Garage door opener recommendations

Hardware
#1

Hi - I’m getting a new garage door and opener installed.

Can anyone recommend a simple solution using wifi that does not require remote internet / cloud access, and that has good home assistant integration?

The installer quoted me a Liftmaster with wifi, but it looks like that system requires cloud access and a smart-phone only app - it would not work with a web browsers. Plus there is no public APIs - the myq HA integration seems to break and/or is not complete (because Liftmaster has no public APIs, not because of issues with HA itself).

I’m fine using opengarage, but I don’t know if / what actual garage door openers it works best with - their web site doesn’t have any recommendations I can find. I’d just want something that works well and can easily be connected to opengarage - has simple wiring connections, and ideally I don’t have to do any soldering or use it via garage door remote control.

#2

Installed two this weekend.

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#3

I purchased the Meross MSG100 WiFi opener. Spend the extra money and get the HomeKit version (MSG100HK), then use HA to control your door locally. Just be sure to check the compatibility info on their web site, because you may need an additional module to make it work properly with your opener; some Chamberlain openers (including LiftMaster) have been known to be incompatible right out of the box.

Meross web site link:
https://www.meross.com/smart-garage-door-opener/garage-door-opener-remote-control/29

Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/meross-Compatible-Assistant-SmartThings-Notification/dp/B084Z5QZR2/

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#4

Thanks, but I am looking for a garage opener with wifi or one that can have wifi easily added to it using devices such as those listed above or using opengarage.

I’m having the new door and new opener installed by a contractor, I’ll check with them and just ask for a dumb / non-wifi opener, and see what they come back with, and go from there - probably just use the Meross site to check that it’s “compatible” and so can readily be used with some sort of two wire solution.

#5

There are some garage door openers that work in the MyQ environment, 3rd party host only so no local control.

Garage doors are quite aggravating out of the box smart home related, I haven’t found one that has local access control out of the box. The MyQ adapter is fine and cheap, but hosted only. Then there are the semi-pro brewed such as the Athom above, or you can role your own with an ESP32, some relays and ESP Home.

Personally I run the MyQ adapter because I already had it and it works good enough and thought it could use Homekit - but that can only be run with another expensive device that is no longer made. Eventually I’ll get a LilyGo ESP32 with Relay board and roll my own, when I can spare the time or MyQ permanently breaks.

1 Like
#6

Any opener that provides “dry contact” activations can be made WiFi using an ESP8266 relay board and ESPHome.

2 Likes
#7

I got this one:

I home it works

#8

Mine have been flawless. No connection issues and once installed I haven’t had to touch them.

#9

I went ahead and got a non-wifi Genie opener, and hooked an opengarage device up to it.

It costs more than a simple ESP relay but it can also detect if the door is open - it has a distance sensor, a bit weird as it requires the door be open some amount but it can also determine if a car is in your garage. And, you can attach a reed switch to tell if the door is open at all.

#10

I’ve found the following magnetic reed switch to be extremely reliable:
SECO-LARM SM-226RQ Alarm Switch, SM Series, SPST-NO, Overhead Door Magnetic Switch, 0.42 ", 4.33 ", 1.73 "

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#11

What electric opener system did you use with these? And how does it need to be wired up? Is it difficult?
Tempted to get these, as i need to get a new garage door but not sure what electric system is compatible with these ESP ones.

#12

Mine has a simple system in which the door will open when you close a circuit. There terminals on the side of the openers and I just piggy backed on those in parallel with the wall button.

The opener just simulates a button press by opening/closing a relay with a specified amount of delay.

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#13

Thanks, What brand do you use?

#14

I took the long way around and designed an ESP32 based WiFi board that has four isolated relay outputs and four isolated switch inputs to control two garage doors. I ended up with a magnet on the top edge of each garage door, reed switches at the front wall to tell me the doors are each fully closed and two more reed switches on the ceiling to tell me the doors are fully open.
The wifi board I designed is mounted in a flanged box with a 12 volt power supply plugged into a wall socket below.
I have the box mounted next to the two door controls that are in the back of the garage. The door controls are not simple switches though, so I added two wires to each internal switch and brought those out to be connected to two of the four relays on my controller.
I setup ESPHOME on my board and it connects to a local network I have just for automation. The HomeAssistant lets me pulse the door switches to open or close the door. The reed switches gives HomeAssistant the “real” open or closed status for each door.

#15

I actually used a D1 R2 board that I had. I have 2 garage doors so I used a dual relay board. I have a reed switch on each door and piggy backed the push button to the relays. I also added a DHT22 to give me a basement/humidity readings.

GarageDoor
GarageDoor462×644 42.3 KB

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#16

Konnected just came out with a new one that looks good and can run completely local. I think the price point is high but I am a fan of the Konnected products.

#17

It’s made in North America, so it will be more expensive than a device made in China.

1 Like
#18

The athom one I got works well.

It was easy to install and just consisted of connecting wires and a reed switch.

When connected it instantly updates the open and close state.

The door I am using it with does have a little delay before opening and closing but that is not an issue with the garage door opener.

I set up an automation to send notifications as well

I have noticed it randomly disconnects but just for 1 second. I just have to update the automation from this
Pseudocode:

When cover.garage_door is opened
Send notification

To this

When cover.garage_door is opened for 3 seconds
Send notification
#19

This looks exciting - I was thinking about using optical means to do this automation - boom - Konnected has already done it - thank you for posting this!

#20

Yes, good!