Automating Garage Door Help (UK)

I will shortly be replacing my old garage door with an electric roller shutter garage door.

Obviously I want the door to be automated through SmartThings and then Echo.

Can anyonme tell me what is the best garage door opener for SmartThings ?
Also, do I need to get any particular type of controller with the garage door for it to work correctly ?

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Nortek is one of the largest makers of Z wave devices in the US. Their products are marketed under several different brand names, including two gig, gocontrol, Linear, and some of the Nutone devices. They’re all the same devices, they just have a different brand label on them.

The GD00Z model is on the official “works with smartthings” compatibility list in the US, is UL listed, and can be purchased at Lowe’s or Home Depot as well as Amazon. It typically costs between 80 and $90, although you can sometimes find it on sale for less at Home Depot or Lowe’s. ( at Lowe’s it may come in a box that says “works with Iris” but that specific device will also work with smartThings.)

There are other garage control devices that will also work, including the telgard and garadget, so there may be some specific feature that you like that one model has an another doesn’t.

Otherwise, the Linear is very popular, works well, and since it is on the official list SmartThings support can also help you if you run into any problems. :sunglasses:

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Thanks for that, although I should of pointed out that I am un the UK, so Lowe’s or Home Depot is not an option.

I can find the Aeon Labs Garage Door Controller but that seems over to the top with a siren etc.

My garage door will come with it’s own conrtroller, so can’t I just use a Z-Wave relay to automate it, or am I missing the point ?

I’m the wrong person to have that particular discussion with, because I hate DIY solutions which bypass safety features. :scream: ( Combination of a previous career as an engineer and my current status as a person who uses a wheelchair.)

The main issue is that once you allow for automated control when you are no longer in sight of the door, such as taking out your mobile phone at the office and instructing the door to close at home, you’ve introduced a whole new set of potential hazards. That’s why the networked controllers which do allow out of sight operation tend to also have a flashing light or a beeping sound or something like that. Because there isn’t a human nearby who can see exactly what’s happening as they operate the control.

As far as the UK goes, I know there are some UK members using garadget.

[OBSOLETE] Garadget (Connect)

I don’t see it as a bypass to safety features, surely just simulating presseing a button. All the safety features are still available.

I just a minute or so ago added another sentence to my previous post, so you may not have seen that one yet.

The human being who operates the remote button while they are in sight of the garage door is an additional safety feature. So using an automated process which doesn’t require a human being to be there is one that is bypassing the safety feature of on location oversight.

To compensate for this, the garage door controllers which are built for this purpose add additional safety features, usually an audible beep and/or flashing light. They also often have a blocked retry feature which will prevent distant operation after an initial failure, intended to address the situation where a person or car is blocking the door. You don’t want to keep hitting them after the first time!

When you just hotwire the garage motor so that you can send a request even from miles away that the door operate, which is what cutting in a simple relay does, you don’t have the advantage of those kind of compensating features.

I don’t know exactly how the engineering codes work in the UK, but in the US a device which can operate the door without the person being there requires a different set of UL safety features than one which is operated just by pushing a button in the same room or in line of sight.

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Thanks for the clarification. I hadn’t really thought it through. The door will have the auto stop features etc, and to be honest I only want to open and close it when i am close by.

Just thought voice control would be much more convenient than trying to find yet another remote control!

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Just remember that once you have voice control, echo in particular will respond anyone saying the same command. So if somebody can stand outside your garage and yell the command and the echo inside hears it, the garage door will open.

Whether or not that’s an issue for you just depends on your particular needs and set up.

We’ve tested at our house, and we have the echo placed where it doesn’t understand somebody yelling outside.

Other people might be OK with the potential risk. It’s just a personal decision.

I know @bamarayne had his garage door controlled by Echo at one point, I don’t know if it still is.

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Yeah, I do. I also have an echo in my garage. But you can’t hear anything through my brick walls and very insulated garage door.

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I have re-enabled line-of-sight when opening/closing the garage door by installing a camera in the garage. The camera is visually checked prior to and during either opening or closing.

I am also able to open/close the garage door via Alexa. However, I’ve added a password, so unless someone has heard me verbalize the code, no one can yell into the house and open the door.

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My roll up door had no direct integration with external opener relays. It is opened or closed by wireless key fobs, or using the wireless keypad in the garage. I found an excellent way around this to automate my roll up door: Roll Up Garage Door LFM-20 Hack with SmartThings

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That is excellent, thank you very much.

I think my door opener will be like yours, so your post is very much appreciated.

I hope it proves useful :slight_smile:

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Hi Guys,

Need some help plzz…

I have a roller shutter garage door that can be opened and closed using a small key remote or by pressing a button on control unit.

Any ideas how i can convert to work with smartthings using some sort of module??

I’ve taken a picture of the unit below:

It has 240v mains going in and then 4 wire going out the unit to the door motor.

Any ideas would be apreciated .