Selfhosted @lemmy.world GiantPossum @lemmy.world 10mo ago

Ditching MyQ for OpenGarage - Open Source Garage Door Control

blog.networkprofile.org Ditching MyQ for OpenGarage - Open Source Garage Door Control

This posts details how I ditched Liftmaster MyQ and switched to a much better, completely selfhosted and local way of controlling my garage door with OpenGarage, and the problems I ran into with both solutions, and how I overcame them. MyQ In my garage I have a Chamberlain Liftmaster Garage

Hopefully this fits here? Its self hosted, but not quite what the usual self hosted post would be. I've not seen any real reviews of these, so I figured I'd post

32 comments

This is elite self-hosting, lol. I want more of this content.
- Agreed. I do not have MyQ by choice, and I'm actively looking for a new solution now that I can't connect via Home assistant, but honestly I don't love either solution shared in this article. Perhaps someone in the community will reverse engineer the MyQ controllers or MIM the API to enable local network control (see local tuya)
  
  Our solution that we set up years ago was to connect a Shelly to circuits on a normal, dumb door opener. The Shelly triggers open/closed itself and since the signal comes from the opener, there's no crypto nonsense to figure out. It always works, no matter what MyQ/Chamberlain/LiftMaster do. Bonus, it also works if you have a very old opener.
  We also supplemented this with a tilt sensor so we know the state of the garage door. The door can still be cracked and not registered as opened, but that's a compromise we're okay with since we never leave it intentionally cracked.
  
  The ratgdo seems to do everything MyQ did but locally. What's the issue?
  
  That would be neat, but I really doubt it will ever happen
  
  What don't you like about ratgdo? It seems pretty good on paper, I've not yet got one in my hands. Hopefully soon
  
  Look into ratgdo. No need to replace the whole unit, and a much cheaper solution overall.
- Right? I got half way through it before realizing I don't actually have a use for it right now. I love the detail and organization
I connected my sectional garage door using a Shelly 1, an Aqara vibration sensor and the contact sensor from my alarm system (but you can use an Aqara door sensor), using Home Assistant to create a "virtual" door that does all the things.

Put the vibration sensor around the bottom of the door. Connect the Shelly to the hardware button you have somewhere in your garage, set it to toggle off after 1 second (simulating a button click basically). In Home Assistant do something like this:

- platform: template covers: garage_door: device_class: garage friendly_name: "Garage Door" value_template: >- {% if is_state( "binary_sensor.garage_door_contact_sensor", "off") %} closed {% elif states( "sensor.garage_door_vibration_sensor_angle_y") | int < 10 %} open {% elif is_state( "binary_sensor.garage_door_vibration_sensor_vibration", "on") %} opening {% else %} open {%- endif %} open_cover: service: script.disarm_alarm_if_armed_then_open_garage_door close_cover: service: switch.turn_on data: entity_id: switch.garage_door_shelly_1 stop_cover: service: switch.turn_on data: entity_id: switch.garage_door_shelly_1 icon_template: >- {% if is_state( "binary_sensor.garage_door_contact_sensor", "off") %} mdi:garage {% elif states( "sensor.garage_door_vibration_sensor_angle_y") | int < 10 %} mdi:garage-open {% elif is_state( "binary_sensor.garage_door_vibration_sensor_vibration", "on") %} mdi:garage-alert {% else %} mdi:garage-open {%- endif %}

Basically if the contact sensor is off (means there is contact), the door is closed. If the vibration sensor angle is < 10 (check your values, this works for me), the door is open (the sections are now horizontal). If the vibration sensor senses vibrations, the door is currently moving. Otherwise report "open", because that's the worst state and if something doesn't work, I want the worst state to be reported. Now you have a "cover", which in Home Assistant is a class that has custom UIs and logic to handle the door. Whenever I click the open button or call the command from anywhere, "disarm_alarm_if_armed_then_open_garage_door" is called, meaning I can't make the alarm go off by accident.

I have an automation that when I get near my house, it checks if my alarm is on and sends me a notification with 2 actions:

disarm alarm

disarm alarm and open garage door

PS: Looking back at my code, I should add a condition to both "open_cover" and "close_cover", to check if the door is opening, making it fail (or just do nothing), because while moving, pressing the button would stop the door, not make it go in the reverse direction. But it's been 4 months with this integration and it works great.
Ordered two Ratgdos yesterday. Hopefully the wait isn't too long.
- What I can't figure out now is if I want to replace OpenGarage when my Ratgdo arrives. It has a lot more features, but do I care now I have OpenGarage setup? Unsure
  
  After all that work and documentation?! I say stick with Open Garage!
lol, just get a dumb opener and a shelly relay or use a meross unit. Super cheap and flawless local control that is cloud-connected if you want it.
- I use a Meross. Works very well with HomeKit.
  
  MyQ was always a piece of garbage for me. Damn thing would error out and become non responsive after 5-10 openings, and would require a reboot. Could never figure out the root issue. Tech support was worthless. My hunch is that it doesn’t play nicely with Unifi equipment, or I’m getting interference from industrial sites nearby.
  
  I have the same issues as you; to make matters worse, it doesn't like any of the Android phones I have so I have to borrow someone's iPhone just to hook the damn thing back up.
- There is more to it with garage doors, what about the current state of the door, do you only want to open it a little bit for more fresh air and close it afterwards, bonus, is a car in there
  
  One relay doesn't fix this, it is simple but not that simple
  
  We added a tilt sensor to our door that shows the state of the door for the most part. The threshold we have it at doesn't detect if it's partly open, but that's okay for us because we never leave it cracked
- I don't know about him, but I really don't want to be screwing around replacing my openers
  
  Most openers have a dumb switch interface. A simple close-to-change circuit - I've never had one that wasn't that way. If MyQ is so complicated (serial interface!?) then it needs to go anyway.
- Seconding the meross recommendation. Installed it about a year ago and it's been flawless.
Happy customer of open garage. It just worked for me.
No idea what this is about but upvoted for the cats
- I thought you were calling me a cat
Great post with lots of detail! I have had MyQ for years and hated it pretty much at first use. Back then, they were asking for a monthly fee for the "privilege" of integrating it with Google.

Since the MyQ integration for HA is now dead, I have ordered a Ratgdo and am patiently waiting for it to arrive. I tried the Anthom.tech opener, but that does not work with most Chamberlain/Lift master opener made after 2011.
I've been using an open garage device I ordered from https://opengarage.io/ for years. It works great with home assistant or by itself. (their opensprinkler control is great too)
I've got one of these with the esphome firmware. Can't speak to their service or the original firmware, but the esphome needed some tweaks.

https://konnected.io/products/smart-garage-door-opener

I already had a magnetic reed switch and it has an input for that. I already had an extra security 2.0 button with wires soldered to the contacts. I'm very happy with the setup.
I use a Wemos D1 mini and relay with esphome, and a reed switch. Our door is a panel roller, so I'm looking to add a hall effect sensor to determine %age opened/closed, so I can do things like open just a couple of inches for airflow, etc.

32 comments