Why One Man Is Fighting For Our Right To Control Our Garage Door Openers (nytimes.com)
- Reference: 0180291121
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/12/05/0315226/why-one-man-is-fighting-for-our-right-to-control-our-garage-door-openers
- Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/technology/personaltech/why-one-man-is-fighting-for-our-right-to-control-our-garage-door-openers.html
> A few years ago, Paul Wieland, a 44-year-old information technology professional living in New York's Adirondack Mountains, was wrapping up a home renovation when he ran into a hiccup. He wanted to be able to control his new garage door with his smartphone. But the options available, including a product called [1]MyQ , required connecting to a company's internet servers. He believed a "smart" garage door should operate only over a local Wi-Fi network to protect a home's privacy, so he [2]started building his own system to plug into his garage door . By 2022, he had developed a prototype, which he named [3]RATGDO , for Rage Against the Garage Door Opener. He had hoped to sell 100 of his new gadgets just to recoup expenses, but he ended up selling tens of thousands. That's because MyQ's maker did what a number of other consumer device manufacturers have done over the last few years, much to the frustration of their customers: It changed the device, making it both less useful and more expensive to operate.
>
> Chamberlain Group, a company that makes garage door openers, had created the MyQ hubs so that virtually any garage door opener could be controlled with home automation software from Apple, Google, Nest and others. Chamberlain also offered a free MyQ smartphone app. Two years ago, Chamberlain started shutting down support for [4]most third-party access to its MyQ servers. The company said it was trying to improve the reliability of its products. But this effectively broke connections that people had set up to work with Apple's Home app or Google's Home app, among others. Chamberlain also started working with partners that charge subscriptions for their services, though a basic app to control garage doors was still free.
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> While Mr. Wieland said RATGDO sales spiked after Chamberlain made those changes, he believes the popularity of his device is about more than just opening and closing a garage. It stems from widespread frustration with companies that sell internet-connected hardware that they eventually change or use to nickel-and-dime customers with subscription fees. "You should own the hardware, and there is a line there that a lot of companies are experimenting with," Mr. Wieland said in a recent interview. "I'm really afraid for the future that consumers are going to swallow this and that's going to become the norm." [...] For Mr. Wieland, the fight isn't over. He started a company named [5]RATCLOUD , for Rage Against the Cloud. He said he was developing similar products that were not yet for sale.
[1] https://www.chamberlain.com/myq
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/technology/personaltech/why-one-man-is-fighting-for-our-right-to-control-our-garage-door-openers.html
[3] https://paulwieland.github.io/ratgdo/
[4] https://chamberlaingroup.com/press/a-message-about-our-decision-to-prevent-unauthorized-usage-of-myq
[5] https://ratcloud.llc/
I must be getting old. (Score:5, Funny)
Am I the only person on the planet who still opens the garage door with, you know, my hands? Is that completely crazy? Am *I* crazy?
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I guess if you enjoy the act of parking, getting out of the car, opening the door, getting back inside the car, driving into the garage, and finally parking the car compared to pushing a button, then sure.
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garage? Lucky person ;)
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Where I live it rains sometimes. I don't want to get out of my car and open a door in the rain.
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Maybe you're just not old enough ;) I don't have a garage, but I could imagine if you use it for parking it would be annoying to get in and out of the car 4x a day to close it would be annoying.
Re:I must be getting old. (Score:4, Interesting)
> Am I the only person on the planet who still opens the garage door with, you know, my hands? Is that completely crazy? Am *I* crazy?
Around my neighborhood almost no one parks in the garage (they park in their driveway, or the street). The garage is where you store stuff (and you rarely open the garage door).
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>> Am I the only person on the planet who still opens the garage door with, you know, my hands? Is that completely crazy? Am *I* crazy?
> Around my neighborhood almost no one parks in the garage (they park in their driveway, or the street). The garage is where you store stuff (and you rarely open the garage door).
I park in the driveway because it's difficult to get into my garage. It's a 90 degree turn and there's fencing along the top and opposite sides of the driveway. Not impossible, but a PITA.
Also, insert joke/commentary about "parking on a driveway" and "driving on a parkway." :-)
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Git gud.
I back one car into the garage, around another that is sitting in that driveway "lane". Because the doors are wide, there's a workbench against the wall and keeping the driver's door in the center is the only way to get in/out. And I only have 6" clearance from either side mirror.
I'm one of the few people in my neighborhood that makes use of my garage for ... automobiles.
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>> Am I the only person on the planet who still opens the garage door with, you know, my hands? Is that completely crazy? Am *I* crazy?
> Around my neighborhood almost no one parks in the garage (they park in their driveway, or the street). The garage is where you store stuff (and you rarely open the garage door).
I thought the garage was where people put their guest bedroom. :-)
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> The garage is where you store stuff
I have a mate here in Oz whose garage is stuffed full of junk.He had three broken microwaves, for example.
He gets extremely upset when you suggest he acts like a hoarder. Is emotionally attached to rubbish, and refuses to watch the Hoarders TV show from the USA. Which is a real eye-opener of a show, I have to say.,
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> Am I the only person on the planet who still opens the garage door with, you know, my hands?
Of course not.
> Is that completely crazy?
Crazy? No. No crazier than someone who DOESN'T want to do that.
> Am *I* crazy?
TBD. ;)
Re:I must be getting old. (Score:5, Funny)
My God man! Even Fred Flintstone's garage door opened automatically at the beginning of each episode. Come join us in the stone age already. :-)
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The pushers will claim their lives are forever changed by opening the garage door from work for their child that forgot their key. Or the cleaning lady. Or um, a neighbor that needs to borrow a tool..
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> Is that completely crazy?
My grandfather had a TV which required you to get up to change the channel or volume. I asked him one day why he doesn't have a TV remote and he chewed my head off. Yes you're completely crazy. Not in general, but in the temporal case that is 2025 western civilisation, you are in fact crazy.
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> Am I the only person on the planet who still opens the garage door with, you know, my hands? Is that completely crazy? Am *I* crazy?
Considering that for the one-time investment of $150 and a half hour of your time you could not have to do that any more? Hell yes, you're crazy.
RATGDO User (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm a RATGDO user. It's fantastic for many reasons.
I had already created my own solution, long before RATGDO. But, my solution was large and cumbersome, very specific to whichever garage door opener it was attached, and clearly a DIY bodge job.
Along come RATGDO. Compact, even tiny. Hooks up to almost any garage door opener. Clean and integrates into newer garage door openers than mine did.
But, best of all, RATGDO was build on the ESP32 and Weiland made the code open source. Anyone with a little bit of ability could upload the code onto a, less than $15, ESP32 dev board and have their own RATGDO. If they were sufficiently skilled, they could alter it to their tastes as well.
Great project! Truly needed. I'm glad he's making a life out of his anti-cloud rage.
Frankly, when I saw the headline, I presumed the fucks at Chamberlain were suing him to shut it down. I'm really glad that that was not the case.
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I did something similar with X10 devices back in the day using something called Homebase, an X10 powerline system.
My solution was very kludgy, very 'bespoke' (lol) but it worked, gave me total control in or out of the home, and it reported status and everything.
Status (Score:5, Interesting)
Looks like the device can also report status. I'm buying one just for the feature of letting me know the door is open after a certain time.
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> Looks like the device can also report status. I'm buying one just for the feature of letting me know the door is open after a certain time.
As I recall, some older garage door openers do not report the status such that the ratgdo can report on it. Caveat emptor.
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> As I recall, some older garage door openers do not report the status such that the ratgdo can report on it. Caveat emptor.
You can fix that by installing limit switches.
Sounds like enshitification (Score:4, Informative)
Get used to the app then break it and come out with something new and charge a fee.
Re:Sounds like enshitification (Score:4, Insightful)
How is it 'enshittification' if the product starts out as a cunty pile of shit?
A garage door opener, thermostat, dishwasher, surveillance camera, vacuum cleaner -- or whatever other home appliance you care to name ABSOLUTELY NEEDS a cloud connection... really?
Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy, but christ alive .. getting really sick of this ad-fueled fuckery.
No, my attention and eyeballs are not for sale
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> How is it 'enshittification' if the product starts out as a cunty pile of shit?
When you buy it, accepting a certain level of cuntiness, and they make it an even more cunty pile of shit, that is enshitfication.
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Most people don't even know their product uses a cloud service or local connection. They just see they can pop open an app on their phone and check that their garage door is closed. That's a good feature to have, but it gets enshitified when suddenly this costs money or the feature gets removed
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> A garage door opener, thermostat, dishwasher, surveillance camera, vacuum cleaner -- or whatever other home appliance you care to name ABSOLUTELY NEEDS a cloud connection... really?
> Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy, but christ alive .. getting really sick of this ad-fueled fuckery.
Depends, Maybe you are receiving a package and would like the delivery person to leave it in the garage where it will sit until you get home rather than on the patio. This would require you to be able to remotely open the gara
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COVID is over. Shop in person?
Also, load management can be bypassed, and often should be.
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Right, makes sense. Because having things delivered started with Covid-19 and the Sears Roebuck catalog was never a thing.
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No matter how bad something is, it can always be made worse.
True enshitfication is an ongoing process- it's a waypoint, not a destination.
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Agreed. This is all stuff that at MOST should be accessible over the LAN. The ESP32 is cheap and provides the WiFi and enough power to run a simple RESTful web app. If I actually need/want to access it remotely, it'll be through a well protected integrated web servie on a jump box.
A cheaper manufacturer could probably make the ESP32 do double duty as the primary micro-controller with a suitable interrupt routine.
Never buy any product that requires... (Score:5, Insightful)
...a connection to a server to operate
The cloud is a trap
Run away
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Maybe you should stay away from slashdt too, because it's in the cloud!
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And what is the alternative? How do you tell the average person how to traverse his IPv4 network behind NAT, possibly behind CG-NAT? Like it or not the cloud is a necessity for anything that extends beyond a few meters from your home.
Why? Well I direct you to us. We are the fucking problem. Just look up any Slashdot story about IPv6 and see the tech heads bitch and moan about the potential change. It may even be you yourself, if so go tell yourself fuck-you in the mirror for breaking the end-to-end connecti
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> Like it or not the cloud is a necessity for anything that extends beyond a few meters from your home.
It's not a necessity, but it certainly makes it a lot easier.
There is a problem with things that are not a few meters from your home requiring cloud access though. Like a garage door opener. Optional cloud integration so you can control it remotely, fine, but the base functionality should be local. The problem with cloud stuff is that it's an ongoing expense. If you're not paying a subscription eventually th
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I agree with the sentiment, and hate the idea of putting my data and functions in somebody else's hands. Let us pause for a moment and remember *** Cloudflare ***
But why does it have to be Somebody Else's Server? This is what the Raspberry Pi Pico was born for...
meross has a serverless solution (Score:3)
this thing:
[1]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084... [amazon.com]
comes with the option of just buying another literal remote button for your door. newer doors have "encrypted" remote buttons, so you can't just wire in a new contact button like the one on the wall, so, you "wire in" a new, encrypted remote button. the button sits there inside the garage, and is a functional remote button, but is hard wired to the meross homekit device. when you use your phone, the device sends the "press me" signal to the remote, and the remote sends the encrypted signal to the opener.
works like a charm, available now, no hassle.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084Z5QZR2?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1_0&th=1
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Yep, I have these on all my doors. It's great.
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And for slightly more money you can get one that can control up to three garage doors and includes two magnetic sensors to detect open/closed state. They have their own app for the tech-scared but you don’t need to use it; it’s fine with HomeKit, and Home Assistant can control HomeKit devices.
The "garage"! Well, ooh la di da, Mr. French man (Score:4, Funny)
It's a car hole
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One Flamin' Moe, please.
I bought a remootio and use the API locally (Score:1)
I was battling the same issues when I had to replace the garage door opener recently which also has that MyQ and searched online for alternate options to control it and found remootio which was a little expensive, but the fact they have an API directly to the device with some basic documentation and example code made it a simple choice for me because it doesn't require using any cloud service. They also have a mobile app which can be used to check status, open/close it and manage access and works over wif
Also shark approved (Score:2)
From [1]ratgdo site [ratcloud.llc]:
> ratgdo32 disco
> We took everything that was great about our O.G. ratgdo, upgraded it to an ESP32, added a laser and a speaker to bring you ratgdo32 disco.
[1] https://ratcloud.llc/
OpenGarage (Score:2)
I'm been rocking [1]one of these [opengarage.io] for a couple of years, and it's been great. ESP-32 based, open source hardware and software. You can use the cloud, but you can also talk to it locally through REST. I use libcurl to do the latter. It'll also do MQTT.
[1] https://opengarage.io/
Companies will fight tooth and nail (Score:2)
To lock out 3rd party access to thier products.
Next, they'll come out with clickers which use challenge and response protocols. Yes, this means that there will need to be a receiver in the clickers to receive the challenge. The costs of the receiver won't matter to them, they'll push this change all in the name of "High Security", but the real reason they'll do this is to keep others from integrating their product into a local home automation system. They want to monetize everything right down to the last b
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> So what do you do to avoid this?
Take apart the clicker and wire the button to your own solution. Or even just have a solenoid that pushes the button that is activated by your own solution. Or alternately, take apart the garage door opener and just bypass their electronics. Or just build your own from scratch. Garage door openers are not particularly sophisticated devices.
Zwave (Score:1)
There are Zwave (and probably Zigbee) garage door opener devices out there, that require no Internet connectivity whatsoever. I prefer to keep my home devices off WiFi, and off my LAN. I've been using a couple rebranded GoControl units for 15 years and have been able to migrate them when we moved, no messing with the actual door opener required. And no reliance on an external company to keep them working.
https://www.zwaveoutlet.com/collections/garage-door-openers/products/gocontrol-z-wave-plus-garage-door-c
Really all this cloud stuff (Score:3)
boils down to security and being able to punch through firewalls and NAT which are almost always internet facing in a average home consumer network. Really there should be a protocol to solve this problem that is industry wide. I should be able to talk directly to my home network without having to having to connect to a server to route data through that. The solutions now are to create a VPN, but it should be simpler than that. I should be able to securely talk to my home network and punch back through that firewall if I have a token or auth and I should be able to easily generate that auth and I should be able to know where my home network is from the outside.
If someone could solve this problem, it would considerably reduce costs for consumers, because it would take the servers and control of companies out of the loop. You could talk directly from your phone to the home network without a server in between. They need to develop a protocol for this and make it a standard on home networking devices.
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With IPv6, being able to not be stunk with NAT should be a default feature ... not like we'll run out of IPs in the next million years, will we?
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If you can get IPv6; my ISP doesn’t support it.
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> boils down to security and being able to punch through firewalls and NAT... Really there should be a protocol to solve this problem that is industry wide.
There is. It's called IP forwarding. Your router almost certainly supports it because without it and its auto-configuration friends UPnP and NAT-PMP you wouldn't be able to play lots of online games.
That's not the problem. The problem is, how do you tell your phone what your home IP address is? That also has standard solutions but ISPs don't like giving ou
I have one of these... (Score:3)
When I built my new house in 2021, I bought one of these garage door openers, explicitly because it said on the box that it works with Google Home, just to unbox it, hook it up, and find that MyQ was not available as a partner in Google Home.
I reached out to the manufacturer and they told me they removed it because of "security concerns".
If someone said something like "Hey Google, open my garage door" through an open window of a house that has Google Home speakers or other automation like Alexa, someone could gain access to your garage.
Fair point, I guess.
But isn't that my decision?
When I say "Hey Google, Bed time" and it does things like arm my alarm, close blinds, turn off lights, sets the thermostat, I'd love to be assured that my garage door is also closed without having to go check.
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> Fair point, I guess.
If someone is shouting "hey google" through your window in a way that Google hears them it's not a fair point, you've simply left your window open and they wouldn't need to open the garage in the first place.
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that's why google responds with "can i have your pin?" when it comes to door opening requests.
So what is he really doing? (Score:3)
He's fighting back against enshittification. GOOD for him!!
You gotta fight. For your right. (Score:2)
To control your garage door oooopeners.
The Beastie Boys are boomers.
Now get off my driveway.
The only reason I'd want an app (Score:3)
Is to be able to close my garage door, or confirm that it's closed, after leaving on a trip. Other than that, I'll just go to the garage and hit the button. That is something you'd actually need a centralized server (app) to do.
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Why couldn't your app contact your server at your house? You provide the centralized service yourself. Private access over public network.
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Sure, you could do that. But you'd also have to open up an inbound route through your firewall. And who's going to write such an app, that also requires writing a server? If you can do all that, then go ahead and make your app and your server, and connect the server to a servo that connects the circuit of the hard-wired switch on the garage wall. That's a whole lot of work to control your garage door remotely.
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I think there are enough pieces in RATGDO to do that without too much effort. Maybe it looks like a mobile web page instead of an app.
Standards Needed (Score:5, Interesting)
We really need standardized protocols for garage doors. Chamberlin had a near monopoly on the market and had proprietary protocols.
If you want to make a compatible garage door opener, you have to use their HomeLink chips. My Tesla had HomeLink integrated, and it's awesome having the garage door just open when I pull into the driveway with GPS activation, but now they charge extra for this, in part because HomeLink is a proprietary chip, and they can't just integrate the functionality directly without an additional part. That's also why it's limited to only controlling three garage doors (which is an issue for some people with overly complicated lives).
Now it's a similar situation with WiFi control, where they have a proprietary protocol that goes through their servers simply so that they can charge a subscription fee.
What is needed is some good open standards.
An open standard for the RF signals: Let anyone implement the hardware. Allow for separate open/close signals, as well as the current activate signal. Allow for separate authentication for the signals, so you can do things like have a keypad access outside that only needs the code to open the door, not close it.
An open standard for WiFi control. This is likely already covered by Matter.
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There is a standardized protocol for garage door openers. It's called dry contacts.
Just terminals. Connect to a switch, relay, whatever. The stuff on the other side of this is yours, not theirs.
I won't buy an opener that doesn't have dry contacts. I saw the MyQ debacle and I'm not going there.
Batteries Must Be Included! (Score:3)
In my area, newly purchased garage door openers must have a battery backup.
This seems crazy to me also. Why must I have a battery? If there is a power outage I can raise or lower the door by hand. A battery is just another thing to go bad.
BTW, when my opener broke, I diagnosed it to a relay in the opener's electronic board. The relay wasn't made anymore and it had a unique footprint so I couldn't easily substitute it with another relay. I found some guy on eBay re-manufacturing boards, so he sent me a replacement board and I sent my old one back in exchange.
My Genie Blue Max is close to 30 years old and still opening my garage door.
Or you can do what I did (Score:2)
When the receiver for my LiftMaster garage door (LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Merlin, and Grifco are all part of the Chamberlain group) started to fail I simply bought a meross Smart Garage Door Opener Remote. Right now they cost $39.99 on Amazon. It took me about 30 minutes to install.
It's compatible with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, SmartThings, Siri, CarPlay and Android. I use it with Apple Home (aka HomeKit). I can now open my garage door using my iPhone, my Apple Watch, or even my
Love my RATGDO! (Score:2)
Saw the headline and assumed it was RATGDO. One of the first and easiest ESPHOME projects I did with my HomeAssitant system. There are a couple things that don't work with my system (open to %), but it makes for an easy way to open my garage door if someone needs to get in while we are gone (without giving the code). Just wish I could do the same with my Viking Access gate opener.
The main benefit of it is that it is so much easier to maintain a secure network as the system doesn't need internet access.
This is a solved problem (Score:2)
Just buy a [1]ZWave dry contact relay [thesmartesthouse.com]. Hook it up in parallel with the button you already have inside you garage to open the door. Register it with Home Assistant or your favorite smart hub. Job's a good 'un.
[1] https://www.thesmartesthouse.com/products/zooz-z-wave-plus-s2-multirelay-zen16-with-3-dry-contact-relays-20-a-15-a-15-a
Not all heroes wear capes (Score:2)
This is what I consider to be the American spirit.
But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:3, Informative)
What does this add over a simple RF control? All I want is to be able to open and close my door from my car and inside the garage. Turning the light on separately is a nice to have (which I do have), but I don't see any reason to network this.
Obviously putting it on the cloud is an even worse idea.
Re:But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:5, Informative)
So you can open and close your garage door from your phone, of course.
Re: But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:5, Informative)
It could be to let somebody in temporarily without providing them an access code. I.e. neighbor wanting to borrow something.
It could be that you are forgetful. I.e. you check a camera with visibility of the door you have the ability to remotely close it.
Re: But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:2)
It can also be so that you don't have to have Yet Another Device with you. If you can use your phone to control everything, then the only device you need with you is your phone.
Similar to having your wallet on your phone.
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> then the only device you need with you is your phone.
[1]OK. [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CQA3X-qNgA
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If you can use your phone to control everything, then the only device you need with you is your phone.
And when you lose your phone or it's stolen? Or if it somehow gets bricked after an upate? Or gets compromised?
There's this thing called single point of failuare.
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Then you use the keypad. The only SPoF is power and the opener itself.
Re:But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:4, Interesting)
Keep it simple.
[1]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J... [amazon.com]
[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JGDV8UM
Re:But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:4, Interesting)
I've tried similar products to this in the past, some from Amazon, some from Adafruit, etc. All of the units I played around with had a range problem, as in more than 20 or so feet away the reception became spotty.
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I get a good 100 yards range with that one.
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Be very, very wary of these things.
I replaced my garage door controller with something very similar to that controller box. The remotes had died and were not readily available, so I thought I'd get something similar to what your link shows- replace the whole thing. Everything worked fine for a day.
The next night about 11pm we heard the garage door going up for no apparent reason. It happened again the next day- it just decided to open on its own. That's a problem, lol. We'd probably go on vacation and 2 min
Re:But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:5, Insightful)
I have my garage door connected to my home automation system, using RATGDO. The home automation system monitors the garage door's status and will send me alerts on my phone if the garage door has been left open for too long. For instance open for 15 minutes at night, or when the home automation system thinks no one is home. Then I can choose to trigger a door close, remotely. Yes, over the internet, but not through anyone else's cloud. It all happens via my own private local home automation system. If you've ever been on your way somewhere and a few minutes out you can't remember of you closed teh garage door or not, this is a God send.
It is also handy to open the door, when no one is home, for deliveries or to let family or staff in...
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My WS2811 lights interfere with my RF garage door opener. If I didn't have my GoControl devices I wouldn't be able to get into my garage in December.
Beyond that, I love being able to open my door from my phone, and getting alerts if I neglect to close it. I will agree that relying on someone else's network is stupid. After the Wink incident(s) I will never have an automation solution that requires any third party hosted anything.
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So instead of replacing a $30 set of lights you are going to pay a $100 premium for a new garage door control?
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I have thousands of dollars invested in light strings/strips, and hundreds of hours designing/building controllers that are centered around single wire chipsets. I run just about every WS281X flavor, all of which interfere with my RF garage door opener. It's not like I can just pop down to WalMart and buy the stuff I need for my display.
Re:But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:5, Informative)
With RATGDO (or the one or two other things that do the same thing), you can:
- View status of door
- Open/Close door (this includes positioning it to some position, like 5% up, or 50%, etc)
- 'Lock/Unlock' the RF side. RF stuff is relatively insecure, so being able to 'lock' it is helpful
And you can do all of this without cloud, without paying subscriptions, and without worrying about the vendor going "poof" (open source is cool that way) and leaving you stranded, and without requiring an app (the device serves a basic webpage that you can access from your LAN (or IoT lan)).
You can use it with (local!) home automation like Home Assistant too.,
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One of the other products in this vein that works well is Konnected's "Blaq"
Re: But why a smart garage door opener? (Score:3)
I have a Zwave RF remote in my car. Home assistant is programmed to respond to it.
The 25 year old Chamberlain openers have a Zwave relay on them. There are also Yolink tilt sensors installed so the system can tell if the doors are open or closed.
The light switch is zwave. All 48 led tubes on the ceiling can be turned on or off.
There is a zwave smart lock on the interior door between the garage and the house.
My HA automation simultaneously opens the correct garage door, based on number of taps, but also turn
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> I have a Zwave RF remote in my car.
Care to share what remote you're using?
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I get an alert if the door doesn't close all the way or if it stays open over an hour. I can open the door to let the electrician in while I'm at work, or to let my teenager in if he forgot his keys at home. Etc.
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That's all YOU want. But I wouldn't mind setting up my system so the garage door triggers other events. For instance, it might turn on the smart lights in the adjacent hallway. It might send a notification to my phone if I am not home. Just because you don't want something doesn't make it useless or others. Just don't buy it.
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> What does this add over a simple RF control? All I want is to be able to open and close my door from my car and inside the garage. Turning the light on separately is a nice to have (which I do have), but I don't see any reason to network this.
> Obviously putting it on the cloud is an even worse idea.
Quite a bit, actually. The RATGDO specifically can notify HomeAssistant every time the door opens, something trips the laser tripwire, the light goes on, the door goes up, stops, goes down, etc. And who said anything about "the cloud"? A RATGDO can report to an on-site HomeAssistant instance and literally nothing hits "the cloud".
So for your limited requirements, an RF control is fine. For those of us who have wider requirements, something like this gives us more visibility into the operations of the garage