Just automated my dumb garage door opener!

Hardware Reviews
21

A year later, we had a power outage, reseting everything. Back in the same boat where I cannot get the Meross MSG-200HK to work with home kit. I can get it to work with the Meross App and even be seen in Home Kit but with the label “No Response.” I’ve been working with Meross tech support for a week, but everything we’ve tried has been unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Nest doorbell and thermostats work so well. Is it Meross that is finicky or HomeKit?

1 Like
22

What a bummer! The openers haven’t given me trouble, but the outdoor plug made me fist shake several times. Ended up deleting it from HK, removing it from the Meross app, deleting and reinstalling the app, removing the device from my wifi network, then resetting the device like 5 times.

It sat for a day unplugged then tried the install process again. This time, I didn’t rename, move or change anything besides what it wanted to be added as. Somehow that worked! After adding it to the app it popped into HK then renamed and moved it to the space I wanted.

After ALL that, it has been solid but my GOD it was a PITA.

23

Oh, the joys and “efficiencies” of home automation!

Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
24

Somebody has created a device that can interface with (i.e., send commands to and gets status from) the Chamberlain/Liftmaster garage door openers (even the Security 2.0 ones) by plugging directly into the opener’s terminals.

This is the device:

ratgdo garage door control board

Some pros and cons:

  • On one hand, an easier install than the Meross opener (which I also had), as there is no running a long cable to set up contact points. Just plug the ratgdo directly into the terminals on your opener, following the wiring diagram online (I had to insert three wires from the device into the opener’s terminals).
  • On the other hand, the ratgdo was harder to install if you’re not a little bit technically oriented. You have to flash a firmware to the device, which had me swearing at it for a while. I think it was a Sequoia issue, because once I plugged into a Mac running Sonoma, the wizard to install the firmware was very simple.
  • Two of three wires were easy to insert into my opener, but I had trouble with the third, because there were already two wires in that terminal. (I think there’s a way to take your opener’s wires, plug them into the ratgdo, and then plug the ratgdo into the opener, so the opener’s wires pass through the ratgdo. But I didn’t go that route.)
  • No dead batteries. This won’t apply to everyone, but because I had a 2.0 security Chamberlain opener (with the “yellow button”), the Meross solution involved an accessory that was basically a handheld opener that the Meross device interfaced with, with that accessory sending commands to the Chamberlain opener as if you were pushing the buttons. It worked great, but after two months, the battery on the opener died and I had to climb up and replace it.

I just finished installing the ratgdo solution today, so we’ll see if this stands the test of time. But so far, so good. And there are several YouTube videos from users, and other positive reviews in online forums.

Oh, and I forgot the best part. ratgdo stands for “Rage Against the Garage Door Opener.”

25

More follow up on this. I’m slowly figuring out just how much info the ratgdo gives you. Here is some of what I can see in Home Assistant:

IMG_6600
IMG_66001179×1601 111 KB

IMG_6601
IMG_66011179×1707 145 KB

I can confirm that when I moved my foot in front of the obstruction sensors, the “OK” next to Obstruction in the app changed to something else (“Problem”, I think). The 21,213 openings in the life of the garage door was a bit of a surprise.