Garage doors?

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Hi everyone,

My house has two garage doors. There is a keypad which only opens one door, but closes both...or used to. I also have switches inside the garage which each close their own door.

The remotes we have in the car don't work that well anymore. I am not familiar with how any of this works, so please bear with me.

I would like to setup my garage doors to interface with my Hubitat, but I am not sure what I would need to replace or how to make anything compatible. I would also like to implement some sort of sensors on the garage doors so that I would be able to tell if the garage doors are open or shut. I have read that people use tilt sensors, but also some who use magnetic sensors. I know that the tilt sensors aren't that reliable unless the inside is replaced with mercury, or something along those lines.

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

I'm looking for what I need to replace and/or add (outdoor keypad, manual switches in garage [which also turn on the light], remotes, sensors, etc.) Also estimated cost? I am not handy so, unless this is simple to setup, I would probably need to hire someone to install this.

Ideally, any products that are Z-Wave Plus compatible would be best. I have a Hubitat C-7. Its location is directly above the garage in another room, so I believe the signal would be fine.

Thank you!

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What type of garage door controller (motor) do you have?

It's a bit unclear what the problem is with your remotes and switches and keypad. You are going to need to solve that problem and get the opening/closing working before you can integrate with Hubitat. Or, of course (though much more expensive), you could get a new garage door opener/closer system, and, in the end, that may be necessary depending on what the problem is.

Because your car remotes have stopped working reliably, and your keypad and switches seem to be inoperable, it may be that the radio receiver in the garage door controller has failed, or it may be something as simple as a broken antenna. Many of these systems use radio communication (usually a proprietary protocol) from the switches and keypads. Some are hardwired for the switches and keypads.

Just to ask the stupid question (me, not you), have you tried replacing the batteries in the keypad and remotes? That might be all it needs.

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Sorry - One of the remotes works fine and the other doesn't, so maybe it's just a dead remote. The keypad does work, but now doesn't close the door it used to when pressing the "enter" key, but it will close the other one. Perhaps it just needs a new battery or something got goofed up.

The equipment is all LiftMaster. The keypad, the openers, and the switches in the garage.

My main goal is just to have some sort of automation, sensors, remotes, etc.

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This may sound like an odd question at first, but what color are the programming buttons up on each of the actual garage door opener units?

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Ok. Is this LiftMaster MyQ ? If so, which version.

The color of the programming buttons is one way to identify the version.

Depending on the version, you may be able to use Dominick Meglio's (@dman2306) port of the MyQ Lite driver from SmartThings. That's what I have and use. It works well, but you need to add a contact sensor or tilt sensor to sense that the door is closed. I use the Aeotec Door/Window Sensor 7. The easiest way to install this driver is through Hubitat Package Manager (HPM), a program that Dominick Meglio (@dman2306) wrote.

Here is the link to the MyQ Lite community driver:

One disadvantage of using this approach is that, every now and then, just to annoy, LiftMaster/Chamberlain changes their API (Application Programming Interface), and the Hubitat MyQ Lite driver breaks until Dominic can figure out the change and work around it.

A second disadvantage of using this approach is that the API is through the cloud to LiftMaster/Chamberlain's API server. When your cloud goes down, the Hubitat control goes down because the driver cannot connect with the LiftMaster/Chamberlain server.

A second approach is to hardware a controllable relay to your switches, and have the relay momentarily "push" one of your switches. I've got a Zooz ZEN16 MultiRelay that can do that, and some use the Zooz ZEN17 relay. There are a few threads in the forum on how to wire that up. Here, for example, is one:

An advantage of this approach is that it is completely local, and does not go down if your path to the Chamberlain/LiftMaster server goes down, and it is not hostage to API changes that Chamberlain/LiftMaster might make.

Hope this helps.

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Lots of options out there. Personally I have used the GoControl z-wave garage door opener devices. Simple to install and integrate. While some have had issues, I have them working on two separate properties and have used them to integrate into HE.

Availability can be hit and miss, typically they go for around $99 when in stock. Nice thing is the tilt sensor and integration is all included in the controller, plug it in near your garage door control head, two wires connect to the same location your wired garage door switch hooks into.

Drawback is there are programmed alert action delays, and a 30 sec delay between successive commands which are programmed into the controller, both which you can't adjust/bypass.

Big plus is no subscription fees, integrates directly with HE's generic z-wave garage door opener device.

I did have to replace 1 controller which went bad (an older version sold under the Lowes IRIS name), but I went with the same (newer model) GoControl and have been pleased with the results.

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I'm in the same boat. I have a very old garage door motor, it is triggered to open or close by a simple doorbell button, which just connects two wires to contacts. Here is what I've done:

  1. I bought a Shelly 1 relay. This is a Wifi device with local control (no cloud access needed, just a local URL on the local subnet) that has proven very reliable for me. (My Zigbee and Z-Wave devices don't work 100% of the time.) It is also a "dry contact" relay, so the switch to trigger the garage door is in a completely separate circuit from the AC that powers the relay. In the relay's configuration I set it to turn off automatically 2seconds after turning on, so turning it on simulates pressing the button for 2 seconds (longer than necessary).

  2. I bought a "Shelly Button", which is a housing to store the Shelly Relay with a physical button on it. I didn't need to buy this, instead I could have squeezed the relay inside the housing of the old garage door motor. But, now I have a way of triggering the relay directly with a physical push, and the relay is mounted on the wall of the garage in a nice housing rather than squeezed somewhere in the old motor enclosure.

  3. I ordered a WirelessTag.net accelerometer sensor. When mounted on the inside of the door, it will be able to use the direction of gravity to sense whether the door is open or not. There is a Hubitat app that makes the sensor and relay work together as one "garage door", but I haven't tried the app yet, since the sensor has not yet arrived. I use sensors from WirelessTag.net because they use less power and have a higher range than zigbee and z-wave, and are less expensive too. But, they need their own hub and I do believe they won't work if the internet is down (cloud based integration).

  4. I also ordered a PIR sensor, in my case also from WirelessTag.net. The intention is to somehow defeat closing the garage door until there hasn't been any infrared motion for 10 seconds. And, also to send me a notification if the door is open with no movement for 15 minutes. I don't think there's any app that will integrate the PIR sensor with the other sensor and the switch, so I may have to use RuleMachine or change the code of the app I choose to use.

We have iPhones. I have a Homebridge server too, so I've already been able to integrate the Shelly relay into the Homebridge server and hence into Apple Homekit. So, we can say "Hey Siri, turn on the garage door" and the garage door opens or closes. This already works. But, Homekit just thinks it's a switch, not a door (that's why we have to say "turn on the garage door"). When the sensor arrives, and the Hubitat App gets installed and working, Hubitat should be able to treat the two things (sensor and switch) together as a single Garage Door. Then, I should be able to use the hubitat-to-homebridge integration https://github.com/tonesto7/homebridge-hubitat-tonesto7 to have Homekit also recognize it as a door, rather than just a switch. Once Siri (Homekit) recognizes the garage door, I should be able to say things like "Hey Siri, is the garage door open?", or "Hey Siri, close the garage door", etc.

So, there are lots of moving parts, but each part is pretty simple and can be tackled independently. Start by checking to see if there are two contacts that, when connected together with a button, will open/close the door. Then, choose a relay to connect these for you (I like the Shelly 1 relay). Get that working. Then, decide on a sensor to determine whether the door is open or not, you can use two reed sensors or one accelerometer sensor. Then, install some Hubitat App that connects the relay and sensor(s) together, as one "garage door" device. Then, you need to expose that app to something like a dashboard, or Siri, or something, so you can open/close the door when you aren't on your local network.

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I did this with the Zen17 and a couple of cheap hard- wired contact sensors from Amazon...

https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Switch-Normally-Closed-Security/dp/B0735BP1K4/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?crid=183E8HA95FFFH&dchild=1&keywords=reed+switch&qid=1635479473&sprefix=reed+sw&sr=8-6#

Under $50 for the main parts plus some bell wire.

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Highly recommend using a ZEN16/ZEN17. I used an old school relay and z-wave plug for mine, but the ZEN16/ZEN17 will definitely solve your issue. The only issue comes based on the color of your programming button. You mentioned you have a Liftmaster, so I'm going to assume the program button is yellow? If so, you will need an additional part, but it's easily available. In short, you'll have to test the motor to see if it will trigger based on a short or not. If yes, then you don't need the additional part.

The way you'd track the door is with a tilt sensor. You place this on the top of your garage door(s), so when it starts to open, you'll see the change in status (of course you can place this anywhere on your door, but the top seems to give the most accurate state).

Parts:
ONLY PICK ONE, ZEN16 or ZEN17
ZEN16: Zooz Z-Wave Plus S2 MultiRelay ZEN16 with 3 Dry Contact Relays (20A, 1 - The Smartest House
ZEN17: Zooz Z-Wave Plus 700 Series Universal Relay ZEN17 with 2 NO & NC Relay - The Smartest House

DEPENDENT ON THE COLOR OF YOUR PROGRAMMING SWITCH. ONLY NEEDED IF YOU CAN'T OPERATE THE MOTOR BY SHORTING THE CONTACTS
Security 2.0 button: https://www.amazon.com/LiftMaster-883LM-Security-Control-Button/dp/B00AZL9MK8/
(note, you can get some pre-wired [Security+ 2.0 Wired Dry Contact Adapter – Garadget]. this one is not pre-wired, and will require some soldering skills)

WIRING TO CONNECT EVERYTHING
Low voltage wire: https://www.amazon.com/C-able-Electric-Automotive-Extension-Electrical/dp/B07DHQK4JY/
(note, you won't need this if the motors are close together, and you buy the pre-wired switches, and the existing wires can reach both motors. otherwise you'll need some wires)
(second note, it is assumed you have a wire stripper/pliers, but if you don't, you'll need one of those too)

TILT SENSOR
Tilt sensor: https://www.amazon.com/Z-Wave-Plated-Reliability-Garage-TILT-ZWAVE2-5-ECO/dp/B01MRZB0NT/
(alternatively you could get a contact sensor with an external connection, and connect something like https://www.amazon.com/Gumps-grocery-SW-520D-Vibration-Shaking/dp/B083961ZHG/)

Essentially you're going to use the relay (ZEN16/ZEN17) as remote fingers to trigger the motor (either directly or through the button). The tilt sensor will let you know the status of each door, so you'll be able to see their status on your dashboard, or through any rules you set.

For my use, I did add a bit more functionality so I could voice control it, but that's through the use of a virtual switch and rule machines rules. That can always be discussed more after you get through the initial set up.

EDIT: updated the ZEN16/ZEN17 links since thesmartesthouse has a spooktober sale going on

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10

I have the same setup. Must “turn on” the garage door relay (Shelly) to get it to open/close.
Have you found any way to “connect” your relay and open sensor to make it act more like a door?

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@rgeilear I would suggest trying this one.