MyQ Alternatives

Configuration
44

Please report back with your experience.

45

If I had to do it over again, that’s probably the direction I’d go (OpenGarage). As it is, Meross is working very well for me and (probably just to spite me) myQ has also started being reliable again :slight_smile:

1 Like
46

I have been using MyQ for a few years, this summer we had a security system installed, and there was a 40 day wait till they could come. I decided I wanted to do most of the wiring myself, a full custom job, to support future home automation needs. All the garage wiring is protected inside EMT, then branches off if needed via aluminum flex.

What we ended up with is the security system monitors the door status, and also controls a relay which I had connected to the door opener where the wall button wires connect. The relay is controlled by either a zone event (or keyfob button), or by entering a command sequence on the keypad.

Integrating the alarm system into HA now allows me to control the door there as well using a script which send a keypad command string to the panel, tripping the relay for a few seconds.

So for controlling the garage door I now have:
MyQ (for now…)
Door remotes and wall buttons
Alarm system keyfob
Alarm system keypad
Home Assistant scripts and automations

I have not used MyQ or the door remotes in months, HA is so much more convenient since that is where I would arm/disarm the alarm from anyway. The alarm keyfobs are also 2-way handshake encrypted which makes them far more secure than a rolling code door remote.

It is also far faster than MyQ for closing the door, since that thing beeps for like 10s, and faster to open since no cloud. Plus it is more reliable (beyond no 3rd party service reliance), the MyQ door sensors will say the door is open when it is windy out, even though they are closed, and there is no longer a replaceable battery in the sensor loop since it is all hardwired. Also, the MyQ is not in a location where it can be plugged into a UPS, so if the power is out it will no longer report door status or open the door (motor has a battery which can open/close door once).

47

Got the Opengarage installed today. So far so good. Physically the install is easy - the “Security 2.0 addon” is just a modified Chamberlain opener button, and the whole thing took no more than 10 minutes to mount.

The firmware setup was a little finicky at first - AP mode worked fine, but it didn’t like my wifi for some reason. Finally fixed it. It’s been stable for about 6 hours. Right now it’s using the HA integration that uses http polling, but I’ve also got MQTT partially working - the MQTT setup shows state but i can’t figure out how to control the door yet. But very pleased not to be worrying about another Myq API problem.

48

I’m fairly positive on the whole [modified remote with wires soldered to the main button] “Security 2.0 add-on” solution. The only caveat in my thinking is that you need to periodically check the battery on the remote. (It needs a second add-on to report battery status :slight_smile: )
Let us know if you get MQTT working. I’d be interested in that.

1 Like
49

Got MQTT working for control as well as state. The API is not well documented, but the two keys for me were:

I will keep both the polling and the MQTT solution going in parallel while I test for robustness.

configuration.yaml:

cover:
     - platform: mqtt
       name: "Garage Door"
       command_topic: "youropengaragedevicename/IN/STATE"
       state_topic: "youropengaragedevicename/OUT/STATE"
       state_open: "OPEN"
       state_closed: "CLOSED"
       payload_open: "click"
       payload_close: "click"
       device_class: "garage"

sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      garage_door_status:
        friendly_name: 'Garage Door Status'
        value_template: '{{states.cover.garage_door.state}}'

groups.yaml:

  garage:
    name: Garage
    entities:
     - cover.garage_door
     - sensor.garage_door_status

This is all stolen from a thread here:

There is a fancier version that has all the distance info and car parked info that i’m going to try to implement next.

50

I haven’t read the thread but i use OpenGarage. It was cheap, easy to put into Home Assistant and works everytime. I had to buy the Security+ 2.0 addon but it’s great, had it installed in about 15 minutes.

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i would like to get MQTT working as well, hoping to avoid the polling by HA. is this all you needed to do to get it working? i have MQTT installed but have nothing working with it.

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You’ll have to do a bit of config on the opengarage device to point it at the MQTT server, but yeah, that’s about it.

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i can’t get this working. do you need to setup the mqtt tab on the stock opengarage interface?

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yep, you need to tell it where your mqtt server is (ip and port) so it knows where to publish. you can then go check the mqtt log to make sure it connected, and check your sensors in Developer Tools to see if data is being published.

55

hey Will, do you have the integration setup in the UI and have mqtt section in the config.yaml? i am getting nowhere on this.

also confused if this is installed via >supervisor>add-on store or via the UI with add integrations.

56

i’m not sure specifically what you’re asking. On the HA side, everything is in config.yaml and groups.yaml. I have mosquitto MQTT installed from the add-on store, no special configuration. On the OpenGarage side, i have used the OG web interface to configure its MQTT tab with the appropriate server IP.

Hope this helps!

57

thanks Will… i guess my general confusion is whether everything is setup in the UI or manually edited in the config.yaml. Confused a little about the add-on store vs the integrations. I have MQTT Mosquitto broker installed via the integration, i also have it installed via the add-on store.

58

So do this: just point opengarage at your MQTT server by going to the OG web app and filling it out. Then go to supervisor-Mosquitto-logs and see if you see a message like:

New client connected from [ip address] as GarageDoor (p2, c1, k15, u’mqtt’).

If you see that, then your MQTT instance can talk to the OpenGarage device. Then it’s a matter of getting the right entries into configuration.yaml and groups.yaml per my post.

1 Like
59

thanks man, appreciate it… will give it a go…

60

this is what i see… not sure why it looks like the user is homeassistant when i setup the user for opengarge as mqqt. Also, that IP isn’t the IP of opengarge, not sure if it is supposed to be the actual IP of the opengarage device.

[09:42:51] INFO: Setup mosquitto configuration [09:42:51] INFO: Found local users inside config [09:42:51] INFO: Initialize Hass.io Add-on services [09:42:51] INFO: Initialize Home Assistant discovery [09:42:51] INFO: Start Mosquitto daemon 1612460571: mosquitto version 1.6.3 starting 1612460571: Config loaded from /etc/mosquitto.conf. 1612460571: Loading plugin: /usr/share/mosquitto/auth-plug.so 1612460571: – *** auth-plug: startup 1612460571: ├── Username/password checking enabled. 1612460571: ├── TLS-PSK checking enabled. 1612460571: └── Extended authentication not enabled. 1612460571: Opening ipv4 listen socket on port 1883. 1612460571: Opening ipv6 listen socket on port 1883. 1612460571: Opening websockets listen socket on port 1884. 1612460571: Opening ipv4 listen socket on port 8883. 1612460571: Opening ipv6 listen socket on port 8883. 1612460571: Opening websockets listen socket on port 8884. 1612460571: Warning: Mosquitto should not be run as root/administrator. 1612460578: New connection from 172.30.32.1 on port 1883. [INFO] found homeassistant on local database 1612460578: New client connected from 172.30.32.1 as 1P3VzCcc1p1YeFfBlmEyRi (p2, c1, k60, u’homeassistant’).

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yeah it should be the IP address of opengarage. If it’s not there, then OG is not connecting. What OG firmware are you running, and what have you entered into the MQTT tab?

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I am running the 1.2.1 fork that you linked to. Here is a screenshot of my OG settings page. Not sure what is at 172.30.32.1, maybe it’s an internal home assistant thing, i don’t use those addresses in my setup? Also, i don’t have a single word about mqtt in my config.yaml, and i don’t have anything else mqtt in my setup, just trying to get it sorted. The mqtt username is one i made for mqtt in homeassistant>config>users

mqtt
mqtt1080×1662 319 KB

63

OK. then try defining the cover and sensor in configuration.yaml - that should get the message subscription going - and add the entities to groups. Restart, and then hopefully it is working.