In my latest addition to my HCHII, I wanted to better integrate the garage door remote control into the car. All of my other cars have built-in Homelink transmitters, and I know that Honda also offers integrated transmitters on other model cars. I did a search of eBay, and found a used homelink/maplight module available from a 2006 Odyssey , and I bought it for $50.



The maplight modules have several different variants depending on the car, etc., but the way that they are put together is essentially the same. The center module with the Homelink transmitter just pops out of the Odyssey module, and into the HCHII module. I would have liked to put the entire Odyssey maplight module straight into the HCHII, but the surface contours of the HCHII headliner did not match up with the Odyssey module, so I had to move just the Homelink piece.



Because there are so many variants, I had to do a little modification to the Odyssey Homelink module to make it completely compatible with the HCHII. The main modifications were:
1. Replacing the yellow "ambient light" LED with a blue one that was more in tune with the HCHII lighting. I got an off the shelf LED for $1.25, and replaced the yellow one. This LED illuminates the center console with a nice soft blue light.
2. Since my HCHII has the navigation system, I also had to move the microphone from the HCHII maplight to the new Homelink piece.





I won't bore you with the details of this operation, but essentially I had to make a interface pigtail for the microphone to the Homelink main connector. All of the circuit wiring traces were on the Homelink module, they were just not connected to anything. There was even a mounting clip for the microphone in the new module. Ideally, if you can find a used homelink module from a car that had navigation, this step would be unnecessary.

Wiring the new module into the car was easy since the map lights have a unswitched 12v line, I simply tapped into that for the Homelink module. Honda wires the Homelink module to a switched power line which I find annoying that you have to turn on the car to operate Homelink. It is much more convenient to be able to use Homelink whenever you want.

I wired the ambient light module to a low-bean headlight fuse with an "Add a Circuit" fuse tap. This way the ambient light LED comes on when the headlights are on.




All in all this was a nice day project that was moderately complicated, but which adds real value and convenience to my HCHII.

That's very nice OE!!! I will definitely consider doing this. So the homelink is a perfect fit? That's great! I'm not sure when I'll get to this, but it will be done!
Just to get the level of difficulty,what does giving power to the homelink involve? (soldering, wiring, etc)
Thanks

If you don't have to worry about the Navigation microphone, the wiring consists of simply tapping into the maplight power with a crimp tap, and grounding the return to one of the mounting bolts with an eyelet connector. This is a piece of cake.

that is sweet. I want to do it but I am not too teck savy... maybe I will drive up to the bay and have you do it for me.

Rex Pak
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2007 HCH w/ navigation
2008 Acura TSX w/Navi

I assume you added the ambient lighting as an aftermarket kit and not an OEM Honda part??

My Ambient lighting works directly with my headlights only and came with a dash mounted switch to turn it off and on.

In any case, you beat me to the HomeLink mod.... Ordering the navigational / homelink module from Honda is around $200.00. It is probably a lot cheaper than that if I call them directly. But in the crash guide book, it is around 200.00.

----
1987 Chevy Spectrum - 200,000+ Miles -Junk Yard
1994 Honda Civic DX Coupe - Truck Hit it
1998 Acura 2.3 CL - End of Lease
2002 Acura TL 3.2 - End of Lease
2004 Acura MDX - End of Lease
2007 Mercedes ML350 -Lemon
2007 Honda Civic Hybrid w/Navi - Active

I did not install the "full cabin" ambient lighting kit that you are thinking of. The Homelink module has a single LED that shines down on the center console, this is what I was talking about.



Check eBay for new homelink modules. I have seen them with a "buy it now" price of about $150.

That is an awsome little upgrade! I always love DIY tips and trick

We should have some kind of thread/section that has all these "DIY Tips and Tricks".

I just realized this, when looking in my repair manual. The map light for the navi model has a separator between (where the homelink goes). The non-navi (which I have) just has to lights that meet in the middle. This DIY is for navi models only, although I'm sure it's possible to replace the entire map light fixture for a navi, then install a homelink. I'm not sure how worth it that would be though. There are quite a few other ways to install garage door openers, although none are as clean as this.

.... you see giantquesadilla... that is why we should have got the NAVI version

Have you popped off one of the light lenses to see what is under there?

I would wager that these two variants are similar with a center module for your lights that simply has some hinge plates in it.

If that is the case, then you would still be in the game.

Update:
I just looked at the part numbers for the 2 cars, and the Non-navi base P/N is 34404-SNA-A11XX, and the Navi is 34404-SNA-A31XX.

This tells me that the 2 parts are very similar, with probably only the center module being different. So if this is the case, then the only addition that you would need are the shorter lenses ( 34401-SDA-A21 LENS, R. & 4402-SDA-A21 LENS, L. @ $2.35 ea.)

If you will pop off the lenses and take a picture and post it, I can probably tell you if this will work.