Merlin Garage Door Remote Mod - B6 Passat R36

[kleung]

reviving an old thread!!! lookin into doing the garage door mod but im having trouble finding the button. anyone have any ideas on where i'd be able to grab one

The part number you need is 3C0 959 563 A - there's 6 of them on eBay at the moment but they seem to have gotten pricey.

If it makes you feel any better, I've only literally just come inside from the garage where I've been working on getting my button to operate. I had it all wired up around Christmas time, got the backlight working, but couldn't the remote itself to work. I gave up after I managed to lose a needle, a button battery and the plastic knob from my remote down under the trim. Fortunately no rattles. I even borrowed a USB snake cam from work and had a bit of a poke around under the trim, but couldn't find anything.

I pulled the console apart again today and it turns out that it was working perfectly after all, I just needed fresh batteries in the remote.

I don't get it, because back at Christmas time, the remote was still triggering the garage door when I pushed the button on the remote itself, but not when I pushed the console button. Weird.

[3C4M Guy]

Have just completed this garage door remote switch mod. It's great and would recommend it to anyone. It's the 2nd best mod I've done apart from the Kufatec MFD add on. It's a pity I only discovered this thread when I'd already done most of the work. Others have posted a complete guide, so I won't repeat that. Here are my thoughts and recommendations to anyone else who is planning this job.

I used genuine parts ordered from a dealer.

1. Switch 3C0 959 563 A REH
2. Plug/connector 4D0 971 636 B
3. Wires 000 979 009 EA

Wiring the remote - Disassemble the garage remote control and solder two wires where the switch would normally operate. My remote was a Gibidi Italian one. Fit a connector to the end of those wires so the remote is removable from the car later.



Wiring the connector - Insert the 4 wires 000 979 009 EA into positions 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the connector 4D0 971 636 B so that the pins seat in position. Connections 4 and 5 are for the switch that operates the remote. Connections 3 and 6 run the red LED at night. 3 is positive and 6 is negative. I used 4 wires and then cut the ends off for making the connections. This left another 4 shorter wires with connectors that were surplus, so it would have been possible to use only 2 wires and cut each in half.



The hardest step - removing the DSG gear selector. It's important to remove the selector so that the sliver surround bezel with the switches can also be removed. There seems to be many variations of DSG shift and many different methods for removal. Some selectors have to be put in R first whilst others require work in N then S. Work out which one is correct for your model.



Decide where to take power for the red LED in the switch - There are essentially 2 main choices. The 12V cigarette lighter plug or a nearby switch. The plug for the 12V lighter outlet can be opened up to reveal more of the wires (see photo) – grey is positive for the LED and the outer brown wire is negative. I chose the blue connector for the TPMS that is two positions away on the right side (on my car). This has less wires to deal with than the closest pale brown connector for park assist. The grey wire to pin 3 is positive and the brown wire to pin 6 is negative.



Joining into the LED lighting circuit - I bared some of the wire by CAREFULLY removing a section of insulation on the grey and brown wires for pins 3 and 6. Then soldered the wires for the garage door switch LED and wrapped in cloth insulation tape.



Choose a suitable location for the remote - It might be possible to slide it forward under the ash tray but I was concerned about the possibility of it moving around and making a noise. So I decided to Velcro it between the gear shift and the cup holders.

Double check everything works - Do a final check that the LED lights up and the switch operates the garage door and then reassemble the connectors onto all switches and fit the surround bezel.




Hey Mr Moderator - could we get this thread moved to Passat (B6 & B7)?

[Guest001]

You could do it with almost any remote that has been paired to your opener It should only require two wires as they are simply a momentory make or break switch.

When I modified Playstations I used strands of wire from multi flat IDE computer cable and just split strands off. As there is very little current you dont need wire as heavy as shown. WIll make it easier to thread as well.

[ZR36]

does anyone know how to determine where to tap into the remote contacts?

my remote seems different to these ones in this thread

[3C4M Guy]

does anyone know how to determine where to tap into the remote contacts?

my remote seems different to these ones in this thread

Do you know which of the 5 switches you wiring into?

Once you have identified the switch that you are replacing, you need to determine which of the 4 posts are the electrical contacts and which are merely supporting the switch physically on the PCB. You can confirm that you're correct by making up a short length of wire and touching each end on the 2 contacts to prove that the door opens.

You will see in the remote photo in my post above that my remote had 2 switches with red tops exactly the same as yours. I dismantled (basically destroyed) the lower switch and soldered onto what was left of it. It was a lot of fiddly work and it might be easier to solder your 2 wires onto the bottom side of the board. As someone pointed out, the gauge of wires I used was overkill.

[Guest001]

Turn the board over and look at the pins under the switches If you have a meter put it on 12 or 20V and put it across the two pins on the one that works the door and press the button If you have the right ones the door should work and you will get voltage on the meter. You just need to solder two very light wires, one to each pin and it will then work if you touch the ends of the two wires together ( same effect as pushing the button).
I stripped some wires off computer IDE drive cables and used that You can buy some at Jaycar or ask a friend if they have any old ones lying around

Here is a pic of one of my remotes for a Steeline door The pins that are active are the two that go through the board on the outside (left) edge of the top switch So turn it over and solder on the pins underneath (closest to r/h edge) after its turned over.
The other switch in the middle has them in the same place and as I have 2 garage doors I use both buttons

You can tell the active ones as they go through a trace on the board. The other ones dont.

Use a hot 25W iron and fine electronic component solder. Tin the ends of the wires first and dont hold it on the board too long as it can demount other components. (Dont ask how I know that). Have had a lot of practice doing this stuff as I used to chip playstations and found all the right and wrong ways of soldering.

[ZR36]

I have the remote programed so that all 4 of the external buttons open and close the door (depending on the position of the door) the middle button is the programing button. But non of them seem to be going though the board.

I went to jay car this morning and got some idc ribbon with female ends that attach to thw switch perfectly. I will have to play with my multimeter i think.

Did anyone hard wire the supply from the car rather than keep the battery in?

[Guest001]

I have the remote programed so that all 4 of the external buttons open and close the door (depending on the position of the door) the middle button is the programing button. But non of them seem to be going though the board.

I went to jay car this morning and got some idc ribbon with female ends that attach to thw switch perfectly. I will have to play with my multimeter i think.

Did anyone hard wire the supply from the car rather than keep the battery in?

Simple answer the car is 12V the remote is probably 1.5 or 3v so hook it onto the car and bring a sausage or two for the resultant fire LOL THe switches are just plain old momentory make and break so shouldnt be too hard to find the right pins You only need one to work the door

[3C4M Guy]

Did anyone hard wire the supply from the car rather than keep the battery in?

My remote is 12V and I seriously considered substituting the battery for hardwiring into the car's power supply even though it would be running at between 13.6V & 14.2V. In the end I retained the battery (the safe option) but I might regret that decision if I have to change the battery soon because it won't be a fun job to pull the centre console apart to get to the remote!!!

If you are certain your remote is 12V, I suppose you could consider it but definitely use an additional inline fuse.

[ZR36]

Yeh mine is 12v too which is why ithought someone may have done it.

Its not so much the volts that will kill the transmitter its the cranking amps which would be substantial where as the transmitter would be in the mAs