Garage Door Integration Plan Review

[msgreenf]

Even if they make it it's still slow and cloud dependent and single brand...

[Time2Jet]

7 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Even if they make it it's still slow and cloud dependent and single brand...

I know there are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to garage doors, but I prefer the simple solder method and a tilt sensor.  At least for me, it's been 100% accurate since day 1 and really quite reasonable.

[Cyknight]

4 hours ago, anon2828 said:

Anyone from Control4 / SnapAV on here should be embarrassed and work with MyQ to get this fixed.

They've tried - and got shot down. This one is ALL in the hands of Chamberlain.

[anon2828]

So riddle me this - how is it that MyQ is working with crappy Clare Controls Inc.?  Clare is distributed by SnapAV who owns Control4.  

By the way, at least for the time being, the MyQ integration with Clare Controls is free (yes, always subject to change).  Even Alarm.com works with it.

IFTTT is also a currently free integration.

This isn't rocket science.  Just takes the right people talking and making it right.

Instead of all of us soldering stuff together and spending $$ on relays and such, we should gather our collective voices and get Control4 / MyQ to move on this issue.

[msgreenf]

Just now, anon2828 said:

IFTTT is also a currently free integration.

IFTTT has a fee

[anon2828]

Yeah, so I am so over this ridiculous position that these two companies have taken given the investment we have all made.  

I just emailed the following individuals and asked that on behalf of their customers that they actively reconsider their position on the matter:

Kordon Vaughn - Sr. Director of Product Marketing - Control4 / SnapAV

Eldon Greenwood - Director of Interoperability - Contro4 / SnapAV

Martin Heckmann - Director, Emerging Business - Chamberlain Group

Vera Tsekeris, Head of partnerships - Chamberlain Group

[cdepaola]

15 minutes ago, anon2828 said:

Yeah, so I am so over this ridiculous position that these two companies have taken given the investment we have all made.  

I just emailed the following individuals and asked that on behalf of their customers that they actively reconsider their position on the matter:

Kordon Vaughn - Sr. Director of Product Marketing - Control4 / SnapAV

Eldon Greenwood - Director of Interoperability - Contro4 / SnapAV

Martin Heckmann - Director, Emerging Business - Chamberlain Group

Vera Tsekeris, Head of partnerships - Chamberlain Group

Might as well list their e-mail addresses so we can all email them...

 

[anon2828]

I am happy to do that, but I figured I would get blown-up or exiled from the forums for posting email addresses and someone would somehow take offense, though they are public and easily found.  The effort was figuring out from press releases who is responsible for the integrations.  I am nearly 100% positive on the Chamberlain people, not as certain on the Control4 since the move to SnapAV.

I also copied the President of Chamberlain.

I will certainly let everyone know what I hear back.

Here is my email to them:

==========

Ms. Tsekeris / Mr. Heckman (Chamberlain); Mr. Vaught / Mr. Greenwood (Control4 / SnapAV):

 

I am writing to plea with you and your respective companies to reconsider the integration between MyQ and Control4 home automation systems.

 

As you are all hopefully aware, there was at one time an integration available between MyQ and Control4 available to customers to control and monitor the state of their garage doors through Control4 which has since been removed, crippling customers’ home automation systems.

 

I would urge both of your firms to please reconsider your positions on the matter for the good of your customers.

 

I have personally invested during the construction of a new home in the LiftMaster (Chamberlain brand) MyQ enabled garage door openers (multiple), and in Control4 (which was a significant investment).

 

Your companies have left your customers in the cold in terms of integrating what is largely considered the best garage door opener brand with the best high-end home automation brand.

 

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of customers who are actively lamenting the current lack of integration on user forums such as https://www.c4forums.com.  There are active threads of customers removing CGI branded openers to replace with Genie branded openers because Genie has an integration available out of the box.  Customers are being forced to cobble together solutions using infrared, soldering controls to garage door opener controls, and other costly and quite frankly ridiculous solutions. Amazingly there are MyQ integrations existing for similar home automation platforms such as Clare Controls (notably distributed by Control4 owner SnapAV), as well as Alarm.com and Vivint.

 

Please bring back the integration between CGI’s MyQ and Control4 - for your customers.   I bet this is a problem that could be solved in a week.

 

I appreciate your consideration on behalf of your mutual customers.

[CT-Mike]

13 hours ago, anon2828 said:

I am happy to do that, but I figured I would get blown-up or exiled from the forums for posting email addresses and someone would somehow take offense, though they are public and easily found.  The effort was figuring out from press releases who is responsible for the integrations.  I am nearly 100% positive on the Chamberlain people, not as certain on the Control4 since the move to SnapAV.

I also copied the President of Chamberlain.

I will certainly let everyone know what I hear back.

Here is my email to them:

==========

Ms. Tsekeris / Mr. Heckman (Chamberlain); Mr. Vaught / Mr. Greenwood (Control4 / SnapAV):

 

I am writing to plea with you and your respective companies to reconsider the integration between MyQ and Control4 home automation systems.

 

As you are all hopefully aware, there was at one time an integration available between MyQ and Control4 available to customers to control and monitor the state of their garage doors through Control4 which has since been removed, crippling customers’ home automation systems.

 

I would urge both of your firms to please reconsider your positions on the matter for the good of your customers.

 

I have personally invested during the construction of a new home in the LiftMaster (Chamberlain brand) MyQ enabled garage door openers (multiple), and in Control4 (which was a significant investment).

 

Your companies have left your customers in the cold in terms of integrating what is largely considered the best garage door opener brand with the best high-end home automation brand.

 

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of customers who are actively lamenting the current lack of integration on user forums such as https://www.c4forums.com.  There are active threads of customers removing CGI branded openers to replace with Genie branded openers because Genie has an integration available out of the box.  Customers are being forced to cobble together solutions using infrared, soldering controls to garage door opener controls, and other costly and quite frankly ridiculous solutions. Amazingly there are MyQ integrations existing for similar home automation platforms such as Clare Controls (notably distributed by Control4 owner SnapAV), as well as Alarm.com and Vivint.

 

Please bring back the integration between CGI’s MyQ and Control4 - for your customers.   I bet this is a problem that could be solved in a week.

 

I appreciate your consideration on behalf of your mutual customers.

Please let us know if you get a reply. I am currently waiting on a quote from a local installer to swap out the power heads to Genie 6170s.

[msgreenf]

11 minutes ago, CT-Mike said:

Please let us know if you get a reply. I am currently waiting on a quote from a local installer to swap out the power heads to Genie 6170s.

Here is a great deal on Genie belt drive (if you are a costco member) https://slickdeals.net/f/14467460-costco-genie-1-25-hp-quiet-belt-drive-garage-door-opener-with-led-battery-backup-and-aladdin-connect-169-99?src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBarV2Algo1

[CT-Mike]

16 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Here is a great deal on Genie belt drive (if you are a costco member) https://slickdeals.net/f/14467460-costco-genie-1-25-hp-quiet-belt-drive-garage-door-opener-with-led-battery-backup-and-aladdin-connect-169-99?src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBarV2Algo1

I am a Costco member, but my current openers are torsion bar style, and want to stick with that. We have an in-law apt over the garage for my mom and belt/chain drive openers are just too loud.

Thanks for the idea, checking Costco to see if they sell the 6170.

 

Edit: Unfortunately they don't.

[msgreenf]

Interesting - i find the belt to be near quiet.  The noise comes from the door now not the motor and I lubricated the door and got it mostly quiet.

[prabeau]

I have a belt drive and most of the noise came from the tension springs. Lubed those and now nice and quiet.

[Adidaswood]

22 hours ago, time2jet said:

I know there are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to garage doors, but I prefer the simple solder method and a tilt sensor.  At least for me, it's been 100% accurate since day 1 and really quite reasonable.

Agree with this.  I did this method in an afternoon for two openers.  the tilt sensors are small and not expensive at all.  i have no delay at all like i did with the cloud api.  its just like pressing the button on the remote in my car.  

[anon2828]

RESPONSE FROM CGI:

 

Thank you for reaching out to me. I’m sorry that you are in this situation. I am aware of it, and have been working on a solution. Unfortunately, there is no resolution as of yet. I wish I had a better answer for you at this time. Please do know that my colleagues and I are taking your feedback seriously.  In the meantime, you can use myQ to control your garage door remotely, monitor its status and receive in-garage deliveries from Amazon Key.

 

I appreciate your trust in our products and brand and the fact that you reached out to us. Your feedback is valued by our team.  Please feel free to contact us any time.

 

Thank you,

Vera Tsekeris

 

Perhaps if more of us reached out and made our voices heard it would speed up the solution.  Or maybe this is just marketing talk for "go pound sand."  Up to us.

[CT-Mike]

So I heard back from my independent garage door guy - the Genie 6170H-B (battery backup) would cost me $785 each installed. $2355 for 3 garage doors is a non-starter - especially since I would still be relying on a cloud-based connection that could be turned off at any time - ala MyQ.

My local dealer quoted me a little over $900 for the following:

1. 2 - Z2IO devices
2. 3 - NYCE Tilt Sensors
3. CA-1 controller
4. 3 - Garadgets

The CA-1 is to expand the mesh on that end of the house. I have 1 C4 dimmer in the garage for outdoor lights and it is controlled just fine. But on the other side of the wall is a guest bedroom and the thermostat keeps going offline. I am going to swap it with another thermostat for a couple of days to see if it is the mesh and the thermostat itself is going belly up. 
 

On the install, I do the labor, and he will do the remote integration.
Thoughts on this plan are greatly appreciated.

[cdcllc]

@CT-Mike - plan looks good to me.  I assume you have LiftMaster Security+ doors now so you need the Garadgets.  The Z2IOs also serve to expand the Zigbee mesh - so you might wait on the CA-1 until after you get those in and favor their installation closer to the flakey thermostat if it makes sense.  Just as a simple test, I took an SR-260 remote to the garage Z2IO install location and made sure I could work the TV from there - like you I had garage door lights switches on C4 so I knew I had Zigbee presence in the garage.  The idea of swapping the thermostats makes sense too.

Price doesn't look out of line either.  My "all in" for 2 garage doors was $520 - includes all parts and programming (for just the garage door integration pieces - I had more work done that was outside of the garage door scope).  I'm not sure what a CA-1 goes for - but it seems that is spec'd to solve a different problem.

[CT-Mike]

3 hours ago, cdcllc said:

@CT-Mike - plan looks good to me.  I assume you have LiftMaster Security+ doors now so you need the Garadgets.  The Z2IOs also serve to expand the Zigbee mesh - so you might wait on the CA-1 until after you get those in and favor their installation closer to the flakey thermostat if it makes sense.  Just as a simple test, I took an SR-260 remote to the garage Z2IO install location and made sure I could work the TV from there - like you I had garage door lights switches on C4 so I knew I had Zigbee presence in the garage.  The idea of swapping the thermostats makes sense too.

Price doesn't look out of line either.  My "all in" for 2 garage doors was $520 - includes all parts and programming (for just the garage door integration pieces - I had more work done that was outside of the garage door scope).  I'm not sure what a CA-1 goes for - but it seems that is spec'd to solve a different problem.

I asked my dealer about holding off on the CA-1 as I have the one dimmer in the garage and it hasn’t had any connectivity issues (that I know of). He replied that it is hopping off of the dimmer in the Laundry room (closer to the controller), and he strongly recommends the CA-1 so I guess I’ll go that route. Never hurts to make the mesh more robust I guess. 

[cdcllc]

5 hours ago, CT-Mike said:

I asked my dealer about holding off on the CA-1 as I have the one dimmer in the garage and it hasn’t had any connectivity issues (that I know of). He replied that it is hopping off of the dimmer in the Laundry room (closer to the controller), and he strongly recommends the CA-1 so I guess I’ll go that route. Never hurts to make the mesh more robust I guess. 

Well, our dealers know a heck of a lot more than we do about it!  Plus it's his design so he's accountable for it working - so I'd follow the recommendation too.

[R_Willis]

On 10/13/2020 at 12:01 PM, msgreenf said:

Love the Genie I installed 2 weeks ago

Which model you go with? Hardwired from controller to opener motor? 

Thanks.

[msgreenf]

15 minutes ago, R_Willis said:

Which model you go with? Hardwired from controller to opener motor? 

Thanks.

Honestly don't remember the model. But i have relays and contact sensors connected to the garage door and in addition I have the cloud connectivity. So I have two different ways to control it

[CentralAirTechC4]

What adapter did you use between the Z2IO and the garage opener? How is it wired and do you have an button on the wall that still controls the door? We are currently running into this problem on a remodel.

[CentralAirTechC4]

On 11/5/2020 at 7:48 AM, cdcllc said:

I implemented the design and I'm happy to report it works great!  Thank you to all that helped with review/comments and special thanks to @msgreenf for a great job with all the programming and @chopedogg88for excellent service providing the C4 parts I needed.  I highly recommend both of them any time you need assistance.  This was my first experience with remote support and I'll do it again without hesitation.

The responsiveness of the Z2IO-based solution is incredibly different than the MyQ integration solution plus I really like the C4 "garage door" experience button.  Although I allowed for their future addition, I chose not to add a second contact sensor to indicate "fully open" at this time - just one contact sensor for now.  Here are some photos I took to document the install:

1. Cat5 installed for the garage door obstruction sensors I used to piggy back the contact sensor
2. Selecting the location of the contact sensor
3. Installing the contact sensor - they don't come with installation instructions and it took me a bit to figure it out!!
4. Wiring the LiftMaster Security+ adapter and ready for Z2IO install
5. Z2IO install showing wiring hook-ups plus final install pic - looks a little busy, but it's on the ceiling above the motor and the items are small so you really don't see it.  The additional item plugged into the surge protector is a LiftMaster Security+ repeater for an older car - it is not part of the C4-garage door integration solution.

I'd be happy to answer any questions if you would have, but I'll need Mitch's help with any Composer-related questions!

What adapter did you use between the Z2IO and the garage opener? How is it wired and do you have an button on the wall that still controls the door? We are currently running into this problem on a remodel.

[eggzlot]

12 minutes ago, CentralAirTechC4 said:

What adapter did you use between the Z2IO and the garage opener? How is it wired and do you have an button on the wall that still controls the door? We are currently running into this problem on a remodel.

you need just wires.  Is this a MyQ garage?

If so, you buy this, program it as you would program any MyQ remote and then wire it up to the Z2IO: https://www.garadget.com/product/security-2-0-wireless-3-door-dry-contact-adapter/

you can also buy your own spare MyQ remote and solder yourself too - threads on here on how to do just that

Edited February 16, 2022 by eggzlot

[cdcllc]

2 hours ago, CentralAirTechC4 said:

What adapter did you use between the Z2IO and the garage opener? How is it wired and do you have an button on the wall that still controls the door? We are currently running into this problem on a remodel.

I used this part from Garadget:  https://www.garadget.com/product/security-2-0-dry-contact-adapter/.  How to wire to the Z2IO is in the post.  Yes I have a button on the wall that still controls the garage door (i.e. 2 sets of wires on the same posts on the garage door opener).  I also have MyQ integration (which I never use any more, but it still works).