I was just about to mention this. I remember someone proposing that in a thread a couple years back. They even drew up a diagram. Maybe it was you?
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Auto-Homelink malfunction
- Thread starter AlbinoRhino
- Start date
thefortunes
Active Member
He did not stop. The garage door caught the spoiler which bent into the window as he continued to move.
A properly adjusted garage door reverses with under 5# of force. Assuming you have the gasket on the bottom (like 98% of all garage doors) it will not even leave a mark.
Perhaps. I scratched me S in the first week. Not even using the auto settings. I also learned I should have stopped instead of outrunning it.
My daughter, just learning to drive, closed the door on the car last week. She went to hit the profile setting when the door button appeared (or so she said). Ugh.
I did talk to liftmaster and they confirmed no second sensor. Didn’t do anything past that.
The door closes VERY slowly... you have at least 3secs for your wheels to trip the beam while you are pulling in. Unless you are deliberately just hanging out waiting for the door to close on you... A typically "pull-in" takes no more than 3secs, often less, during which you should have interrupted the beam at least twice.
Are there ways to defeat the beam? Sure, but you pretty much have to try...
The mirror idea sounds viable... aligning it with a laser pointer should be quite doable.
Maybe the Alexa-based options are better after all... it *is* pretty stupid that the same button/signal does an open and a close, with no state information. I was planning to install a door switch and a simple XOR gate so that it is state-aware.
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I reported the first post in this thread to see if the mods would change this overly sensationalist title. "Garage door opener tried to kill me" when what actually seems to have happened is it closed on this OPs spoiler?
Why are we in this place where people feel they need to over sensationalize things just to get eyeballs?
Why are we in this place where people feel they need to over sensationalize things just to get eyeballs?
As I was reading this thread I was going to post something along these lines. Why not move the sensors higher to prevent any part of your car from being hit? There are probably some building codes that specify the location, but if you decide to sell your house just move them back.
If it’s too high, the kid laying on the ground will not be detected. Except by the excessive downforce safety and those were not very reliable in the olden days. Much better to not have the door even approach the kid.
Of course, also good if the door wouldn’t approach the car.
AltPowr
Member
The tiny fact mentioned a few times in this thread is the real culprit in many situations - there is NO open or close command for most garage doors. It is just a single button that moves the door one way or the other. So the Tesla (and humans) have no idea what is going to happen unless you are literally looking at the door. So if your garage door is already open, and you drive up your driveway, the car will try to "open" the door again - but surprise, it will close instead.
This is the real problem. I bought my “smart” garage door opener with wifi. Where is the technology that would allow the Tesla to send an “open” or “close” command instead of just the one universal command?
Its complaints like this that cause long liability disclaimers and or the elimination of useful features. Its an accident and that really stinks, but to blame it on Tesla is just not reasonable. Did you know there used to be a feature to open and close windows on the Model S with the app? One person gets a finger crushed and there goes the feature. Still bummed about that one! I feel your pain too, before my Model S I had an A6 and my garage door got stuck half way up; didn't see it in my mirrors and backed out only to have it scrape along the top of my roof and almost take out my antenna. Cost a fortune too.
That’s right. There are no discreet codes for garage door openers. It’s a toggle. However if you have the MyQ gateway and the MyQ app the software knows if the door is open or closed. And you can act accordingly from inside your house. Homelink has been working about 95 % of the time from my car. The MyQ software and gateway work perfectly 100% of the time from inside my house. Believe the gateway is under Chamberlain. Software is on the App Store.
FMinMI
Member
The problem with the sensors are that most installers put them just a few inches above the ground. I have moved mine up so that they are at the height of the car that sticks out the most. It will still trip for adults and children over 2 1/2 feet tall BUT will not stop if a small dog/cat/whatever tries to go in when it is coming down, so whenever we close it, I pay attention to it until fully down.
Another issue is force - the one (and only) time I had it 'professionally' installed the downward force to make it reverse was, in my opinion, way too high. Was told it was due to our MI winters and snow that might get built up between the door bottom and the ground. "We set it higher so the door will close". The last several I installed myself and the force I set it to barely compresses my empty tennis shoe when I put it under the door (also try it with my foot in the shoe when I feel it is set correctly).
I have been toying with the idea of connecting 2 sets of sensors - one at the current height and one at about 3 inches from the ground since our son has a Dachshund that he brings over when he visits. Next time I find someone trashing an older Sears unit like I have, I am going to ask for their old sensors to play with.
But for now, unless you have very small children or dogs/cats, I would move those sensors up and decrease the downward force (to trip a reverse)...
I have the same smart door opener and the MyQ software. It would be great to have 2 commands for opening and closing. As an alternative you can perform discreet commands on your phone from inside the car if you have the gateway and the software.
RKBA
Member
I would love it if Tesla added native support for MyQ openers. Although I've had better luck with HomeLink than I have with MyQ the last few weeks. I've been using MyQ for about 5 years now and it's mostly been reliable until recently. And I also learned they got rid of the web portal and you can only do it through the app now, which sucks too.
My solution seems almost too simple....
I open the garage door with the garage door's OPEN button as I enter the garage. I get in my car and back up, and the door closes automatically as I get near the end of my driveway. When I return, the garage door opens as my car gets near it (within about 5 feet).
I open the garage door with the garage door's OPEN button as I enter the garage. I get in my car and back up, and the door closes automatically as I get near the end of my driveway. When I return, the garage door opens as my car gets near it (within about 5 feet).
which is why the solution is a state switch (either a common door/window sensor or a micro switch in the opener) combined with an XOR gate. Then you have an open signal/command and a separate close signal/command. The pulse to change state is only issued if the current state isn't the one that is being commanded.
Looks like this is exactly what MyQ does. But should be easy to roll your own. Alexa or IFTTT should be able to do it also.
