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Current best practice for garage doors?


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8 minutes ago, F0ZZ said:

Are we able to get a little more information? I’m thinking of voltage differences (do I need to add a step down DC/DC power supply) and how to actually connect to the Controllers. 

 

There is no voltage at play here. By soldering on the the leads of the push button inside the cheapest door opener it is simply dry contacts out from the Z2IO or a relay on your processor. The above part is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZL9MK8/ where it says to control4 that goes to the Z2IO or relay on your processor and where is says to motor, these are where the screws were holding this piece in its housing it goes to the garage door motor red and white in's (the bottom of this piece is labeled red and white). I place these inside Z2IO's on top of the garage motor and wire a rail sensor to the contact in on the Z2IO.

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There is no voltage at play here. By soldering on the the leads of the push button inside the cheapest door opener it is simply dry contacts out from the Z2IO or a relay on your processor. The above part is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZL9MK8/ where it says to control4 that goes to the Z2IO or relay on your processor and where is says to motor, these are where the screws were holding this piece in its housing it goes to the garage door motor red and white in's (the bottom of this piece is labeled red and white). I place these inside Z2IO's on top of the garage motor and wire a rail sensor to the contact in on the Z2IO.
Would it be possible to get a picture of the two wires going into the relay on the back of the EA 5? I'd like to have all the wiring done so the dealer can just go in and make the changes.

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What is a Z2lO?

my understanding was that I could wire my EA5 to one of the wireless remotes. Is the Z2iO a go between item?

Regarding voltage, I’m more thinking that the output in the controller is 12 volt and remotes are often a lower voltage. 

 

 

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47 minutes ago, F0ZZ said:

What is a Z2lO?

my understanding was that I could wire my EA5 to one of the wireless remotes. Is the Z2iO a go between item?

Regarding voltage, I’m more thinking that the output in the controller is 12 volt and remotes are often a lower voltage. 

 

 

Z2IO is a wireless zigbee device that has contacts, relays, and IR's.  Its great for retrofit situations where you can't run wires back to the rack.   Its new and replaces the previous Control4 wireless card access devices.  You don't need this if you're able to wire straight to your EA5.

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4 minutes ago, DawnGordon said:

I've never used a Z2IO, but I just looked it up on the dealer site.  Unlike past Card Access devices, it doesn't appear to use a battery.

Correct, it does not use a battery. I am now using the Z2IO for my garage door relay and contact sensor, it replaced an old HC300 I was previously using to do the same thing.

Works just fine and have not had any issues with it in the 6-8 months I've had it setup.

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1 hour ago, jreinardy said:

I'm intrigued by the Z2IO, I was not aware of the product until now.

If I have 2 garage doors, do I need a Z2IO on each, or is there a way to have a 2nd contact switch talk to a single Z2IO?

Thanks,

Jim

This depends on how many garage doors you have.  You would only need one per door.  Here is a copy and paste of the specs.

ZigBee IO - C4-Z2IO

IR x 2 (control up to 4 IR devices)
5 Contacts (4 on terminal block plus internal magnetic contact switch)
2 Relays
Configurable options for contacts and relays:
Option 1:  2 relays (SPST)
Option 2:  4 contacts
Option 3:  1 relay (SPST), 2 contacts
Option 4:  1 relay – SPDT
Option 5:  1 relay - DPST
Temperature and humidity sensing
Internal antenna
Powered via micro USB or via terminal block with external power supply

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1 hour ago, jreinardy said:

I'm intrigued by the Z2IO, I was not aware of the product until now.

If I have 2 garage doors, do I need a Z2IO on each, or is there a way to have a 2nd contact switch talk to a single Z2IO?

It is a relatively new product (I forget when exactly it was released...).

You would need 2 of them for 2 garage doors.

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23 minutes ago, THawes said:

It is a relatively new product (I forget when exactly it was released...).

You would need 2 of them for 2 garage doors.

Depends on how you are planning on triggering door motion.

If like me, your plan is to solder extension wires on a remote control, as shown upthread by @BraydonH, and assuming your main controller is within radio range of the garage doors - Then, you could use a single Z2IO in "Option 2" mode, installed in the garage, to do the sensors for 2 doors, and have the remote wired into a controller relay directly.

However, if you're going to do it that way, you might as well use the Nyce tilt sensors, as two of them are cheaper than one Z2IO.

If your plan is to not use a remote, and instead hook your garage door directly into C4, then the Z2IO would be a better choice, and yes, you'd need one per door.

My openers will not allow me to do that, as they do not have simple two-wire triggers - even the wired wall switch is a multi-wire, multi-button affair.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm working on this project right now.  I tried the soldering with some 18ga wire I had on hand.  It didn't go well it seems too big for the application, too much solder is needed at least for my unskilled hands.

I see you used what looks like cat5 in the picture.  I find that sometimes that can be too delicate when soldering,  again probably my limited soldering ability.  

Is that the wire the dealers use for this application or is there another gauge you like to use with a little more "structure"

I'll certainly give the cat5 a go.  Just curios what people are using in this application

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I have three doors/openers, so I bought a single, three button remote, and then used a single piece of CAT5 cable, one pair per button on the remote.  On my particular remote (Liftmaster 3 button) I was able to carefully solder the wires on to the bottom of the circuit board, where the switch legs poke through.  The other end just strip off the inner sheath on the pair(s) you use and connect to the screw terminals for the controller's relay ports.

I'm traveling at the moment, but I should be able to take some photos on Tuesday night.

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that would be awesome.  I am also using the 3 button remote as I have two motors to deal with.  Based on looking at the board and how close together everything is.  I'm reprogramming the board to use buttons 1 and 3 and then I'm going to solder to those terminals.  My initial assessment was to use the underside of the board as well.  
I'll break out some cat5 and give it a whirl.  I've got 4 of the remotes so if I mess one up its cool.  Would still love to see a couple photos for science.

 

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No problem to take photos, just won't be until Tuesday...

For me the hardest part of figuring it out is that the switches have 4 pins - one on each corner of the switch "pad". They are really two sets of two common pins. The trick was figuring out wether the horizontal pins made a "pair" or if the vertical pins make a "pair".  You either need to connect to the east-west or the north-south pair... I just forget which.  I tested it by using a short bit of wire to short between two pins until I found a pair that would operate the opener.

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You get that from the sensors on the doors. I have a nyce garage tilt sensor on mine

This will be interesting. 
If you are going to “hack” the MyQ remote, do you still get feedback on if the garage door is open or closed via C4?


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12 hours ago, F0ZZ said:

This will be interesting. 

If you are going to “hack” the MyQ remote, do you still get feedback on if the garage door is open or closed via C4?

Nope I ordered some Nyce Tilt Sensors, from my dealer, to  get status on the doors back to the controller - http://nycesensors.com/products/ncz3014/

or

you can do hardwired Garage door sensors like these https://www.alarmsystemstore.com/products/tane-66wg-track-mounted-overhead-door-contact 

and then you have to use a z2io or it needs to be wired back to your controller.

 

I think, either way, you would need to hack a remote for control since these new openers don't work the same as some of the old school openers.  Just to restate what has been covered in this thread numerous times.

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  • 5 months later...

There are some smart people in this forum and I'm hoping that some of you might be able to help me.

I'm currently in the middle of a garage project and would like to add some Control4 functionality to my two garage doors if possible.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to do the following:

  1. Open or close the garage doors from anywhere (using the Control4 app)
  2. Receive notifications when the garage doors are opened or closed, or when certain criteria is met
  3. Have the inside garage lights turn on with a separate Control4 switch if the garage is opened after a certain time

I ran the wires for my garage but I wasn't thinking anything about advanced functionality at the time, and I'm hoping that doesn't limit my options.  From each garage opener, I ran a single pair of wires to each side of each garage door for the existing safety sensors.  Unless I tear into the sheet rock, there isn't any way to get additional wires or cables to each side of the door.  It is possible for me to run new wire/cable from each opener and get it down to my rack.  The garage door openers that I have are Liftmaster and were installed in 2013.  I can provide the models if needed, but to my knowledge, they don't have any kind of smart functionality.  I already have one Control4 switch in the garage and it doesn't have an issue with the Zigbee signal.

What options do I have at this point?  I've seen the Z2IO option mentioned, and even some additional sensors, but I don't know what options I have with my current wiring setup.  I would like to hardwire everything as much as possible, but I understand that my options are probably limited.

Any input is appreciated.  Thank you in advance!

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