How to interface with a garage door IR sensor

[jbs]

My dealer hooked up our garage door to Control4 and combined with the security system's overhead door sensor I'm loving it. One button on a 6-button keypad in our mudroom is dedicated to the garage door, and when it's open the LED is red, when the garage door is closed the LED is green. Very handy (we can't see the garage door from our mudroom).

They also hooked up to the garage door IR sensor which I was hoping to use so that if you walked into the garage that sensor would turn on the garage lights. But it does not seem to be working quite right and I just wanted to find out if others had successfully done this.

Would an IR sensor like that belong in a relay or a contact (I'm not sure the distinctions), which of the three points should it be connected to on the MC and how does it wire into the garage door opener itself?

The IR sensor connects to 2 screws on the back of the opener, I'm guessing you'd need to disconnect one of those, attach it to one lead into the MC, then run another lead out of the MC into the other post on the opener, so that any change in state is seen by the MC as well as by the garage door.

If that's the case, then would the MC crashing or being offline mean that the IR sensor would be inoperable (ie would it either fail to show an obstacle or always show an obstacle?)

Thanks for any help!

--Jason

[RyanE]

I wouldn't recommend tying into the garage door manufacturer-provided beam, for liability reasons.

You can purchase beams with contact outputs at Radio Shack and other places, which you can readily use as inputs into the Control4 system, either wired back to the controller or through a Contact/Relay extender or CardAccess Contact device.

RyanE