Garage door integration with home smart system (Legrand) - Advice please?

Thread Starter

JSparkS

Joined Mar 31, 2022
3
Yo!

I have a garage door that runs of a controller unit and on the controller box i have a push button to open/close the door (besides the remote with wich it comes).
I also have a Legrand home smart system installed - This basically connects to my wi-fi and i am able to control various items over an app such as lights and sockets.

Now:
I have a switching module as received from Legrand. This works similar as the connected light switches, it just does not have a physical switch to touch/push, in other words, only the internal wifi connected contactor. This module connects me to the app system, but what i am looking for is a integration for this unit to the garage push/tap switch.

The only option i see is to install a timed relay (in order to "tap" the switch). The problem with this is that the app will tell me the door is either open/close (or rather the contactor), but the actual garage door switch is a contacting signal sending type, meaning you tap the button only in order to open or close - But on the app it will only show the open/closed position of the contactor.

Any recommendations for a solution?

Cheers
J
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,170
Do not try it. Remotely controlling the door is unsafe, and with the identical signal commanding either open or close, the control function will be uncertain.
 

MrSalts

Joined Apr 2, 2020
2,767
Do not try it. Remotely controlling the door is unsafe, and with the identical signal commanding either open or close, the control function will be uncertain.
Remotely controlling my garage door was the whole reason I bought my garage door opener. It comes width a handy little RF controller for my car. I don't have to get out to open the door - just push a button. The little RF control box in my car sends the same signal to open or close. The little box doesn't care. Why would a remote control be "unsafe?"
 

geekoftheweek

Joined Oct 6, 2013
1,201
If your controller is the old world one button that operates the door it could possibly be done with your module and a few extra parts. If it one of the ones with light and lock functions it will most likely be a bit more difficult. I don't know how exactly they work, but there's a bit of magic to combine three functions into two wires.

I have a feeling misterbill2 was referring to being out of line of sight with the door. The idea of a remote is to be able to see the door as it is moving. Kind of why they have pretty limited ranges
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,170
Remotely controlling my garage door was the whole reason I bought my garage door opener. It comes width a handy little RF controller for my car. I don't have to get out to open the door - just push a button. The little RF control box in my car sends the same signal to open or close. The little box doesn't care. Why would a remote control be "unsafe?"
The fact that the door could be triggered to close from far away, where there is no way to see what it may be closing on, is what makes it unsafe. Commanding the door to close while you can see what is happening is fairly safe, if done responsibly.
Current technology garage door control systems allow the single button control to over-ride the obstacle detection system by holding the single button pressed as the door is closing. And a home automation system may certainly do that if it wants to..
Depending on just what the output of the home automation system is, converting an On/OFF signal into a suitable pulse command may be quite simple, requiring only a small signal relay and a suitable series capacitor. That trick has served a number of threads quite well in the past. And it has worked for some of my client applications as well.
 

BobTPH

Joined Jun 5, 2013
8,812
My garage door opener can be operated via the web. It knows the opened / closed status, so the toggle problem is solved. When closed that way it beeps a warning for about 10 seconds before moving.

If you could duplicate this behavior it would be safe, but that would require some extra electronics.

Bob
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,170
My garage door opener can be operated via the web. It knows the opened / closed status, so the toggle problem is solved. When closed that way it beeps a warning for about 10 seconds before moving.

If you could duplicate this behavior it would be safe, but that would require some extra electronics.

Bob
Certainly the system BOB is describing is far more than the minimum cost minimum function systems normally sold. My guess is that it was a bit more complex to install and required a few more wires to connect things. And yes, it probably has a few more components and probably a bit more software as well.
 

MrSalts

Joined Apr 2, 2020
2,767
Current technology garage door control systems allow the single button control to over-ride the obstacle detection system by holding the single button pressed as the door is closing
I really doubt that your "override" story is true. Imagine someone putting the RF control in their pocket (as I do while motorcycling) and randomly triggering it when bending over or moving. I doubt any garage door manufacturer would take the risk that a door could be forced down. Also, a manufacturer would have to time/date stamp every press of the button and type of press so a user who intentionally crushes his car or their spouse by holding the button couldn't claim that the object detection system failed. Your story seems, well, like a story.
 

BobTPH

Joined Jun 5, 2013
8,812
My opener is new last month. It came with those features.

All door openers in the US have a photo detector close to the ground that stops the door if it blocked, so you cannot close the door on a car or person.

Bob
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,170
I have held the inside control button to force a door to close. This was not using the remote control, it was using the wired button. Probably there is a difference in how they work. And it WAS a system that had that phototelectric sensor function, which was not functioning as it should have. That was the reason for over-riding the safety control function.
 

Thread Starter

JSparkS

Joined Mar 31, 2022
3
Thanks for all the comments chaps.

I have done some further investigation and it seems that with the legrand micromodule option and timed relay, the installation and interface reading on the phone wont read correctly - i.e. the switch will read off on my phone and the door will be in open or closed position. This defeats the purpose completely alongside the complication of the installation and parts needed.

Safety wise - I believe garage door manufacturers and installers have enough safety factors in place to protect themselves, although strangely enough, no-one signed a handover with me when the door was installed, so the actual safety settings hasn't been physically shown and proven to work correctly - so there's that...

Further on the electronics side ..
I found a Sonoff WiFi interface board which provides the following:
12v to 32v power supply input where most others only have 5v USB for power input (so i can tapp off my 12v backup battery without having to provide an additional power supply), an app which you can download to manage the board (eWeLink - Chinese stuff - isn't most of all these days) amongst many other hardware pieces it can apparently manage - and - it has a 10amp relay for NO, common, NC, and a short switch/pulse option, which makes it perfect for this application.

Part is ordered and I'll see what can be achieved. I have ordered one for my driveway entrance gate motor too.

The only major concern I have is that you would be able to open and close the garage door or gate anywhere on the globe as long as I have mobile signal which means that either door or gate might mistakenly be opened and I would not know in what state it is - and then the garage may be cleared out by some undesirable passer by. I'm also not sure what the app will indicate once the pulse is sent - Open/Close.
The app is google and Alexa friendly though, which is some more to play with later...

Cheers!

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Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,069
Safety standards (UL, federal regulations) require that unattended operation of GDOs (Garage Door Openers) include a 5 second visual and audible warning before the door moves.

This would not be incorporated in a standard GDO.

I use a Z-Wave tilt sensor for open/closed status of my door. It works well but if the door is open less than one panel it will not sense it. You can incorporate Z-Wave into your HA in a variety of ways if the current system doesn’t support third-party Z-Wave sensors.

[EDIT: removed spurious “i” which snuck in clearly in an effort to confuse the reader.]
 
Last edited:

BobTPH

Joined Jun 5, 2013
8,812
It is a LiftMaster garage door opener that came with WiFi connectivity.

Your solution needs an actual status from the door, which mine does have. A toggle interface without actual status, as you have said, is useless.

Bob
 

rpiloverbd

Joined Dec 21, 2021
27
You can use ESP8266. The door should be operated only when the ESP8266 and your mobile phone are under the same wifi network. It is possible to make ESP8266 projects accessible from anywhere in the world. But I don't think that is recommended when it comes to a garage door.
 
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