They came two to a package.) After another wasted hour of pressing and holding buttons, I gave up.
I did successfully program one, however.
Discussion (13)
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My button nemesis is the Tire Pressure Monitoring System on one of our cars.
There are no instructions in the owner's manual on how to reset it after you manually check and adjust the tire pressures to correct specifications. It's not on any of the screen menus (a very limited number of menus on this particular car).
But of course I found on YouTube University a video by a guy who not only explains that resetting the TPMS on this particular model car requires a series of intricately timed and sequenced steps of pressing and releasing the brake pedal and alternately pressing and releasing the start/stop button, but walks through the process in real time so that I can perform the process as he describes it. I have to rewatch the video every time I adjust the tire pressure so I can reset the TPMS. Nobody has ever explained why the TPMS resetting process is a multi-step process that is so complicated. (Tire pressure can fluctuate quite a bit as air temperature varies season to season.)
In our other car, the TPMS reset is a clear"Reset TPMS" "button" on one of the screen menus, even if that particular screen menu is somewhat obscure among the many screen menus on that (much newer) car.
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Dude, I totally get it. UX tech for small devices is definitely pushing the usability limit. Long hold, short hold, tap twice in 1.5 seconds but don't wait too long.
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Our garage, if emptied to the lawn, would likely become the world's largest yard sale. So my opinion on actually putting a vehicle inside is essentially worthless. Still, since, being a man, I am instantly drawn to remote controls, I need to comment. Did the Lexus come with some kind of installed remote communication (universal?) with the door? What is this universal remote of which you speak? I need to learn this for the day in which we decide to empty the garage of tents, basketballs, tennis rackets, every folding chair imaginable, and lawnmowers.
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No, it did not come with a remote that would connect with any door opener. I think only amazon delivery guys have those. I gave her my old remote because she never used one since she parked outside. She still has one in her golf cart and I would have taken that but.....well you know how things become complicated in any marriage and so I bought a universal remote from Amazon. That was easy but making it work was a half day of effort. Just five simple steps the instructions said. I watched about four videos on youtube before I made any progress. I got one device programed and was sure I got do another for backup. Climbing up and down a ladder to press the learning button at the beginning and end seemed to be essential. The process worked once but not again. Such is modern life.
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OK. Juist wondering if higher end new vehicles came with a remote essentially built in to the electronics. But you did good.
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