Garage Door Openers

Garage Door Openers

MyQ - Liftmaster / Chamberlain

If you are using a MyQ garage door opener (e.g., from Chamberlain or LiftMaster), I recommend you use the following plugin to create the interface between HomeSeer and the MyQ controller: https://github.com/DoctorMcKay/HSPI_LiftMasterMyQ

Once you have done that, adding the garage door should be as easy as including its HomeSeer reference number in the config.json array: "GarageDoorOpeners" : [ <Comma separated list of HomeSeer reference numbers>]

Virtual Openers

The "simplified" device entry for the GarageDoorOpener where you enter just the device reference expects it to be either a Z-Wave garage door opener, or the plugin "MyQ or "LiftMaster myQ". For a virtual garage door opener, you will have to detail the parameters used for open, opening, stopped, closing, close. To do this, specify the garage door opener in the "accessories" section. The full set of parameters are listed below. You can get the numeric values from the device's "Status Graphics" page.

{
	"type": "GarageDoorOpener",
        "ref": 123,                 // HomeSeer reference # for the device
	"openValue": 255,     // Control Value used to cause the door to open.
	"closedValue": 0,    // Control Value used to cause the door to close.
	"openingValue": 254,        // Status Value used to indicate the door is opening.
	"closingValue": 252,       // Status Value used to indicate the door is closing
	"stoppedValue": 253       // Status Value used to indicate the door has stopped part-way.
}

GoControl / Linear GD000Z-4 Type; Aeotec Garage Door Opener

To add a garage door opener, put a GarageDoorOpener entry in the accessories section of your config.json file along the lines of:

{"type":"GarageDoorOpener", "name":"myGarageDoor", "ref":648, "obstructionRef":649 },

where "ref": identifies the reference number of the HomeSeer device that controls the opening / closing of the garage door. This may be designated "Roll Up Door" in Homeseer, and where "obstructionRef": identifies the obstruction sensor. This may be designated as "Barrier Sensor" in HomeSeer.

This has been tested with the GoControl/Liner GD00Z-4 garage door opener. I believe it will also work with the Aeotec garage door opener. If you have another Z-Wave opener and can't get that to work, please let me know in the "issues" section. Note that the "Barrier Sensor" in the GoControl/Linear/Aeotec devices has an odd implementation - sometimes, its used to report whether the barrier (garage door) is obstructed, but at times it reports a "special" value (74) indicating its battery is low. The plugin doesn't distinguish between a battery warning or a true obstruction so if you see an alert (!) symbol displayed on the HomeKit device icon, you should check on HomeSeer to determine if this is a battery issue or something else. Also, the fact that an obstruction is indicated in the iPhone Home act doesn't actually affect operation - your "real" door opener is what actually decides whether the door can be moved.

DIY Garage Door Opener Controller Using Contact Sensor and MIMO-Lite

In some cases, HomeSeer users have set up Garage Door openers that use the MIMO-Lite controller to "pulse" the Garage Door's Open / Close button, and in combination, use an Open / Closed Contact sensor to detect when the door has opened or closed. This type of setup can also be added as a Garage Door Opener using a virtual device to represent the garage door in HomeSeer and using several events to control your MIMO-Lite and to respond to contact sensor changes.

Setting Up the Virtual Device in HomeSeer

First, in homeseer create the "Virtual" Garage Door which you will add to your config.json file.

In this example, the "virtual" garage door has the reference number 1242. This is what you will add to your config.json file with an accessory definition along the lines of:

{"type":"GarageDoorOpener", "ref":1242 },

The "Status Graphics" page of this virtual garage door should be set up as shown in the following images:

Writing Events to Operate the Garage Door

You'll need to write several events

Events to set the Virtual Garage Door to the proper setting if the door is controlled from your garage door control buttons in your car or in the garage:

July 14, 2019: I am in the process of writing a description of these!

Events to drive the Mimo Lite if the Virtual Garage Door is changed from within HomeSeer

July 14, 2019: I am in the process of writing a description of these!

Adding the Virtual Garage Door Opener to Homekit.

{"type":"GarageDoorOpener", "ref":1242 },