On our most recent IoT Podcast episode, we took a question from Sam on our Voicemail hotline. Sam has a Chamberlain MyQ connected garage door opener and he wants to make it easier for his children to open the garage.
Currently, Sam can open the garage with his phone or with old-school Genie remotes typically attached to a car visor. His children are younger and need access to their toys in the garage. Are there smart, connected solutions for this situation? Sure, but that doesn’t mean they’re the best.
We’ll start with the connected device approach. Sam could connect his MyQ to IFTTT’s service, which would allow for a cloud-centric automation to open the garage. That would require some type of connected hardware, such as a button, for the kids to press. And, if Sam uses IFTTT for more than three automations, it adds a monthly subscription fee. Still, it’s an option.
Another choice would be to transition from Chamberlain’s MyQ platform to something more open. I personally like the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Garage Door opener. It’s inexpensive at around $40, works well and there are models that support Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Home. It also works with more than 200 brands of garage door openers, although you should check the compatibility list before buying one.
The Meross option would also need some additional hardware for the kids to operate. That’s why we’re mentioning the Flic buttons, which Stacey is a big fan of.
These are small programmable buttons that work with more than 1,000 devices. You do need a Flic bridge, which makes this a little expensive for Sam’s garage door use case. The Flic 2 starter pack with three buttons and a bridge is available for $169.99.
After evaluating these and other connected solutions, I wonder if Sam just goes with a less complicated, inexpensive solution. Why not buy one or two more Genie push-button remotes for the kids?
These remotes only cost $40 or less. They only do one thing but they do it well: Open or close the garage door at the press of a button.
With the Genie remote, the kids have a simple way to get their toys from the garage and Sam still gets notifications from his MyQ app. I’d consider mounting the remote on a wall with some double-sided tape or Command Strip.
In this case, it may not make sense to complicate things with more smart gear. Just go old-school and keep it simple is my recommendation.
To hear Sam’s question in full, as well as our discussion on the topic, tune in to the IoT Podcast below:
Very good point: the fanciest technology isn’t always the best solution. For example, even though we have a lot of networked home automation, for the small laundry room area we went with a simple nonnetworked Lutron motion sensor switch. You can’t turn it on/off by voice, but it only cost $17 and it does exactly what it needs to: turn the light on whenever someone walks into the area after dark and turn it off again after no motion is detected for 10 minutes.
One small caveat on a garage door controller, though…for a house with small children I personally would only choose a UL-listed device, which the Meross is not. It lacks some of the safety features required by the current UL standard for remote garage door control. Obviously that’s a personal choice in most parts of the US (some neighborhoods do require the UL listing), but it’s just something to be aware of. I do like most Meross devices and have quite a few of them, but their garage door controller wouldn’t make my list.
The Meross device requires someone to screw in the leads of a 120v power chord to the terminals on the device’s board. How has anyone ever been harmed by messing with the power chord to a mains device?
Surely, the garage door opener is on a GFCI circuit.
Not that a garage is a damp, let alone wet area.
The missing safety features from the UL standard don’t have anything to do with the physical installation of the device.
The UL standard requires that when the garage door is activated remotely there is an audible beep signal and a brief delay before the door starts closing to alert a person nearby about what may be an unexpected closure. Not just to prevent injury, but to prevent someone out in the yard being locked out of the house.
The GoControl zwave garage door control and the Chamberlain MyQ units, both UL listed, have this feature. The Meross does not.
The UL requirement:
https://ulstandards.ul.com/blog/keeping-your-family-safe-when-using-automatic-garage-doors/