Anyone tried ratgdo for Garage Door?

[alanchow]

1 hour ago, Gene said:

Alan: Can you view or access the camera for the smart openers from Liftmaster?

Thanks! 

The camera is a MyQ product only. As such ratgdo can't talk to it as It does not talk security + 1.0 or security + 2.0.

We recommend replacing the camera with a Control4 integrable camera.

We have worked with all major camera manufacturers. You can find drivers for them via our website.

https://chowmain.software/drivers/brand:control4

[Gene]

Interesting, never thought about replacing camera in my liftmaster. Anyone do this before? Any recommendations? 

[Greck1982]

On 2/5/2024 at 12:54 PM, neil12011 said:

Just hooked my Ratgdo (Such a weird name) up today.  Works like a champ!  Gives full state of the door and exposes the door motor light, obstruction sensor, and Motion from Keypad to the Control4 UI via Alan's driver.  

Definitely a good solution and great driver @alanchow!!

Great, I ordered the

ratgdo v2.5 kit and would like to learn all details about the installation, does anyone have step by step instructions? Pretty new to C4 still   Thank you all in advance

[alanchow]

7 hours ago, Greck1982 said:

Great, I ordered the

ratgdo v2.5 kit and would like to learn all details about the installation, does anyone have step by step instructions? Pretty new to C4 still   Thank you all in advance

First install ratgdo with the esphome firmware.  Confirm that it is working by itself before proceeding to the driver installation / setup.

You can follow the driver instructions in the URL below.

https://chowmain.software/drivers/control4-ratgdo#documents

[cnicholson]

I just installed three of these (and ordered five more) and use with the Chowmain driver.   Just follow the directions to flash the firmware (easy) and wire it up (easy) and it works like a charm.  I was pleasantly surprised that the driver suite auto-installed supporting drivers to expose the garage opener light, motion sensor and IR-beam stuff and makes them available in C4.  Nice bonus (although I haven’t tried those extras— I assume support varies by model of opener).   Basic garage door control “just works.”   I already pointed my old (broken) MyQ based programming to the new drivers and restored ability to control doors from DS2, navigators, etc.

Good stuff!

[alanchow]

6 minutes ago, cnicholson said:

I just installed three of these (and ordered five more) and use with the Chowmain driver.   Just follow the directions to flash the firmware (easy) and wire it up (easy) and it works like a charm.  I was pleasantly surprised that the driver suite auto-installed supporting drivers to expose the garage opener light, motion sensor and IR-beam stuff and makes them available in C4.  Nice bonus (although I haven’t tried those extras— I assume support varies by model of opener).   Basic garage door control “just works.”   I already pointed my old (broken) MyQ based programming to the new drivers and restored ability to control doors from DS2, navigators, etc.

Good stuff!

IR beam requires IR beam installed, motion sensor requires keypad with motion sensor installed.  It can be added if you don't have it but not requried for operation.

It is fast becoming one of our top selling drivers.

Easy to setup, no cloud required and no internet required.  Means it is a solid installation that won't be effected by ISP or MyQ service disruptions.  Just works and will work forever.

[Greck1982]

Installed ratgdo 2.53 a few days ago, it works great, integration is easy. Today I received many notifications that the door is closed, I'm not sure if it is a control4 or ratgdo bug. Checked video cameras and seems like the door was never opened. Has anyone had similar issues? 

[Greck1982]

[WhyPhy]

The one shortcoming of the chowmain ratgdo driver is that it does not meet the UL325 Safety Certification Compliance like the original MyQ does. UL325 requires audible/visual notification that the garage door/gate is going to soon close to prevent someone from being trapped/hit. (Or in my case…to prevent someone from almost backing into the garage door just after it was closed programmatically.)

Would it be possible to add an optional “delay xx seconds before closing” setting to the driver? This would allow time for audio/light flash notifications to happen prior to the garage door being commanded to close.

Most MyQ wall keypads have a warning-beep-then-close functionality, but it can only be accessed via the wireless  protocol and not the wired serial protocol ratgdo can access. So unfortunately, meeting UL325 requires some additional C4 programming. 

[WhyPhy]

5 hours ago, Greck1982 said:

Installed ratgdo 2.53 a few days ago, it works great, integration is easy. Today I received many notifications that the door is closed, I'm not sure if it is a control4 or ratgdo bug. Checked video cameras and seems like the door was never opened. Has anyone had similar issues? 

I had similar issues and started looking through ratgdo logs to figure it out. Ypur problem is likely due to a failing (or old and incompatible) wall keypad. The wall keypad is what tracks/maintains the door open/close status. Otherwise, ratgdo goes into “emulation mode” and tries to infer position on its own, which isn’t always accurate, especially after power failures. 
 

LiftMaster has had recalls on a couple of different wall keypads due to failing capacitors and/or other issues. I replaced my 888LM keypad with a 889LM keypad and that solved the “false position” problem. (It was a free replacement by filling out the a form in the LiftMaster website.) These particular 888LM/889LM keypads add MyQ compatibility to older Security+ 1.0 garage doors, but there are other keypads with other problems for Security+ 2.0.

My suggestion is you start with the keypad, and definitely upgrade to an 889LM if you have a Security+ 1.0 garage door opener.
 

Also, a battery backup for the garage door opener is a very good idea. Most wall keypads take 30 seconds to 5 minutes for the capacitors to charge up before coming online. During this charging period, ratgdo may switch to “emulation mode” and ignore the keypad when it comes online, leading to phantom position changes. This is a known problem with ratgdo and an issue has been raised. Adding a LiftMaster battery back up (and preventing power loss to the garage door/keypad big buddy) is the only currently known fix.

[Cyknight]

25 minutes ago, WhyPhy said:

The one shortcoming of the chowmain ratgdo driver is that it does not meet the UL325 Safety Certification Compliance like the original MyQ does

Hmm I would say the Ratgo does not intrinsically meet that requirement. Making the programming meet that is as simply as hiding the actual driver, then using a virtual one with only the sensors attached to program against.

WHEN vistual garage door is closed, toggle internal and externla light {xx even numer of timer} , play Frank Caliendo doing Arnold yelling 'Get out, get out of here now!' on loop, delay xx seconds, lower door.

[Greck1982]

33 minutes ago, WhyPhy said:

I had similar issues and started looking through ratgdo logs to figure it out. Ypur problem is likely due to a failing (or old and incompatible) wall keypad. The wall keypad is what tracks/maintains the door open/close status. Otherwise, ratgdo goes into “emulation mode” and tries to infer position on its own, which isn’t always accurate, especially after power failures. 
 

LiftMaster has had recalls on a couple of different wall keypads due to failing capacitors and/or other issues. I replaced my 888LM keypad with a 889LM keypad and that solved the “false position” problem. (It was a free replacement by filling out the a form in the LiftMaster website.) These particular 888LM/889LM keypads add MyQ compatibility to older Security+ 1.0 garage doors, but there are other keypads with other problems for Security+ 2.0.

My suggestion is you start with the keypad, and definitely upgrade to an 889LM if you have a Security+ 1.0 garage door opener.
 

Also, a battery backup for the garage door opener is a very good idea. Most wall keypads take 30 seconds to 5 minutes for the capacitors to charge up before coming online. During this charging period, ratgdo may switch to “emulation mode” and ignore the keypad when it comes online, leading to phantom position changes. This is a known problem with ratgdo and an issue has been raised. Adding a LiftMaster battery back up (and preventing power loss to the garage door/keypad big buddy) is the only currently known fix.

I have Liftmaster 8500w with new control pad, was installed brand new last year. It has battery backup, so I definitely can check it again, but most likely it is already newest generation.

[WhyPhy]

34 minutes ago, Cyknight said:

Hmm I would say the Ratgo does not intrinsically meet that requirement. Making the programming meet that is as simply as hiding the actual driver, then using a virtual one with only the sensors attached to program against.

WHEN vistual garage door is closed, toggle internal and externla light {xx even numer of timer} , play Frank Caliendo doing Arnold yelling 'Get out, get out of here now!' on loop, delay xx seconds, lower door.

Ratgdo does not intrinsically meet the UL325 requirement and LiftMaster/MyQ does not expose their UL325 capability to third parties. Ratgdo hardware would have to add a beeper, or at least a relay to control one. Any integrator who uses the driver without meeting UL325 is taking on some amount of liability. 
 

Hiding the garage door and using a proxy device is a bit more complicated. To get the ratgdo driver to work with HomeBridge Manager, it has to bound to the “Relay Garage Door Controller (OS2.9+)”driver, which limits direct binding to other devices. So custom programming would have to be used to link the devices. Given that this is a safety function, it would be preferable to handle it within the driver itself  

Given the additional liability on the integrator for bypassing UL325, it would be better to directly address this within the driver and perhaps add the option to flash the garage door light as a warning, and a prompt them to trigger additional alerts.

[alanchow]

1 hour ago, WhyPhy said:

Ratgdo does not intrinsically meet the UL325 requirement and LiftMaster/MyQ does not expose their UL325 capability to third parties. Ratgdo hardware would have to add a beeper, or at least a relay to control one. Any integrator who uses the driver without meeting UL325 is taking on some amount of liability. 
 

Hiding the garage door and using a proxy device is a bit more complicated. To get the ratgdo driver to work with HomeBridge Manager, it has to bound to the “Relay Garage Door Controller (OS2.9+)”driver, which limits direct binding to other devices. So custom programming would have to be used to link the devices. Given that this is a safety function, it would be preferable to handle it within the driver itself  

Given the additional liability on the integrator for bypassing UL325, it would be better to directly address this within the driver and perhaps add the option to flash the garage door light as a warning, and a prompt them to trigger additional alerts.

This actually isn't that hard to implement.  In fact i've just done it.

I'll run it in beta for a few days and if it works well will release.  Delays any movement by x seconds.  Flashes the built in garage door light and automates firing of an announcement before any movement (pulls in the annoucements and allows you to select the announcement).  Also has an event if someone wants to do something custom like hook up a buzzer or something via a relay.

[neil12011]

Installed ratgdo 2.53 a few days ago, it works great, integration is easy. Today I received many notifications that the door is closed, I'm not sure if it is a control4 or ratgdo bug. Checked video cameras and seems like the door was never opened. Has anyone had similar issues? 

I’ve seen this. It seems to be a bug on the built in push notification side of the driver. My fix was manually programming my own push notifications when the door opens or closes. @alanchow have you seen this? It’s been on several of my driver deployments sir.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[alanchow]

Just now, neil12011 said:

I’ve seen this. It seems to be a bug on the built in push notification side of the driver. My fix was manually programming my own push notifications when the door opens or closes. @alanchow have you seen this? It’s been on several of my driver deployments sir.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have heard some feedback from a few users.  It may be due to rebooting of controllers but hard to say as i haven't experienced it myself.  I've made some improvements to the way i'm handling controller reboots and the way we are sending feedback so the next version should resolve this problem.

[WhyPhy]

31 minutes ago, alanchow said:

This actually isn't that hard to implement.  In fact i've just done it.

I'll run it in beta for a few days and if it works well will release.  Delays any movement by x seconds.  Flashes the built in garage door light and automates firing of an announcement before any movement (pulls in the annoucements and allows you to select the announcement).  Also has an event if someone wants to do something custom like hook up a buzzer or something via a relay.

This is fantastic news! 
 

Can you add the option for the delay to be for closing only? Or add discrete delays/announcements for opening and closing?

For garage doors, opening warnings are not required for UL235 (but opening warnings are required for gate opening events.)

[Cyknight]

2 hours ago, WhyPhy said:

o get the ratgdo driver to work with HomeBridge Manager, it has to bound to the “Relay Garage Door Controller (OS2.9+)”driver, which limits direct binding to other devices

Well, I could argue that YOU are making it more complicated by adding yet another layer to the mix to begin with.

Also, I'll just continue to solder to a MyQ button of some sort...that triggers the built-in beep and delay just fine

That said, you would still be USING that same driver, there just isn't a relay attached directly to it, only the same sensors (which is drag and drop) to ensure proper feedback, and two lines of code. Of course, as Alan has already stated it should be easy to do just fine in the driver and just wants to test it, that's even better. I'd argue that if UL is your concern, it's still a step away from the actual implementation - and I would argue that you are actually taking on MORE liability by implementing a 3rd party methodology, especially if you're thereby overriding the manufacturer implementation.

 

I should clarify that I don't disagree with your point that the alert and delay are very important - it's why I prefer the solder method to extra buttons to begin with.

[alanchow]

49 minutes ago, WhyPhy said:

This is fantastic news! 
 

Can you add the option for the delay to be for closing only? Or add discrete delays/announcements for opening and closing?

For garage doors, opening warnings are not required for UL235 (but opening warnings are required for gate opening events.)

We can't different closing when using it with Control4s native garage door opener driver.  Control4 sends us a trigger / toggle command.  The best I can do is determine if it is or is not in motion before executing a toggle.

[Greck1982]

Is that possible to add events like "Going up", or "Going down"? I programmed lights to automatically on/off based on Door status, if it is evening I would like to turn lights instantly if the door is moving up. currently, I only can use "When the garage door is opened/closed" and I have to wait for the garage door to fully open before the light turns on. Thank you.

[alanchow]

55 minutes ago, Greck1982 said:

Is that possible to add events like "Going up", or "Going down"? I programmed lights to automatically on/off based on Door status, if it is evening I would like to turn lights instantly if the door is moving up. currently, I only can use "When the garage door is opened/closed" and I have to wait for the garage door to fully open before the light turns on. Thank you.

There are evens for opening and closing in the ratgdo driver.

Edited March 17 by alanchow

[WhyPhy]

2 hours ago, alanchow said:

We can't different closing when using it with Control4s native garage door opener driver.  Control4 sends us a trigger / toggle command.  The best I can do is determine if it is or is not in motion before executing a toggle.

Is it possible to add a logic test after receiving the C4 toggle command to check the currently reported open/close position from ratgdo and infer close vs. open actions? The ratgdo log file seems to indicate it continuously reports the current open/close state. 

[alanchow]

4 hours ago, WhyPhy said:

Is it possible to add a logic test after receiving the C4 toggle command to check the currently reported open/close position from ratgdo and infer close vs. open actions? The ratgdo log file seems to indicate it continuously reports the current open/close state. 

The toggle command that chamberlain will issue open stop close stop depending on what the garage door is doing.  It's not something we have control over.  Although we could take over and create our own logic it's not something I want to do as it interferes too much with native functionality.

[WhyPhy]

Th

3 hours ago, alanchow said:

The toggle command that chamberlain will issue open stop close stop depending on what the garage door is doing.  It's not something we have control over.  Although we could take over and create our own logic it's not something I want to do as it interferes too much with native functionality.

It’s disappointing this problem isn’t easier to solve. Having to have the delay for opening the door outweighs the safety benefit for when closing the door. I frequently use the voice assist on my phone to open the door when walking up to it. Standing there and waiting for 15 seconds for the door to start moving so you can go inside isn’t a great experience. 
 

There is a ratgdo feature request to add a configurable parameter to delay closing the door. This is to allow time for automations to complete and would occur for closing only. If that ever gets implemented then it might ultimately solve the closing notification problem without impacting opening events. 

[alanchow]

10 hours ago, WhyPhy said:

Th

It’s disappointing this problem isn’t easier to solve. Having to have the delay for opening the door outweighs the safety benefit for when closing the door. I frequently use the voice assist on my phone to open the door when walking up to it. Standing there and waiting for 15 seconds for the door to start moving so you can go inside isn’t a great experience. 
 

There is a ratgdo feature request to add a configurable parameter to delay closing the door. This is to allow time for automations to complete and would occur for closing only. If that ever gets implemented then it might ultimately solve the closing notification problem without impacting opening events. 

Actually there is a way i can do it if it is fully closed since we get state / position.  A toggle command when it is fully closed will always perform an open.

This means that opening will not be effected.  Only when it is partially or fully open will the delay happen.