Ditching MyQ on Security 2.0+ Garage Lifts (On a Budget)

Indianb0y016 · November 21, 2020, 12:16am

So as some of you may have experienced before, the MyQ integration just stopped updating and the gateway went offline for the sixth time this month. Rather than continue to troubleshoot it, I decided to find a permanent, less headache inducing and cloudless alternative. But I can not use a regular dry contact due to the fact that my garage lift unit utilizes the Security 2.0+ protocol for commands. Im not going to make a comment on how I feel about it because thats not the purpose of this.
After spotting a solution on Garadget, I decided to deploy a solution. Please note that past this point, your mileage will vary. Apparently, some lift units/wall controls do not allow two wall switches at once. My lifts thankfully do allow more than one, but dont assume yours will. I would double check. Anyway, the button I ordered looks like this,

.
Its a simple switch that outputs the Security 2.0 protocol.

What must be done now, is a wifi dry contact relay of choice needs to actuate a button press on this particular switch. I chose a Shelly 1 because its relatively simple to set up, small and I generally like Shelly products. If you choose a Shelly 1, youll want to set it as a dry contact relay switch and switch it to 12v DC power. Youll obviously need a 12v power supply for this, but note that 1 amp is more than plenty of power.
The Shelly relay will then be connected to soldered leads on the switch, as shown here:

Youll also need a reed switch to declare the state of the garage door. Now this part is tricky, because every lift is different. For example, this house was renovated before we moved in, so the doors are lifted by a rubber belt, rather than a metal chain. Rob from “The Hookup” has an excellent video on this very project but my implementation will reverse the reed switch state. One of the things I noticed when I first deployed this was the fact that the door could be ajar and still show as closed, which is obviously a downside. To fix that, I mounted the reed switch to the other side of the belt, so the magnet makes contact when the door is closed. If not its not near the switch, the door will show as open. How reliable this will be is yet to be determined but for now it works. Shown here.

I say this because the arm “knuckle” as it moves on the rail gets really close to the magnet and seems to brush it or dislodge it, so Ill have to monitor that. While it was on the otherside, it didnt have that problem. As I said before, your mileage may vary.

SInce I just deployed this, I am monitoring for any issues, but what I can tell you, it hasnt gone offline once, unlike MyQ

qoheleth · November 21, 2020, 1:38am

You many already be aware of this, but many garage sensors are not reed contacts, but tilt sensors and placed on the door. (The myQ add-on even does this.) It has the advantage of not having to attach something to the moving parts (either the chain/belt/screw or the door itself).
Basically, you test whether the tilt sensor is roughly vertical (closed) or horizontal (open).
I actually wasn’t aware that they made a button that sent Security 2.0 signals. Before my most recent integration, I was using a Z-Wave door opener that used a dry contact and I connected that to the button on a remote for the garage. The downside of that was that you had to replace the battery every so often.

snicker · November 21, 2020, 1:46am

the bummer about tilt sensors is it can only tell you if it’s horizontal or vertical. depending on your placement this might not correlate directly to fully open or fully closed. Many zwave tilt sensors also allow for a secondary contact sensor to be attached. In my case, this is a reed sensor at the upper and lower bounds of the garage, so I can tell if the garage is open, opening, closed, or closing, depending on the previous states. I use an ESP8266 relay board in a momentary mode to actually trigger the motor.

for my config:

github.com

snicker/twohunnid_ha/blob/24997f372679a2a4d45b14b54eb2d5106105b892/configuration/packages/doors_windows_covers/garage_door.yaml

################################################################
## Packages / Garage Door
################################################################

homeassistant:
  customize:
    package.node_anchors:
      customize: &customize
        package: 'garage_door'
      expose: &expose
        <<: *customize
        haaska_hidden: false
        homebridge_hidden: false
        
    switch.garage_door_relay:
      <<: *expose
      friendly_name: "Garage Door"
      icon: mdi:light-switch
      
    binary_sensor.garage_door:

This file has been truncated. show original

Indianb0y016 · November 21, 2020, 2:24am

Absolutely. I was disappointed by that fact but you gotta make tradeoffs somewhere. I already had reed switches laying around so to keep costs down, I decided not to use a tilt sensor. I was pretty excited to find out the button itself is about 8-10 dollars, aftermarket or OEM. Maybe I’ll revisit the tilt sensor later in the future. Im having some misfortune with zigbee, so its pushing me to try and find more z-wave products or zigbee.

Indianb0y016 · November 21, 2020, 2:26am

Appreciate that! I’m likely gonna revisit this later in the future so this is definitely helpful!

taylormia · November 21, 2020, 2:29am

I changed to local control of my LiftMaster GDO a while ago using a Sonoff 4CH with Tasmota and MQTT as well as a ZWave Tilt Sensor. Here are the details on how I did it:

Indianb0y016 · November 21, 2020, 2:35am

Interesting. Concept is the same but with different components. That right there is the beauty of diy/mqtt!
Do you think youll switch out that button for a less bulky one?

taylormia · November 21, 2020, 2:40am

No real reason to switch the button…it stays up there with the GDO and out of the way… I haven’t actually touched it in months…just works…rock solid

kanga_who · November 21, 2020, 2:55am

I ditched MyQ for the same reason and found using a Sonoff SV and a wired magnetic reed switch works perfectly. If followed this guide.

The Sonoff gets wired into the same positions as a wired button on the motor, so when the relay activates on the Sonoff, it mimics a button press and opens/closes the door. The state can also be seen in HA due to the reed switch being in the open/closed position.

Very simple solution that costs $10 AUS and works very reliably over MQTT.