The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow in home automation technology space, and some devices appear to be more useful than others.An app-enabled slow cooker? I can see the utility for some people. An app-enabled garage door opener? Now, that's something that's truly useful. That's exactly what we have with Chamberlain's $130 MyQ Garage system.Some higher-end Chamberlain garage door openers — the company also makes openers under the LiftMaster name — included internet connectivity for a while, but the MyQ Garage, launched earlier this year, allows users to add app-enabled connectivity to most garage doors made after 1993, including those from Craftsman, Genie, LiftMaster, Stanley, and many more (compatibility chart).Thanks to an ingenious solution, the MyQ Garage doesn't require any changes be made to your existing garage door setup. There are two components. A base station installs with a pair of included screws on the ceiling near the main drive motor of the garage door opener.
A second, smaller battery-powered box (about three inches square) attaches to the garage door with adhesive tape. This is the clever bit. The door-mounted box has an accelerometer inside that knows when the garage door is open, closed, or when it's moving. All the base station does is send open/close commands to the door opener, similar to the remote control in your car.A box checking to see if the door is open or closed is an elegant solution that saves homeowners (and renters) from needing to perform a costly and unnecessary garage door opener replacement. Instead, they simply to add their garage door to the IoT.The companion app, available for iPhone and Android, is very simple. It can be set up with multiple garage doors or even a front gate or lighting, plus other locations for those who have a vacation home, for example. On the front page of the app — which, handily, can be set to not ask for a password if desired — is an illustration of a garage door that shows the current state of the door (open, closed, in motion) and how long it has been in that state.
Figure A shows that my door has been closed for some 15 hours.Simply tapping the door will send a command to either open or close it. It only takes a second or two for the door to respond, even if you're around the world.Here's one interesting part — the opener, when it's trying close the door, emits a long series of beeps and flashes its on-board light repeatedly. This is because you may be hundreds of miles away from your door when it's trying to close, and if there are people in the garage, they may not expect the door to start moving. It's a warning of sorts, and — though it's annoying when you're in the garage — if you're closing the door from afar, it gives you some peace of mind that the thing won't just start moving and squish your neighbor.The company also strongly recommends that users only use the system with garage doors equipped with obstruction sensors, made mandatory on all new systems in the early 90's. It also says the system should be used only on sectional doors, not larger and heavier one-piece doors.
Early reviewers have noted some difficulty in getting the system installed, but it appears Chamberlain has worked out most of the kinks as our system installed flawlessly in about 15 minutes. Any homeowner that's moderately handy can set up the MyQ quickly and easily.Though it's annoying to need yet another app on our phones to control a home device, Chamberlain's app opens quickly, and the company is working with other device makers on partnerships.Chamberlain is adding "Works With Nest" support, allowing users of Nest Thermostats to automatically set their thermostat to Away mode when leaving the house.The company was also announced as a HomeKit partner by Apple at WWDC last month, suggesting that garage door openers will be made part of Apple's integrated home automation platform when iOS 8 launches later this year.The MyQ Garage is available for $130 (USD) from Chamberlain, Home Depot, Amazon, and other locations.The MyQ app is a free download from the App Store (iOS) and the Google Play Store (Android).
Do you have plans to automate your home with IoT devices like the MyQ Garage and MyQ app? Share your thought in the discussion thread below.How To Reattach Your Automatic Garage Door OpenerWe’re lucky where I live. And my “where I live” I mean my specific neighborhood and my specific house. Knock on wood, we don’t have the issues with flooding that so many around me (including in my neighborhood) do. We don’t lose power. We don’t have major natural disasters. So of course we lost power for the first time since we moved into our house.If you haven’t noticed, it’s been incredibly hot this summer. And on one of our hottest days of the year, we lost power. At first, it was a flicker that went out for just a minute or so before everything turned back on. Five minutes later, the power went out, but there was no buzz of the house turning itself back on. As time ticked by, it got awfully warm in our house. Calling ComEd – our electric company in Chicago – I found out that it would be hours before they expected to repair the blown transformer and restore power.
It was a no brainer. I called our library, confirmed they had power (and air conditioning), and I packed up the wee ones. Getting out of the garage wasn’t a huge issue. I know how to disable the automatic garage door opener. In my case, you simply pull on the red lever, which removes the motor and gear from the track. Then I can manually lift it up and exit the garage – just like I did when I was a little kid and we didn’t have an automatic garage door opener.Unlike when I was a little kid, we don’t have a key to lock our garage door to keep anyone from coming in the way we did back then. Instead, I locked the back door to our house (thank goodness for the battery operated keypad lock on our front door), and manually closed the garage door. What else can I do, right?Yes, it was definitely a good call to leave my house. The power outage was fairly widespread. When there’s no power to stoplights anywhere around, you know it’s a bad sign. It took us awhile to get to the library, but we were happy to be there (and meet up with some friends who had the same idea) once we finally arrived.
After a few hours at the library, I got a text from a friend letting me know power had been restored. We all cheered and jumped back in the car to return home. When we arrived, I manually opened the garage door again and drove inside. After scooting the wee ones through the front door, I turned my attention to the garage door, knowing I wanted to reconnect it so that it would work with my opener again.It’s only easy if you remember how to do it. I pressed the garage door opener, pleased with myself for remembering how to do this, since I hadn’t had to reconnect my garage door opener in over 10 years. I waited for it to engage the gears as it went past, smiling to myself. The motor worked and pulled the gear along, but the garage door wasn’t engaged and remained firmly planted on the garage floor.I tried pulling and tugging the cord to see if that worked. Calling friends to see if they (or their husbands if they were around) knew how to reattach the garage door opener.
I could have sat down to cry. Or I could have pretended that all was well with the world and that I wanted to manually open and close the garage door for the rest of the time I lived in this house. Or I could have waited for my husband to get home and make him fix it. But that’s not how I roll. I like figuring things out and fixing them.So I stood up on the door of my car to peer at the track and gear and garage door. It isn’t a complicated system, relatively. I should be able to visually see how it goes together and fix it that way. Once I really looked at it, I figured it out, but I’ll save you the pain of having to sit and stare and puzzle.The first key is that you have to open your garage door. Trying to reengage your garage door opener with the door closed doesn’t work. Next up, is reattaching the gear to the track. When you disengage it, it’s easy and obvious. You simply pull back on the emergency cord, and it disengages. Pulling back a second time does nothing.