Not trying to take anything away from ratgdo or any other fine solution that our awesome community will come up with. If the lead time is too far out, maybe this will work for you too?
A long time ago… so long ago I can’t remember how far back… I got really tired of Chamberlain breaking things all the time. I switched my LM bridge device over to use the HomeKit Controller integration built into Home Assistant. It’s been working flawlessly ever since.
I’m glad I didn’t go MyQ when I was pondering upgrading my garage door opener. I instead added a Tailwind IQ3 to my existing opener, which hooks in pretty much like the ratgdo plus a magnetic door open sensor. This might be a good alternative solution, as they even happily advertise their connectivity to HA and other services (plus they’re a Canadian company as an added bonus for us Canadians).
That would be the 819LMB Home Bridge. It has been discontinued, but can still be found to purchase without much difficulty.
Yes, but unfortunately with much expense. Ratgdo is much cheaper. And who knows if chamberlain will “change their minds” and shut these 819lm’s off at some point. I wouldn’t buy one for $200.
A quick US google finds them at several vendors for about $90. $140 at Amazon.
Ratgdo is the better solution IMO, but the 819 is price competitive at the $90 mark, especially for more than one opener. The Ratgdo “kit” is $44 per opener.
My larger concern would the discontinued status, and how long support will really be around.
Even if there was a public commitment, signed in blood from Chamberlain that they’d continue to support the discontinued 819LMB, I’d still prefer the ratgdo.
Why?
Even if all you want is something that JUST talks to HomeKit, the ratgdo is still a better choice: there’s ratgdo firmware out there (not sure if it’s done yet) that talks directly to Apple’s HK.
Have to watch out buying things, especially discontinued things, from online companies no ones ever heard of
There were others, but thats what credit cards are for. One call and it would be reversed if it is a bad actor.
Little off topic but how credit cards work (what rights the owner got) is very different from country to country (or contract to contract). I had the problem one time that for a service they charged my credit card two times - while it seemed like an obvious error I still needed to fill forms, provide proofs/receipts and wait weeks for the refund.
No call would have helped in that situation.
In all just don’t waste any money on chamberlain products/services as they proofed already to be
And some of those vendors don’t update their listings on their own websites. You order one, they reach out and say “oh we don’t actually have those, we have to order it from MyQ”. Then magically they’re out of stock online. Remember, some of those online store fronts are actually real garage door install companies in metropolitan areas but with an online presence.
Can’t speak for policies out of the US. Any disputed charge I’ve had has been removed immediately until resolved. I’ve never had an issue.
But like you said, teaching anyone how to shop or manage money is out of context
In this context it is easy: Just don’t spend a penny/cent on chamberlain products!
Quite right… I had picked up the 819LMB in 2018 so when the troubles first started, it was easy enough to just let HomeKit run it. And like I said it was a really, really long time ago – probably at least 2 years, maybe even 3. And if anyone out there still has an 819, you could get some more mileage from it while you wait for your Ratgdo.
I also ordered a Ratgdo yesterday for that eventual day when Chamberlain decides to blow it up even more.
Although the ZEN17’s minimum contact turn off time in the configuration is one second, and thus too long for some momentary switch applications, you can use an HA automation to toggle the relay on and off with a delay between that can be specified in milliseconds. I use 200mSec when triggering the momentary contacts for my GE RR7 relay system. That’s a nice deliberate button press – a shorter delay would probably work fine. I still use the auto turn off after one second on the ZEN modules, since I’m overly paranoid that my RPi might choose to crash right exactly in the middle of those 200 ms, although I know that’s pretty unlikely. I intend to use a ZEN17 for my Craftsman-branded Chaimberlain GD Opener to replace my Insteon relay module when I retire the last of the Insteon devices (or the PLM dies . . .).
How do you pick between ratgdo and MSG100HK?
Looks like MSG100HK has a sensor that runs from the motor to the door. Ratgdo doesn’t have it, but is it needed?
If you use the ratgdo with a chamberlain door that supports security 1.0 or 2.0, no position sensor is needed, as the door position is communicated to the ratgdo by serial connection.
If using an older chamberlain or other brand, you will need contacts that close in the open and closed positions so ratgdo knows the door position.
For Chamberlain Security+ doors, there is no choice - 100% ratgdo. Nothing else comes close to the same functionality.
For non-Security+ doors, ratgdo doesn’t really offer anything beyond other products.
Is it possible to use the tilt sensor with ratgo product? Or what is the alternative.
SO not true. There are dozens of options, depending on your experience and comfort level. You can make your own or buy something already put together, plus a dozen other ways documented in this forum.
For security+, compared to the msg100hk?
I will maintain the no choice stance. Or at least the msg100hk would be a vastly inferior, very questionable choice.
Nothing else offers anything close to the functionality of ratgdo for security+, unless you mean building your own ratgdo board.
