I just wanted to let you know that I had a garage door open for unexplainable reasons. It wasn’t like yours, with an APP message involved. The LFM-20 relay just turned on for unexplained reasons.
That was it for me with automating garage doors. No way am I going to run the risk of the HA system just goofing and opening my garage door.
So, what I decided to do, because I still want to be able to control my garage doors remotely, is that I put a SmartPower Outlet on each garage door’s LFM-20. Most of the time, the LFM-20 is powered off. It cannot operate the door. If I need to operate the door, I can turn on my safety device, and then operate the door.
I would never automate a garage door using this grade of device, z-wave or zigbee. Failure rates (let alone ST) are too high for such a high risk situation as a garage door, IMO.
Thanks Bruce, unfortunately this sucks but I am not losing hopes in ST yet…
BTW, ST team has been really responsive to a ticket I opened regarding this and they are looking into it…which is what I love in ST…that they might not be perfect but they are willing to work with consumers more than anyone else do…Being in the field of Smart devices and IoT myself, I am not aware of many companies that have gone this far for customer support…
There are higher grade control devices than z-wave and zigbee. The good ones require an ethernet connection (ControlByWeb). Those devices are more costly than z-wave / zigbee, and are more an industrial grade device. I’ve used them, still do, and they have been rock solid 24x7 for 10 years. Totally different level of quality. Price is 3x and up from z-wave, and worth it.
Lol as you mentioned industrial grade, We have been using many modules from Controlbyweb as well for our application…Yes they are wonderful devices from a business point of view but I don’t see them using at my home…
I had 3 or 4 of them in a home that I built, but don’t live in anymore. They were integral to getting that home automated in key ways 10 years ago, before any of this stuff came along. The hydronic heating system could be controlled with a quad relay, which could be controlled from within web pages, etc. Still running today. That system can still be controlled from anywhere in the world via ControlByWeb. Funny
If I had to choose between a ThingShield/Arduino solution (very good) or a ControlByWeb solution (excellent) for something as important as a hydronic heating system, I would go with ControlByWeb.
I might be mistaken but I believe ST has stopped officially supporting that relay as a garage door solution for those specific reasons. I have the GD00Z and it is rock solid (and UL approved).
I just picked up the Iris garage door opener last weekend. I haven’t installed it because of the issues going on now. I mainly want it to close if it’s left open after a certain time of day. I’m worried as well that it will open randomly. I’ve seen some of the storys where this has happened.
Bruce, have you looked into a Chamberlain MyQ? From what I’ve read on posts of people that own one, is that it is flawless and it’s tight security prevents this kind of stuff.
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bamarayne
(Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)
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I’ve had mine for about six months, and I’ve never had a glitch.
That’s good to hear. It looks like i’ve been put on the new scheduler and that’s helped a ton except now i’m having more issues with presence sensing which i’m hoping will be put to rest soon. I will probably install mine this weekend so we shall see.
+1 - I have been using a ControlByWeb Quad relay to control my garage doors and control 2 lights for years before trying to use a HA system and it has been 100% reliable all the time. No phantom openings or closings. Could it be that all of the processing is done withing the unit itself? Hrmm…
Also, when you factor in how much 2 garage relays and 2 switches would cost the CBW device is very comparable.The Quad is going for $135 right now.
If you look up the iris garage door opener at Lowe’s (rebranded linear) you might be able to find stores selling it for as low as $22. Just keep changing the store to see their local price.
I think you missed my point: I don’t trust ST with the security of my home. The device doesn’t matter, it’s the control of any device by ST that allows access. I don’t blame the LFM-20. The on command came from somewhere.
I have two openers hooked to my already Homelink enabaled garage door. I have had MyQ for two years and Mimolite z-wave connected to ST. I used both the My Q and later the Mimolite to automate my garage door. While they played nice (for me) on v1 since I migrated to v2 I didn’t find a reliable way to use either one. They are both still connected and working but I haven’t used them in six months for other than to test if they still work. In over a year, my garage door opened once when it shouldn’t have, and that was because the presence sensor misfired.
What I’m saying is that the unit itself has been known to have issues, whether it’s because it’s paired to ST or not. From what I’ve read there have been multiple people who had their garage door opened randomly and there was no log of any signal coming from the hub itself. The linear unit I suggested has not had these complaints which is why I brought it up.
NGD00Z Nutone that I have is re-branded Linear as well and I didn’t have any issues with opener device, As Bruce mentioned “On” command came from SmartTiles (may be an accidental tap/click) and unfortunately there is no way to track from which end point…
No log doesn’t mean the hub didn’t do it. Nobody seems to know what is going on here, not even Smart Things. But I have devices which are firing lately with no trace in my logs. I mentioned this on another thread but I have ZXT-120 IR sender devices which have been rock solid for over 1 year. But lately I am finding my AC/Heat activated with no explanation. Nothing in the logs. It would be an amazing coincidence if these units, garage doors, lights etc have been failing lately not being related to the Smart Things Hub issues. I get several emails every day from the Smart Things status lately about “reported issues” which are “being investigated”.
Having my heat turn on in the middle of the day is annoying. Having my garage open is a security risk.
Smart Things has proven itself to be a completely unreliable system. Unfortunately it’s the only game in town that does everything I want, including integration with Amazon Echo, integration with Harmony Remotes. I seriously can not wait for a company with the skill to get this right to notice the Smart Things is ripe for the taking and create a competitive product which takes this system out. I hate to say that but I have zero faith anymore that Smart Things will succeed and I want another product to support my expensive zwave equipment as soon as possible.
Excellent idea, If my garage opens even once with a false signal I may do this myself.
I guess I could use smart switches for my ZXT-120’s since I power them with USB chargers. But these were already expensive $80 each adding another $30-50 for each one is crazy. Difficult rules also, if temp reaches 80, turn on ZXT-120, then turn on AC, then turn off ZXT-120. Instead of just when temp reaches 80 turn on AC.
I can’t imagine what the ST team did to screw up this system to much. I understand outages but why do they seem to think that adding servers is going to fix issues with corrupted databases and false signals. They have not made any indication that they have any clue what is going on and our homes are at risk here.
My Schlage Camelot unlocked two days ago, thankfully my wife heard it and re-locked. However, she wanted it ripped out of ST (understandably so). Needless to say, WAF is at an all-time low, and that includes two nights in a row of being woken up to SHM setting off a siren for no good reason…
