I think I just don't quite understand how the Zen16 works. Maybe the garage door opener as well. It seems to me, that pushing the wall button just sends a signal (by way of completing a circuit so voltage is detected?) to the ceiling unit telling it to open/close.
The Zen16 is just a relay. So if I wire the switch to the Zen16 and the Zen16 to the GDO... how does it actually work? I'm guessing... the relay in the Zen16 stays open. When it detects voltage from the switch, it closes the relay momentarily to allow voltage to the GDO, mimicking the button being pressed?
How does the light button on the wall switch work? Could the 2 buttons just complete the circuit with varying degrees of resistance, changing the voltage sensed by the GDO? Regardless, I won't really care much if the light doesn't work with the Zen16. The garage door light is already on a Zen30 and I plan on having it turn on when the garage door is opened.
I have the LiftMaster JackShaft version of that opener and it came with a "smart button" for the wall which had time/temp. To get a GDO to work ALL I had to do was swap to the precise wall button you have.
In my case, I wired the GDO's relay wires to the Motor, plugging the two wires into the same pair of contacts as the wall button.
You should be able to do the same.
The 'smart' wall button is at the bottom of this pic and has a tiny physical button across the bottom. Not very elbow friendly The replacement is superior in every way. Big button, elbow friendly, no Time to have to keep adjusting.
It depends on your garage door opener. If it is an older model, then the wall pushbutton is just two wires connected to a momentary contact button. When you push the button, the circuit is momentarily closed, and the garage door does its thing. If this is the case, using your relay as you described will work fine, You can locate it at the wall button, or at the garage door opener.
If it is a newer model, there is probably a little printed circuit board and the guts look a little more complex than what I described above. If this is the case, you should first determine if there is some other way of communicating with the garage door opener. Is it MyQ compatible, for example. You might want to post your brand and model of GDO for some ideas.
take a screwdriver and short the two screw heads where the wires are on the Wall Button. Does the GD open/close? If yes, then the ZEN16 relay wires go there, or where the two wires connect at the Motor unit.
The Red striped wire on the motor seems to have a bit of copper exposed, do the same for the white wire next to it and use your screw driver to short it. Again, it should Open/Close. It's all LOW Voltage so there won't even be any exciting sparks to make it interesting
since you have a security button, you'll need to get another button to provide the security features.
the way a garage opener works is it shorts the connections to send the signal. if you have a security feature, the button will append the security code to allow it to work.
i have a security 2.0 garage door motor (yellow button) and the way i got around it was getting another wall button, then connecting my relay to that button. the relay simulates pushing the button on the wall button, and then it sends the security code to the motor to open.
check liftmaster's site to see what buttons you can use for your purple button motor, then connect it to your motor. you can have multiple buttons, so no need to alter your previous wall button.
if you did want to use your previous wall button, you'll need a multimeter to check for continuity. it looks like the 4 solder points on the top of your board are for the button, but you'll need to confirm. basically press the button and see which points have continuity. when the button is released, you want it to be open. you'd then connect your ZEN16 to those solder points and be in busniess
I used this manual to set up 2 doors (didn't bother with sounding a chime, since the doors are loud and we always know if they're moving). My setup had wall buttons that included separate light and lock buttons, and look identical to yours. Using the 2nd wiring diagram in the manual worked like a charm--all directly-wired features still work and my Zen16 controls both doors remotely. The small code download the instructions call for was an added bonus, and made it really easy to complete the HE integration.
Edit: I used two Ecolink tilt sensors in my setup. One is included as part of the DIY garage door opener kit sold on The Smartest House, and I bought a 2nd for the other door. These are low-cost but seem to work just fine with the provided app. I also used the app feature to create a lock device associated with each door, and Alexa is able to control the doors by changing the state of the lock.
Edit 2: my wall buttons DO say security on them... I just misremembered.
I have a Chamberlain which looks very similar to yours. My wall controller also has a lock and light switch on it. As @csteele mentions, if you quickly short the wires, does the door open? If so, then to keep the lock and light switches working, wire up the Zen16 R1 outputs in parallel -- keep the switch wires as they are today to the red/white connectors on the GDO, and add a second set of wires from R1 terminals on the Zen16 to the red/white connectors. This way a momentary short from either the Zen16 or from the wall switch will actuate the door. I have mine wired up this way and maintained all wall switch functionality (including light), with the Zen16 mounted on the ceiling near the GDO itself.
Alternately, since you don't care about the light, you can wire the switch to the Zen16 inputs and then R1 to the GDO. That way the Zen16 will report all manual switch input to Hubitat.
that means you can just mount it up by the opener and put the relay one wires in the same spot as the two wires going to your button..(leave those wires as well) that is the simplest way and also plug it into the same outlet the opener is plugged in. i recommend you pair it non secure at this time.
also recommend you use these settings( assuming you aer using a separate zwave or zigbee door sensor not the zen16) as they have worked best for me.. also assuming you are only using one garage door at this time.
Wires from relay hooked up to the same terminals on the back of the button as the wires from the door opener unit.
Note that I set each relay to operate as a garage door opener in the device properties, which allows me to skip having the Zooz app try to time the relay contact duration. Using the built-in momentary contact provided by garage door mode in the Zen16 properties works much better. Haven't had a single hiccup since installing and making this adjustment.
I've got the Zen16 wired up, and it seems to be working. I wired it in parallel to the button that already exists. I just changed the switch type for relay 1 to Garage Door in the Zen16 preferences and it seems to work without a hitch.
When wiring it, I accidentally made it so that the red and white wire at the back of the GDO were constantly shorted, which made the garage door close and it wouldn't open again until I removed power, fixed the wires, and then powered it on and hit the button. I suspect that this is what the lock button on the switch does, is just keeps the two wires shorted together.
I have a Chamberlain GDO it says that it's MyQ compatible but it's not set up. I'm trying to use the Zen 16 in all kinds of different configurations and I cannot get it to work
Hi, could you elaborate on how you would wire up the wall switch to input on the Zen16? Seems I would need a 120v input dry contact switch wired into the SW port on the Zen16.
as long as your switch to open the garage is just a simple dry contact (take it apart.. touch two wires does it open and close) than you dont need anything fancy.. just plug the relay port on the zen 16 into the same two connectors on your door your switch plug into.
I have the same Chamberlain yellow button garage door as you and wanted to use the Zen16. I was going to use this switch but keep my current switch too.
But I'm a bit confused on the wiring. This switch works with Security 2.0 doors. Can you give a detailed explanation of the wiring from this switch to the zen16 and then to the garage door opener? Thanks.
Unfortunately I’ve read (no first hand experience) that the button you posted REPLACES your existing button switch and doesn’t work in addition to. If you desire to keep your existing button there are wireless button options with dry contact wires too like this one:
But to answer your question on wiring, the additional wires coming out of the side just need to be connected together to “press” the button. Any dry contact relay will work.
I don't really need the original button. Just Thought it would work too.
Let me make sure I understand the wiring. According to the installation instructions that came with this new button, Normally, I would use just the white and red/white wires from the back of the button to the garage door opener. It didn't mention using the additional wires on the side of the new button. So in order to use the Zen16 I thought I would just connect the white and the red/white wires from the new button to the Zen green Switch 1 and then run wires from green Zen R1 and R2 connections to the garage door opener. as illustrated below.
Are you saying in addition to the wiring I described I need simply twist the new button's side wires together? Or does the white and red/ white wires connect to the garage door opener AND the new button's side wires go to the Zen16 instead or the white and red/white wires?
The replacement is superior in every way. Big button, elbow friendly, no Time to have to keep adjusting.
