Pairing E90 garage opener

[averagejoe]

I feel like I'm losing my mind here, but my 30-year-old Craftsman garage door opener recently lost its memory of paired remotes, and since it's been 6 years since I last paired my E90 M3 with it, I can't seem to remember how to do it. I thought I just hit the button on the back of the opener and then quickly got to the mirror button, but this isn't working this time. I've read the manual but it's about homelink openers, and this 1990 classic was way before that existed. Do I actually need a garage opener remote, like the instructions for homekit use? Because I don't have one for this opener, I don't think I ever got one when I bought the house.

[averagejoe]

Well to answer my own question, it turns out you do need a remote for the older garage openers to program the built-in homekit remote in the car. I bought a Chamberlain brand universal remote and paired it with the opener, and then followed the owners manual instructions to program the homekit button in the car to the universal remote. I guess I had a remote 6 years ago and just forgot about it, no idea where it ended up.

Another oddity is that I just installed a new Chamberlain wall mount opener on the other door, and it is apparently not compatible with the built-in homekit remote on my E90. Chamberlain/Liftmaster say it should work with this car, but the homekit remote in the mirror simply will not pick up the newer remote signal to learn it. Turns out you have to buy an extra $40 receiver for "incompatible homekit remotes" to work with our older BMWs. Chamberlain are known for having terrible support - which I verified first hand with one of the idiots who answer calls for them - but to need a $40 add-on to get a $500 opener working with a modern homekit-equipped car is ridiculous.

[averagejoe]

To complete the garage door saga, I could not get the $40 add-on receiver to work. Reading online reviews, seems I'm not the only one. So I have to keep an old-school remote in my E90 M3 to open one of my garage doors, while the ancient Craftsman opener works like a charm with the mirror button. FFS

[chicagob5]

For what it’s worth, my E90 is the only car I could not for the life of me get the garage opener paired with. My 981 was no problem and the F150 I had didn’t have a issue either.

[averagejoe]

Originally Posted by chicagob5

For what it’s worth, my E90 is the only car I could not for the life of me get the garage opener paired with. My 981 was no problem and the F150 I had didn’t have a issue either.

My E90 pairs with the special homelink remote that comes with the $40 add-on repeater kit, but then the repeater just flat out will not relay the signal to the opener. The repeater and opener are the same brand - Chamberlain/Liftmaster. Lots of people complain about this, just about the most expensive opener on the market and yet it just cannot work with many modern cars.