Good Garage Door controller

I'm trying to find a garage door controller but when I check https://www.indigodomo.com/devices/category/41/ that list, I get things that are at least one of the following:

1. Not in stock anywhere (Aotec)
2. Very poorly reviewed (GoControl)
3. poor reputation/cloud dependency (Chamberlin)
4. Just a tilt sensor.

Who is happy with their wireless garage door controller that integrates with Indigo? I had an Insteon controller that worked fine until it didn't and I don't want to go back to another of those, as equipment like that really should last more than a year.

Thanks!

I've been using a Linear GD00Z for several years now. No problems at all. Available on Amazon.

I use the same one and no issues for years - only grip is the delay and beeping it makes before it can me remotely commanded open (and the delay and beeping can’t be turned off/disabled).

If the door has a dry contact input, why invest in more than a relay and a reed sensor.

I use a Shelly1 and and reed (closure) sensor, and Shelly MQTT plugin. Cheap and easy.

I also use the 8-Channel Relay to manage a couple, which also work very well.

I use Shelly Uni with magnetic relays on both my doors, could just as well use Fibaro Implant if you prefer zwave.

Both have 2 inputs and two outs.


Skickat från min iPad med Tapatalk

I use a Shelly1 and and reed (closure) sensor, and Shelly MQTT plugin. Cheap and easy.

I also use the 8-Channel Relay to manage a couple, which also work very well.

I really tried to figure MQTT out for another project. I could not. As I've said before, all tutorials for MQTT I've found fall in to one of these categories:

"high level explanation of why MQTT is awesome"
"How to spin up an MQTT server"
"How to make your Acme RoadRunner Electrocution Trap talk to the Very Big Corporation of America's Voice Activated Spy Device via MQTT"

Never anything that isn't too broad or too specific.

I bought an 8 channel relay with my garage door in mind last year and got it responding to indigo commands, but viewtopic.php?f=302&t=21924&p=189893#p189893 this post never got any responses that helped, and I'm not enough of an electrician to figure it out. I **think** I need some sort of voltage added? But I really don't know. I do know I can't just make the relay close the connection between the two wires that were previously attached to the now failed Insteon garage door opener.

I didn't persue it any further because ultimately I'll have to run a LOT of wire to make what connections are required, and that's now two different things blocking the idea.

I really tried to figure MQTT out for another project. I could not. As I've said before, all tutorials for MQTT I've found fall in to one of these categories:

"high level explanation of why MQTT is awesome"
"How to spin up an MQTT server"
"How to make your Acme RoadRunner Electrocution Trap talk to the Very Big Corporation of America's Voice Activated Spy Device via MQTT"

Never anything that isn't too broad or too specific.

So if there were to be an MQTT tutorial for Indigo purposes, where would you like it to focus? On the basics of getting a broker installed, how MQTT works, and then interacting with MQTT in Indigo? Something along those lines?

I need to understand how to point a generic device at a MQTT server, what it needs to say to that server, what the server should say to it, and how to make that happen.

The upstream part to Indigo seems straightforward, but maybe that's because I never got anything talking to my server in a useful way.

I need to understand how to point a generic device at a MQTT server, what it needs to say to that server, what the server should say to it, and how to make that happen.

There's no way a generic tutorial can cover that, because that's all client device specific. And you (probably) have no control over what it's saying to the server. It'll be documented, but you won't be able to change it.

Maybe if you had a specific device in mind we could look up the instructions for that device and walk you through it.

I need to understand how to point a generic device at a MQTT server, what it needs to say to that server, what the server should say to it, and how to make that happen.

Like Joe mentioned, a device that advertises it supports MQTT will already have the entire message protocol defined (and hopefully published). For example, here the the Shelly MQTT protocol: https://shelly-api-docs.shelly.cloud/#shelly1-1pm-mqtt

For getting a "generic device" pointed to an MQTT server (Broker), they are usually device specific. But, all devices will connect to a Broker using the same details. They all need the IP address of the broker and a username/password if you chose to require authentication. In the case of a Shelly device, we just go into the HTTP interface of the device and populate the IP address for the MQTT broker we want the device to connect to.

Once that device is connected to the broker, it will publish its data according to its own defined specification. Now, any other device connected to the broker (for example, Joe's MQTT Connector plugin) can choose to receive the data published and process it.

MQTT itself is THE protocol, so we don't worry about what a device has to say to a server or what a server has to say to a device. All we can care about is what data the device publishes and what, if any, data the device will listen for.

i will leave the MQTT explanation with the experts (though i do endorse this as by far most elegant approach, and very straightforward once you understand the model).

But regarding the option of how to wire the 8 channel relay - its really exactly the same as you'd wire a Shelly (or any other device using a dry contact interface for the door). So two wires go from the garage door go to one of the 8 relay modules. The only potential confusion is the 8-channel relay has both Normally Open and Normally Closed as separate screw terminals (whereas for the Shelly etc you configure NO/NC in software). Of course to operate the door you will need to pulse a Normally Open relay for a second or two. So that means the central and left terminal of any of the 8 relays. Each relay has a red light confirming when its operating, and there is numbering on the board so it should be clear which relay needs to be fired..

But before you do that, you should confirm that shorting the two wires from door (ie touching them together briefly) does indeed operate the door. If it doesn't you don't have a working dry contact interface, and you're barking up the wrong tree.

Aha!

Shorting does NOT do it, so that's not going to work for me. Thanks.

What door opener do you have now? The opener, not the third party controller.

I've seen someone use one of the wireless remotes and use a relay to short the contacts that are connected to the button. Using the pulse method, you can simulate the button on the remote being pressed.

I have:
(i) a Fibraro FGS221 Z-Wave switch wired in parallel with the existing push button momentary switches already mounted on my garage wall and connected to the standard dry contact inputs on the actuator. It's set up to turn 'off' after 1s.
(ii) a Fibaro FGK101 Z-Wave door/window sensor which tells Indigo whether the door is closed (or not). Then I get a notification if the door is open an unusually long time.

Has worked reliably for the last 4+ years.