So What Are You All Using To Open/Close Your Garage Door?

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
1

Assuming this would simply be a device outputting a momentary contact closure. Any approved zigbee or z-wave to accomplish this?

2

I had a Raspberry Pi laying around I use to control 2 relays for my garage doors.
Uses ThingSpeak and a simple Python script on the Rasb Pi side.
Works great!

3

I think the crowd favorite is the Evolve LFM-20. There are some other relays out there as well. Linear is working on a garage door opener/status device, but it hasn’t hit market yet.

It also heavily depends on your garage door opener. A lot of the newer model with Security+ and MyQ systems do not work with relays. Instead of reading contact closure signals from a button they are sending actual data back and forth. Rendering the relay useless.

4

If you have a Craftsman, Chamberlain or other MyQ device, there is a great integration with Smartthings that was written by the community, U really recommend it

5

Thanks.

It is a 15 year old Craftsman that just uses a momentary switch on the wall that is hardwired, so the relay is fine. But for 60 bucks it might be worth it to look at a new smart opener. With my luck, as soon as I spring for the relay the motor will fail. )c:

6

Scott,

I can’t recommend the LFM-20 enough. Without question my favorite component of ST. If the motor dies and you invest in something different, you can still use the relay for a multitude of other things.

7

I ended up getting a good price on a couple of Intermatic outlets. So I purchased two relays from Radio Shack and wired those up to my openers and to a couple of old plug wires I had laying around. Pluged the relays into the outlets and there you go.

It was more complex of an operation than the LFM-20, but not too bad, and it was a bit cheaper than the LFM-20.

8

the MIMOlite is a great solution for this. You can set it to output momentary contact to open the door. You can also wire it with a garage door sensor so you will always know when the door is open or closed.

I’ve had my MIMOlite for about a week now and have done a bunch of cool things with it.

9

@scottie There is a community integration with Craftsman?? Where?

10

I’m also a fan of the Evolve LFM-20. I’ve installed it at my house for my garage and gate, and at two clients homes.

11

This is the integration for the Chamberlain, Craftsman and Liftmaster garage door openers that use MyQ

12

Another great feature of the LFM-20 is IFTTT integration. While driving I simply tell my phone to open my garage door. In 6 months this may be the norm with Apple’s entrance into the connected home but for now I enjoy the functionality.

Create an IFTTT SMS trigger for a ST event. Done.

13

Thinking about taking this route. Wondering If you could let me know a bit more about your setup with the MIMOlite?

I’ve got a light curtain and the door auto reverses when it hits something. Does installing a MIMOlite in any way disable these features?

I’ve only taken a cursory glance at the FortrezZ site documentation for the MIMOlite, but does installing this retain the ability to open/close with a wired wall button? Want to have a high WAF for this project so the more “invisible” the better.

Thanks!

14

Pretty simple. You would remove the jumper to set the MIMOlite in momentary mode prior to joining it to your z-wave network. You would then wire the NO and COM in parallel with your wall button.

This in no way affects the operation of the safety measures built in to the garage door.

15

Awesome. Thanks! I have two of these on the way. Looking forward to making my garage doors smarter.