Garage door opener

I'm thinking of automating my garage door opener. My father has a myQ and I'm just not impressed with it. I mean, it works. And his app is waaaay slow in notification. Like hours. But, my garage door opener looks like it's from 1994 when the house was built, so I'd prefer to integrate it with a switch of some sort right through hubitat instead of basically trying to do anything with the opener itself as I don't know how long it'll be before it burns out. Then I don't have to worry about it when we do get a new opener. I'd love some suggestions. Or if someone wanted to point me to a project on the community. TIA

There's two ways to go.. A UL approved Linear/Go Control/Iris Garage Door Opener or a DIY project, using a NodeMCU, a relay and a raw sensor tied together via Hubduino.

I have the Linear.

It's safety features are annoying. You've seen the posts where getting a device to join is a "click 15 times, wait precisely 1.6 seconds, and click 3 times" ordeal. The 'problem' with the Linear (same company that makes the dual Zigbee/Zwave USB stick we use in C-4 hubs) is that it senses the connection to the motor. If all you have is a 'stupid' button on the wall to open/close, then you're in a great position to use the Linear. If it senses a "smart button" then it does NOTHING, and I can't stress enough on how completely nothing it is. Join must be Secure, so you'll fight it just like a Lock. It supports beaming, and I've never had a single thing to complain about ONCE I GOT IT WORKING the first time. I had a smart button and I thought the power supply was dead, it did Nothing so very well. Swapped the wired wall button to a stupid one and it worked minutes later. It meets UL requirements by flashing a LED and Beeping. It also limits itself to 1 event per minute. Which can piss you off when you accidentally press the button on a dashboard, knowing you can't close it for a minute. Let me repeat: it's worked perfectly for me.

The DIY path works too, but is a Project. :smiley:

I like projects, as you know. But since I have a nice long list already, buying the Linear seemed like a good idea... if it wasn't that it took just about as long to get it working as it took me to get Hubduino running.. I never used it, I just wanted to know how hard it was before I need it :slight_smile:

My opinions only.. of course :smiley:

I have a dumb button. Looking at it .. circa 1994. Do you have a link to your project? I looked at some projects, but they were hard to understand.
image

It's not my project, it's @ogiewon

I had read about Hubduino for a long long time and wondered how hard it was to do... I got it working in an afternoon, I didn't need it so it's never been put to use, but now I can at least say.. "it ain't hard" :smiley:

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I am humbled. I would have never taken on a project I didn't intend to use. You are my hero. Thanks for the post. I'll look at it in the morning.

:smiley:
I try not to speak out my Ash. I try to speak from experience. :slight_smile:

I avoided ALL Rpi and Arduino'ish (NodeMCU, Photon, etc.) for a very long time.. I just KNEW they would be a Rabbit Hole of vast proportions. I 'tripped and fell' and now have 4 Rpi, and a fist full of Arduino's and NodeMCU, a Photon and I was seriously looking at Z-Uno (it's still in my Amazon cart,) and I only 'fell' about a year ago.

The only powered on device of that whole collection is a Rpi 3A+ that's running my swimming pool... pump, valves, temp sensors. Overkill, but a fun project nevertheless. An Arduino is all the power it needs BUT I also run a webserver on it to provide a dashboard like experience.

"it boasts a 64-bit quad core processor running at 1.4GHz, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless LAN, and Bluetooth 4.2/BLE "

yea, everyone's pool needs a quad core processor!! :slight_smile:

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I don't even have a pool and you have me convinced. HA!

I use garadget. There is an app/driver for it here. You can use it as a cloud based device which also has it's own app. Or you can set it to be local WiFi.

The below link is one concept using a Hubitat "compatible device". Requires switch and 24VDC power supply.

It will also take a 24VDC power supply (<$10 on Amazon) and a tilt or contact sensor (z-wave or zigbee (< $30 on Amazon) (and possibly some electrical tape). Difficulty factor (1 = plugIn, 5 = hire electrician) is about 2. Time is about 30 minutes planning/understanding installation and 30 minutes installing. (It took me about 20 minutes of touch labor for a similar installation.)

Interesting device. I love the sensor to determine open/closed and the single-box integration of the device.

How reliable and functional is the local driver?????
Dave

Very easy setup. I've had mine running for about 3 years now. No issues.

I haven't done the local. Haven't needed it. But I know it exists. If that whole non-cloud thing is important to you. My wife still uses the Garadget app sometimes. It's built on particle so anything you can integrate there you can do with the garadget.

This is what I would have suggested. We also use one of these to control our fireplace.

I'm looking at GoControl, Garadget, and Tailwind. I'd like to hear more about how you all are using your setups. Mostly just notifications of open/closed? Voice control like Google Home? Are you using any presence detection to open/close doors?

I've got an inquiry into Tailwind. They only advertise support for Alexa, Google Assistant and IFTTT right now besides their own app. But I like that one controller handles 3 doors, is reasonably priced, and I really like their implementation of presence detection to open/close door automatically. But it would be nice if it would better integrate into my HE/BI system too. I've sent an email to them but I'd bet they'll say either "working on it but no promises" or "no plans" on supporting hubs.

I just saw Tailwind has their system on sale right now for $50 (single door) and 2-door for $70. At that price I may just have to pull the trigger. Not much to lose.

In HE I can use both the contact sensor and the control to open or closed. Obviously based on that any rules you may want.

I have rules that if any of the garage doors are open for more than 30 minutes, they close. I also have a virtual switch "Garage Door Pause" that if enabled keeps those rules from running. So if we are going to be in the driveway cleaning cars/yardwork/etc. I have 3 garage doors and have one on all 3. I also check to make sure the doors are closed when arming/night. I do NOT automatically open/close based on presence...but that's probably my odd setup. We have multiple cars and drive them on different days. Seems silly to open all 3 just because I don't know which door to open. And...it's really a simple button to push to open/close it. With my 30 min rules they always close themselves anyways.

I/we do use the garadget app also. Been times where we have let people into the house (dropping off stuff) just by using the app to open the door when we were out of town. Sometimes we take a car that doesn't have a remote and just use the app. Also integrates with Google Assistant so it's just as easy to ask it to open/close one of the doors.

For security reasons, I would not use motion or presence sensors to open or unlock any exterior door. I might use these to Lock or Close a door. Rationale: There are still too many 'failures' in this for a security disable reason. I would want 100% assurance from a single method or use two independent methods that must both be in the proper state.

Amazon and Google are great methods to control these devices. I have Echo Auto and I just tell the device to open / close the door - using an access code for opening the door. On closing, I will have an automation to turn off house items, set-back thermostat, etc. On open, reverse and if after dark, turn on exterior and interior lighting.

I just installed a tailwind system on my Chamberlain B980 MyQ opener. So far I'm VERY impressed, very easy to install, really complete kit, nice app interface, and good integration options with Google Assistant, Alexa, and IFTTT. I've heard there are some additional integrations in the works.

The ONLY negative I might mention is that you have to make an adapter for openers that use Security 2.0 (most recent model Chamberlain/Liftmaster models). It's not super difficult, but it's an extra step that should be mentioned.

The new pricing makes it a bargain IMHO.

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I had the Linear (but it won't work at my new house with the smart buttons so I got rid of it). It worked fine. Maybe it is just me, but under no circumstances would I ever do ANYTHING app or cloud based. I absolutely do NOT trust any company to have control over my doors or locks. I disabled cloud access to the dashboards on my Hubitat (and should probably firewall them off from the internet completely, with occasional checks just for firmware updates). If I want to control things remotely, I can connect my phone to my home network via VPN to my router and access the dashboards that way, which works fine. So things like Tailwind, Garadget, myQ -- just not gonna happen at my house.

I think people are perhaps misunderstanding how the Tailwind setup works. It doesn't use the cloud. It uses a combination of your phone's navigational GPS (for better accuracy) and either your car's built-in Bluetooth or a separate device. So it will only activate your door(s) if you have both. It can also be set to only open certain doors for certain cars. My understanding is that if you are using voice assistants, it also requires a pin code. The also come right out and say you shouldn't rely on the auto close features, but rather use it as a backup in case you forget.

I don't see this as any less secure than using my door opener remotes. More secure really. Also potentially more secure than the other options. If someone steals you car (and you didn't leave your phone in it) they can't just drive up and ave the doors open. Same goes if someone steals your phone.

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Their website says "Open, close, check the door status, and receive alerts anywhere in the world using your smart device and the free Tailwind iOS or Android app" That sounds like cloud to me. If I can open and close the door remotely via their app, then they have a connection to my garage door. I'm just not comfortable with that.

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