Garage door opener

Hi! I found this option to make your garage door 'smart' -

It was listed in this thread:

Clearly out of stock now... are there any other options? Also, does this option still require soldering?

In no way does that device make a door smart. It is used in conjunction with another device that is smart. That relay takes something like a smart outlet, and converts the 120V line voltage to a level that will control the garage door.

For the other part of your question, there is not nearly enough to go from. Do you want Zigbee or Z-wave? If Z-wave are you in North America (assuming yes?).

What brand is your garage door opener, and what color is the "learn" button on it?

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I meant that device combined with a smart switch, sorry.

I don't have a preference as far as Zigbee or Z-wave. I am based in the US. I'll double check the rest soon..

Go with whichever protocol has the best coverage in your garage.
You can also go with a Shelly relay if Wi-Fi is a better option.

I am very happy using this combined with a Smartthings / Aoetec sensor on the door.
I have two garage doors so this covers both of them.

https://www.amazon.com/MultiRelay-ZEN16-Sprinklers-Fireplace-Repeater/dp/B0846DZJD8/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=zen16&qid=1670625896&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095TPSQ3S/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_2?smid=A2RDTQKX07GN6W&psc=1

I have it mounted below my standard garage door opener buttons and you just connect the contacts to the back of the opener buttons just like the garage opener connects to them. It ends up simulating pressing the button on the wall.

Here is the "Open" rule as an example.

I'm pretty anxious about soldering, never done it before.. though I saw this discussed.

You don't need to solder anything with my setup, the wires just go on the same screws and the opener does.

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thanks, will give it a go.

Is there a way to set it up to where it senses the presence of your phone on wifi and opens the garage door? How do you have it set up for open/close?

There are TONs of things you can do once you have it installed. I trigger the open and close using a Virtual switch turning on. I can then hit that switch on a dashboard to open the door or even have it connected via Google or Alexa to open it as well. I also have a rule to auto close the door after a set time on my dashboard and also have an override to keep it open if I am working in the garage and do not want it to auto close.

BUT I do not ever have it set to "Auto" open via presence or anything like that. I don't want it opening if something flaked out and I wasn't really there. Also via google or Alexa, I don't say to open the garage door either. I use something that is completely different and no one else would know to say.

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I highly discourage people from doing this. What if your phone reboots, and drops off the Wifi? Does that then close the door, or worse yet when it reconnects, it randomly opens the door?

Presence is very tough to get right. Devices like phones "sleep" the wifi and bluetooth to save energy. They are very unreliable as a test of presence.

If your door is a MyQ/Chamberlain/Liftmaster, not all of them will work directly with that Zooz device, nor with any relay. You may need to order additional items to make it work depending upon the color of the learn button on the door closer.

The Zooz Zen 17 is also a good choice, it has a few different options that might make it a better choice in some cases. It is a 700 series chipset, it is more tailored to garage door duty right out of the box, and it can have its inputs and outputs separated differently than the Zen 16. Both are good choices though if you want Z-wave.

You also will need a door tilt sensor to make everything work properly. There are a variety of these available, Ecolink often has them on sale cheap on Amazon.

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ah, makes sense. so if you have alexa on your phone, you can probably trigger it that way when you are in the car.

You could but I just use my normal garage controller remotes for that. Like neonturbo said, there is also the Zen 17 model but I like the 16 personally for this use. I do have the Zen 17 to control my fireplace and they both work equally well.

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Sure. Or a Dashboard, or even a Pico remote (they have a sunvisor clip just for this).

But it is a lot easier to just push the built-in garage door opener on the visor if you have that. Now I reach for the sunvisor in my cars even when they don't have built in opener buttons.

I have literally never paired the built in garage door opener on the visor with anything - lol. Maybe it's time.

It takes about a minute at most to pair. It took me longer to read the directions in the owner manual than it did to push all the buttons.

It is SO nice to just punch that button instead of shouting at Alexa and waiting for the back and forth and telling her to open the garage door. Or having to dig the phone out and open the Hubitat app and all that.

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I think the anxiety of having to figure out how to reset the keypad is a factor.

The outdoor keypad for the garage door? You shouldn't have to even touch that.

You don't need a tilt sensor. I wired mine up with normal reed switches on the rail and a magnet on the door to the switch input on Shelly relays (same would be fine on zen17). Vastly cheaper, no batteries to mess with. You're already running wires to trigger the opener...

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OK, true, you could do reed switches, or other type of sensors like a contact sensor. But you still need something to indicate door position. Sticking a tilt sensor on the door is just the easiest way for most people.

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