YJacketISF

Yea, you can use it to open the garage when the car was off once you have programmed it, but for whatever reason I couldn't program it with it off. I did the exact same steps 3 or 4 times with it off and it did not work, then finally thought to turn the car on and did the same thing and it worked.

BlackISF

The home link will only work if you enter the car with the key present. the car detects the key which will allow the garage opener to work. but if you enter the car with out the key the home link will not work. Ie. if your sleeping and some one breaks in to your car and tries to use the home link it will not work. now if your keys are stolen then your S#!T out of luck.

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

This should be true, but sadly it's not. The homelink system will work whether the fob is nearby or not. There has been other threads on this. I believe some German cars will only work with the key nearby., but not Lexus.

Lou

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I installed an autodimming mirror with homelink in the wife's Scion tC this week. Very simple install. I had to turn the ignition on for the programming to work and did not have to do anything with the three garage door openers to make them respond to the commands from the mirror.

As a test, I tried opening the doors with the key off and not present. All three doors opened with the engine off. There is a connection to B+ (battery), and a connection to IGN (switched power) from the mirror. This is the same with the IS mirrors. As I said before, I'm not particularly keen on finding out if I could bridge power from the IGN to the B+ connection and remove the B+ connection from the car side. I have no idea what it might upset in the $280 Scion mirror or the $808 Lexus mirror.

My cars are NEVER parked outside. That's why I insisted on a three car garage.