(Replying to PARENT post)

Very cool homebrew solution. If you need the feature but don’t have time to homebrew it, Chamberlain has a piece of hardware (MyQ) for $30 (occasionally goes on sale for $17-$25) that enables you to poll garage door status and control it remotely using their app and API. Uses a sensor you attach to the garage door, talks using RF to the opener. Some lifter units even have this built in now.

https://www.myq.com/

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08GD3D9YJ/

👤toomuchtodo🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

I highly dis-recommend this product, particularly if you want to use it with something like Home Assistant.

First of all, their app usually takes about 30-60 seconds to load up which is pretty frustrating when you're waiting outside your garage and trying to get in, just waiting on a spinner as it has to go talk to some cloud server somewhere.

Second, I use Home Assistant for pretty much everything, and Chamberlain has a habit of breaking their API every few months. From what I've gleaned they seem to change how they allowlist user-agent headers to try to intentionally break things like Home Assistant.

Eventually I got tired of it constantly being slow and/or not working, and I threw it away. I replaced it with a programmable Z-Wave contact relay (Zooz ZEN16). It works much better now.

Lastly, the newer Chamberlain motor units actually don't use simple push buttons anymore, so what I've done isn't even an option. I believe it's some kind of PWM over the wire to the wall-mounted buttons. I would recommend not buying any Chamberlain product because of their anti-consumer behavior.

👤rhinoceraptor🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

> lets you check garage door status and control it remotely using their app and API.

Presumably by bouncing everything through some anonymous Alibaba cloud ip addresses, effectively granting permission to the Chinese government to open your garage door whenever they like... :sigh:

(Actually, it seems like its at least not completely awful, security wise: https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/other-blogs/mcafee-labs/we-be-j... )

👤bigiain🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

MyQ works well with their stuff but is horrible for integration. Chamberlain deliberately changes the API every so often just to break folks. Sometimes it comes with a ridiculous excuse, sometimes not. They are up to v6 or v7 now. It is really because they want the companies (Samsung, Crestron, Control4) to pay them as well.

Compare this with AladdinConnect that comes with the Genie lifts - they have broken people approximately zero times.

👤DannyBee🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

They also have a unit that I installed that you can tell it close when no one has been passed the sensor in x number of minutes. It has been great when we've forgotten to shut the door at night. No need to monitor anything yourself.
👤quaffapint🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

My fiance worked on the myQ team at Chamberlain. The app integrates with other home IoT devices as well, providing a single app to view / control a lot of the popular ones.

We had 5 garage door openers in our apartment at the beginning of the work from home period for her testing.

👤glasss🕑4y🔼0🗨️0