GoControl GD00Z-4 question

Hopefully I don’t get dinged for this … I’ve looked through the forum and can’t find an answer. I have a Chamberlain LW3500 opener at home that is NOT a single-button opener - it has buttons to turn the light in the opener on and off, and a button to lock the opener so it won’t respond to wireless controllers. From what I’ve read, it sounds like the GoControl ONLY works with single button openers. Can anyone confirm this for me? Or, alternatively, can anyone confirm that it will work with the kind of opener I’m describing?

Also, it sounds like a lot of folks have issues w/the GoControl … after a year or two they die. Anyone have any comments on that?

Finally, is there any option that is SmartThings compatible besides the GoControl? I can’t find anything besides the Champerlain MyQ but that’s not SmartThings, which isn’t a deal breaker but is kind of annoying.

Thanks in advance,

Joe

The gocontrol garage opener is very popular, so I think you’re just seeing more trouble reports posted because there are so many people who have it. Most people don’t have trouble with it. :sunglasses:

As far as your wiring/compatibility question, you should check with gocontrol support:

http://www.gocontrol.com/detail.php?productId=4

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I have a couple openers that I replaced last year. They have a multi-button wall control that controls the light, door, and the security switch you’re talking about. It works fine with the GoControl controller.

Yes, 100% expect it to die anywhere from 3 months of use to 2 years, one way or another it’s going to die. I’ve been through two and I’m on my third, although that third is specifically the “Lowes Iris” version which has different issues as well (randomly becomes completely unresponsive and needs a power cycle).

My wall button has three buttons and a tiny light for reference.

My go control garage door controller is three years old.

I have literally never had a single glitch with it.

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Thanks for the replies, sounds like it will work w/my opener (at least, it’s not on their list of incompatible openers), so I just have to decide if I want to roll the dice on reliability. Since all the reports are anecdotal no way to really tell how bad that is.

The annoying thing is, it’s a pretty damn good garage opener for a great price and I’ll likely keep buying them…

Purely luck, honestly. Either you’ve got a golden egg or it’s just a matter of time… the failure rate, and for the exact same reason every time is unusually high.

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What exactly is the failure rate?

As an engineer I gotta say there are too many unknowns here for this to mean much. Ironic for me to be saying this as I was the one who brought it up but as JD points out there are lots of these sold so the failure rate is probably actually pretty low; it’s just that human nature means the one’s you’ll hear from in reviews are the ones who have problems. Also, w/out knowing the cause, it’s entirely possible that those who are experiencing failures, especially multiple failures, are inadvertently using the device in a way that contributes to the failure - maybe a really hot location, or their power spikes, or is actually a bit higher than 120V … hard to know without analyzing the failing devices to root cause.

Bottom line I’m going to take a flyer on it and hope for the best. If I remember I’ll report back in a couple of years if it’s still working. :smiley: Of course you’ll hear from me sooner if it dies early.

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I recommend you get it.

I look at it this way… If I can afford home automation, I shouldn’t be worrying about if it last 2 or 3 years.

I guess I’ve been lucky…

(Knock on wood)

All of my devices are between two and three years old. I have never had a device fail. I have had them fail out of the box, but once installed, never.

My system contains approximately 180 - 200 devices.

Yeah for $100 it seems like it’s worth a flier … not sure I’d dive in again w/the same device if it only lasts a year tho. At $100 I expect to last a lot longer than 1, or 2, or even three years.

FYI I’m still less than a year into this smart home stuff. Right now I’ve got a whopping 10 devices tho I am about to add 4 3 more, plus the GoControl (probably). No failures yet, out of the box or otherwise. Fingers crossed …

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get it from Amazon and purchase their optional 4 year warranty

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Hmm. I don’t normally do warranty’s but in this case maybe not a bad idea. It’s only $5 so pretty cheap for extra insurance.

Interestingly Amazon lists both the Linear and the GoControl, but the Linear is $12 more. They are actually the exact same design right? Is there any reason to get the Linear over the GoControl?

See the FAQ. It’s a couple years old, but still applies: :sunglasses:

No idea of course what the exact failure rate is but I will gladly place a bet that it’s higher than normal, it’s the exact same issue every single time, there’s an obvious component issue with the relay or whatever is used internally to temporarily short the connections together which is what fails in pretty much all instances where someone has a problem with it.

Like I said, I’m most likely still going to buy it, in fact I’m likely to buy another two right now but if you shop carefully on Amazon, you can often pick it up for ~$70 or less and that tip about the “Amazon Warranty” is actually a great idea, I think that’s the path I’ll take:

But like I said, expect it to fail. I had one last just over a year, I had another last ~3 or 6 months, I can’t remember exactly.

Clearly I didn’t do enough research before posting! This thread:

makes it pretty clear this is a design flaw in that the LED fails consistently and doesn’t sound like it’s a good selection for a garage environment where temps and humidity will get high. Also sounds like there is a pretty easy fix. Still no idea what the real failure rate is; 100% of those reporting failures are failing, but how many just work?! Seems to be available at Lowes for $75 right now so I think I’m going to drive over and pick one up tonight. I’ve got a Lowes CC, maybe I can get a better warranty with that?

Yeah that’s basically it though I’ve not seen people mentioned the LED stops working, as far as I remember, it beeps, it flashes like it’s going to do it, but then it never shorts the connections to trigger the garage door opener.

That’s the exactly failure mode of pretty much everyone I’ve seen that has had issues with it.

Just read that thread, interestingly it looks like someone finally found a fix and if I’m reading it right it seems that the processor has some sort of sensing on the piezo and LED and if one of those aren’t working properly then it won’t trigger the door, probably due to some UL safety requirements…

Hmm. So bypassing the LED with some resisters bypasses the safety requirements, no?

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Yes I believe UL requires that any garage door opener that can be operated remotely has to have a buzzer and a flashing light, so it kinda makes sense that they may have checks to make sure those safety features are working…

@JDRoberts generally knows more about this kind of thing I believe.

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