Ratgdo - local mqtt control for your Chamberlain/Liftmaster security+ 2.0 garage door opener

dwdonnelly · February 27, 2024, 10:01pm

Well, this is a bit strange. So I am following up as we somewhat discussed: I removed the ratgdo from my HA system, rebooted the cable modem/router, verified it was not showing, then reinstalled the ratgdo. Verified it showed in the cable modem/router. But this time, it showed up with a completely, never before seen ratgdo-xxxxxx number. Different from what ratgdo provides during setup. HA shows the correct new name/number from the ratgdo install. Strange.

Well, so far, it is working. At this point, I am going to stop messing with it, leave the names as the system sees them and monitor it.

doctorkb · February 27, 2024, 10:23pm

That is even more interesting, IMO.

Unless the ESP grabs a new MAC address every time it is flashed, I would have thought those would stay the same… My ratgdo is “ratgdov25i-a855e0” and the wifi MAC address ends “a8:55:e0”. It looks like this is what would be set for MQTT firmware, too.

Then again, I could be missing something altogether and it’s just a random number.

dwdonnelly · February 27, 2024, 11:54pm

I concur. Using MQTT setup…I think the ratgdo-xxxxx number is random. But prior to the power surge, the cable modem/router and ratgdo had the same name/number combo. And now they are not. Makes me concerned. So will observe. Still considering a new ratgdo, that would certainly provide a new mac number. Ah, more to follow.

scutzi128 · February 28, 2024, 5:16pm

Anyone know a way to change the more info view default view to show buttons instead of the position? Even removing the position feature all together would be fine as I have no reason to stop the door at any position other than open or closed.

doctorkb · February 28, 2024, 5:50pm

It may not be the best solution, but the one I posted about a “shadow” device (that also solve the Alexa voice code concern) would do this for you: Ratgdo - local mqtt control for your Chamberlain/Liftmaster security+ 2.0 garage door opener - #498 by doctorkb

sbenton9291 · February 29, 2024, 4:56pm

Howdy All… Looking for a bit of wiring advice here. I have myself a Liftmaster LA400UL, dual arm gate opener that currently works with MyQ. The unit has a photosensor wired up, but no “button” to hook into, or any other accessories.

I assume this means I need to wire the photosensors into the ratgo wiring harness and use a dry contact to open/close the gate. I’ve linked the wiring diagram below:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.hooverfence.com/mas_assets/media/hooverfence/pdfs/wiring-diagram-LA400UL.pdf

Any guidance on how to go about wiring the unit up so it works flawlessly and can detect the open/close status of the gate would be hugely appreciated. If possible I’d like to avoid adding any new sensors as the gate can already detect its open/close status, I just don’t know how to tap into this.

doctorkb · February 29, 2024, 5:24pm

There appears to be some discussion on that here: Control Liftmaster LA400 Gate Opener via HA? - #17 by Chmynard

It looks like there is some functionality, but there are some “gotchas”.

Chmynard · February 29, 2024, 9:40pm

Thanks for the tag.
@sbenton9291 - I got it working on my LA400UL by using the SBC to trigger the open or close and then some wires on the motor arm as limit switches. It works pretty well for me about 90% of the time but occasionally will say closed when it is really open. The more permanent solution seems to be using the Liftmaster expansion board in which there is OPEN and CLOSE outputs to be used by the RATGDO. I’m content at my 90% as I don’t use the gate daily but if you want to get that accuracy the board can be found online like on ebay. More info and the discovery process on the thread linked above.

giopas · March 4, 2024, 6:31am

Hi there!

I need to buy a new garage door opener and, as I want to use it with HA, I was considering RATGDO and the following solution:

-. Chamberlain ML 810ev [1]

@PaulWieland could you please confirm me:

a) this solution will work with RATGDO?
c) do you know if this drive work with Security 1 or 2?
b) is it possible to ship RATGDO to Europe?

Thanks!

[1]
https://www.chamberlain.de/de-de/produktkatalog/ml810ev

[2]

tmjpugh · March 4, 2024, 1:21pm

Known/tested Compatibility by Manufacturer

Chamberlain ML 810ev Has yellow button and myQ so likely yes it will work

Only way to know is to look in Chamberlain ML 810ev Manual, look at some printed indication on device or box, ask manufacturer or check device.

Did you read order page?

giopas · March 6, 2024, 6:14am

Thanks but the Order page does not say anything.

Is the only way to use myus.com to send it to a US address and then send it to me? How other EU folks did it?

Moreover, would it be possible to get it without the charger (as it is a US one)?

Thanks!

doctorkb · March 6, 2024, 6:38am

" ratgdo v2.5 available to order Boards are available and shipping domestic USA via USPS Ground Advantage. When possible international shipments are sent via FedEx or UPS dedpending on availability. Shipping to Canada is $17. Shipping to the EU and Austrailia varies between $15 and $24." (Emphasis mine)

GoodyGizmos · March 9, 2024, 12:49am

I haven’t been able to update my ratgdo instance since early February. It’s stuck on 2024.2.2. Prior to that, I was able to OTA update it without issue.

The logs from an attempt to update via ESPHome Wireless install indicate the following:

HARDWARE: ESP8266 80MHz, 80KB RAM, 1MB Flash
Dependency Graph
|-- ESPAsyncTCP-esphome @ 2.0.0
|-- ESPAsyncWebServer-esphome @ 3.1.0
|-- ESP8266WiFi @ 1.0
|-- ESP8266mDNS @ 1.2
|-- ArduinoJson @ 6.18.5
|-- Secplus @ 1.0.0+sha.f98c322
|-- EspSoftwareSerial @ 8.1.0+sha.57f1aa7
|-- noise-c @ 0.1.4
|-- Improv @ 1.2.3
RAM: [===== ] 46.2% (used 37844 bytes from 81920 bytes)
Flash: [====== ] 61.3% (used 627953 bytes from 1023984 bytes)
========================= [SUCCESS] Took 11.20 seconds =========================
INFO Successfully compiled program.
INFO Connecting to 192.168.0.163
INFO Uploading /data/build/ratgdo-double/.pioenvs/ratgdo-double/firmware.bin (632112 bytes)
INFO Compressed to 422690 bytes
ERROR Error binary size: Error: ESP does not have enough space to store OTA file. Please try flashing a minimal firmware (remove everything except ota)

Why is this an issue now?…Did the ratgdo package increase to a size that is no longer flashable via OTA?

What do I need to do to get it back to being maintainable via OTA?

GoodyGizmos · March 9, 2024, 1:44am

Thanks, but that’s only a partial fix since I do have a lite board (only 1 MB flash) and this part of my question remains…

Why is this an issue now?…Did the ratgdo package increase to a size that is no longer flashable via OTA?

tmjpugh · March 9, 2024, 3:27am

It’s possible if you first install smaller image. I have no recommendation for what to install to meet that need

rlowens · March 9, 2024, 6:50am

Have you actually checked if it has 1MB flash or 4MB flash? I didn’t think any ratgdos were actually sold with 1MB (just incorrectly set that way). See ratGDO ESP firmware update to 2023.12.1 fails with error: not enough space to store OTA file · Issue #155 · ratgdo/esphome-ratgdo · GitHub for how to check.

Why is this an issue now?…Did the ratgdo package increase to a size that is no longer flashable via OTA?

Obviously yes. You can remove the web server component if you don’t actually need it, that would safe a bunch of space. To do that, put this in your .yaml:

#custom modification using https://esphome.io/guides/configuration-types.html#remove
web_server: !remove

JDogg016 · March 9, 2024, 12:42pm

My apologies if this has been discussed. The device is awesome and works as advertised except for one thing: occasionally for no reason it seems the device will register a garage open event followed seconds later by a garage closing event.

Its hard to sort through all these threads where symptoms include opening and closing so I did not know whether someone could point me in the correct direction as to a solution.

I am running on MQTT v2.51 using Liftmaster/Chamberlain +1.0

GoodyGizmos · March 9, 2024, 3:51pm

I didn’t buy my board with my shield, instead opting to use an 8266 board I already had.

I tried to check the real flash size, but the main issue (not enough flash memory to store OTA file) didn’t allow it to get far enough to report the debug results.

So, I tried your second recommendation and started to collect the results:

Package*	Available	Used	Free	Needed (Uncompressed/Compressed)	Delta (Uncompressed/Compressed)
1	1023984	627953	396031	632112/422689	-236081/-26658
2	1023984	565711	458273	569856/384124	-111583/+74149
3	1044464	627937	416527	632096/422682	-215569/-6155

*Packages
(1) Original (_lite) using …v25board_esp8266_d1_mini_lite.yaml@main package
(2) (1) with web server removed. This appears to only save ~60/39 KB (uncompressed/compressed), but is currently enough on ESPHome 2024.3 to make the difference if the board has or the config is set to 1 MB flash.
(3) Non (_lite removed) using …v25board_esp8266_d1_mini.yaml@main package and web server re-enabled.

Only (2) and (3) completed an OTA install.

(1) and (2) reported

HARDWARE: ESP8266 80MHz, 80KB RAM, 1MB Flash

while (3) reported

HARDWARE: ESP8266 80MHz, 80KB RAM, 4MB Flash

There must be something fundamental I don’t understand about the logs since (3) indicated insufficient space as well (422682 required > 416527 available), but completed the OTA install.

Flash: [======    ]  60.1% (used 627937 bytes from 1044464 bytes)
========================= [SUCCESS] Took 9.74 seconds =========================
INFO Successfully compiled program.
INFO Connecting to 192.168.0.###
INFO Uploading /data/build/ratgdo-double/.pioenvs/ratgdo-double/firmware.bin (632096 bytes)
INFO Compressed to 422682 bytes
Uploading: [============================================================] 100% Done...

Anyways…after (3) worked, I tried your first recommendation again and sure enough the flash real size was reported as 4MB.

[09:59:37][D][sensor:093]: 'Flash Real Size': Sending state 4194304.00000  with 1 decimals of accuracy

So, now another thing I don’t understand (knowing the flash real size is 4MB) is why (3) indicated a slightly different (but still ~1MB) total flash size instead of ~4MB (i.e. 4194304).

When I first configured ratgdo, I asked about the right one to use (lite or not) and ended up using _mini and got under the impression that the 8266 boards were the D1 Mini Lite’s, so that’s the configuration I used, but I guess that was wrong.

Thanks for your help! Hopefully this works uninterrupted for future firmware updates now.

DeltaNu1142 · March 9, 2024, 5:38pm

I have an issue with one of my RATGDOs. I have two… one works great, and the other doesn’t. They’ve both worked very well for the last several months, until recently. Since last week, one of them has stopped responding. It will not connect to WiFi even after a power cycle. The garage door status shows “Closed,” which is odd because usually if the RATGDO is not connected it’ll show, “Unavailable.” It does not respond to commands.

The local garage door button works normally. The obstruction sensors work.

So, here’s what I’ve done:

I connected to the ratgdo with a laptop, erased and reloaded for MQTT.
I got as far as the WiFi connection screen, where it didn’t lock up, didn’t time out, just sat with the progress bar circling… for more than five minutes. LED on the board is solid:

Meanwhile, my router shows that the device is connected:

However, I can’t ping it from my network. Note the other ratgdo has an uptime of 2+ hours, and works just fine.

I decided to load the ESPHome version just to try it. It worked, connected to WiFi, and I was able to control it through the browser interface from inside my house. All pings successful.
I connected to the ratgdo, erased it, and tried MQTT again… same result. It hangs on the WiFi connect screen.
repeated step 4 several times.

I can’t reconcile why I have no problem connecting to WiFi in the ESPHome installation sequence, but not in the MQTT installation. Does anyone have any ideas? Again… this worked well for several months until just recently.

foreverimagining · March 9, 2024, 7:08pm

The problem is basically that it is a Security+1.0 device. The code as-written isn’t entirely dialed in to be perfectly functional with Security+1.0 and results in a number of issues including phantom (and not always phantom) garage-door-open events. It’s seems to be an issue of bit collisions when commands and queries are not always timed right.

As for solutions, there’s not much available at the moment as far as I’m aware. If you have an iPhone, you can try the Homekit version of the RATGDO firmware to which Security+1.0 was recently added by mitchjs. According to him, he managed to work out the timing, added a trap to ignore collisions, and made it more reliable.

Alternatively, though not as immediate, someone in the RAT-RATGDO community came up with a “man-in-the-middle” solution that seems to solve the issues people have with Security+1.0 as well as incompatible wall panels. You can check it out here if you like, but we’re still waiting on the OP to get back with schematics/code/etc. so there’s no known timeline on when it’ll be ready for more people to test.