Garage Door Opener with Battery Backup (Not Tesla Specific)

[Kevy Baby]

Since this is not specific to Tesla, if this is not allowed, please remove (and accept my apologies).

Due to a number of break-ins into our garage via picking of the key for the emergency release cable, I am considering getting a garage door opener with a battery backup (that would open the door in the event of a power outage). Anyone have any suggestions? I will be installing a padlock over the key, but would like to look at these and folks here are generally more knowledgeable than most.

Whether it has Homelink capability is irrelevant to me. I do not have wifi in the garage and don't see getting the Tesla Garage Door Opener.

We live in a condo with the garage separate from our unit and the only access into the garage is the large roll-up door.

 

[idealsol]

I replaced an old chain drive with a Chamberlain
I believe the model # was B970
Paid about $245
It works perfectly with my Model S, it’s super quiet, and has battery backup
Came with 2 remotes plus a wireless keypad for easy entry from outside
It has ample power for our 2 car garage
Very happy with it
I’ve tested the battery backup and it works well, albeit much slower than AC power

 

[drtimhill]

I have a couple of LiftMaster Elite 8550W openers, the belt drive is nice and quiet, and they both have battery backup (and have been used as such on several occasions when we lost power).

Incidentally, the Tesla HomeLink doesnt use WiFi to open the garage doors .. its talks directly to the opener, so if you did get it, it would work with the LiftMaster.

 

[jjrandorin]

I am a huge fan of liftmaster (which is chamberlain). The model I have has a battery backup built into it, so it will open without power. As @idealsol mentions, it opens much slower on battery backup, but it DOES open when the home has no power. I actually had to use that feature, before I got my powerwalls.

I "think" with chamberlain / liftmaster (same company owns both) is that "liftmaster" is the brand that professional installers use, and chamberlain is the one for DIY ers. One of the differences, I believe, is the fact that on the liftmaster, the rail is one piece, and I think on the chamberlain, the rail is in multiple pieces so that the box fits in a hardware store.

I have the same one @drtimhill does (that exact brand)

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(moderator note: This isnt the correct section for this topic... and unfortunately there isnt a specific section in TMC that I can think of to put this post (other than off topic), even though on a personal note I understand why you posted it here. What I decided to do is to move it to off topic, but with a several day re direct from here, so hopefully you get some feedback that helps you on it.)

 

[Kevy Baby]

(moderator note: This isnt the correct section for this topic... and unfortunately there isnt a specific section in TMC that I can think of to put this post (other than off topic), even though on a personal note I understand why you posted it here. What I decided to do is to move it to off topic, but with a several day re direct from here, so hopefully you get some feedback that helps you on it.)

Thank you!

 

[S&B's M3]

I have a Chamberlain with MyQ. What I really like about it is that you can control it from your phone from virtually anywhere. If you have a delivery due, hit open, hit close and the house is still secure. And at anytime you can check the status (see PIC below). In my case it was opened and then closed about an hour ago. You just swipe the garage door PIC up or down and it open or closes. There's also an external keypad is you need to give access to anyone on a case by case or long term basis (like my kids).

 

[Kevy Baby]

I have a Chamberlain with MyQ.

Is there a mode which would send you a message if it gets opened?

 

[S&B's M3]

Is there a mode which would send you a message if it gets opened?

Yes. It appears as an icon up by the Tesla icon at the top or on the center of the screen.

 

[brkaus]

I have a liftmaster 8500 with the optional 475LM battery backup unit and the optional 819LMB HomeKit bridge. Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

The jackshaft openers have a deadbolt slide type lock on the track when they are locked.

Do you have any way into the garage if the opener fails? The rope release on a jackshaft opener is not in the door but hangs under the opener that sits on the door spring shaft along the side of the door. I guess one of those key pull strings could be put through the wall and covered with something decorative.

I have the jackshaft opener because I have high lift doors that open all the way to the 14 ft ceiling. Figure it will be nice to have the clearance if I ever put in an auto lift.

 

[brkaus]

They do make an emergency release with a cylinder key -
Marantec Vault Release Garage Application 96290

Don't think that helps the slide a hook between the door and the wall and catch the string trick.

 

[brkaus]

Thinking about it more - an 8500 type opener would be bad if there is no other access. Even if you could put a key on the pull string, there is no way to activate the dead bolt slide if the opener breaks.

Would it break, hopefully not... but I'm not sure what you would do if it did break.

 

[Kevy Baby]

Yes. It appears as an icon up by the Tesla icon at the top or on the center of the screen.

I meant a notification to my phone? Being a bit pessimistic, I was hoping for a notification in the event someone broke into my garage again. This is by no means a deal-breaker; just curious.

 

[Kevy Baby]

@idealsol @drtimhill @jjrandorin @S&B's M3 @brkaus - I really appreciate your insights. Thank you for taking the time to help!

 

[jjrandorin]

Is there a mode which would send you a message if it gets opened?

Yeah, I think by default it lets you know if its been open for more than 5 minutes. Really nice for those "did I forget to close the garage door?" moments.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I have a liftmaster 8500 with the optional 475LM battery backup unit and the optional 819LMB HomeKit bridge. Overall I'm pretty happy with it..

We have three LiftMaster 8500 and are 100% satisfied with them. While they have room for batteries, we opted not to put batteries in ours since we have solar and Powerwalls. If the OP has Powerwalls, he might be able to save a few bucks and be able to skip the batteries and ongoing battery replacements.

I have a Chamberlain with MyQ. What I really like about it is that you can control it from your phone from virtually anywhere. If you have a delivery due, hit open, hit close and the house is still secure. And at anytime you can check the status (see PIC below). In my case it was opened and then closed about an hour ago. You just swipe the garage door PIC up or down and it open or closes. There's also an external keypad is you need to give access to anyone on a case by case or long term basis (like my kids).

View attachment 633480

Amazon has Amazon Key and other companies have a similar service which allows them to open your garage when they have a delivery. It is nice that you can do it manually as well.

Is there a mode which would send you a message if it gets opened?

Yes, you can have the MyQ app send notifications when doors are opened, closed or unexpectedly stopped. You can schedule it so notifications are only sent for certain days and times if you don't want to receive them 24/7. You can also set the door to automatically close after 1, 5 or 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can set it to close at a set time each night. One of the drivers in our household is notorious for forgetting to close the garage door so we hear the warning beeps indicating automatic closing several times per week. It's nice having this automatic feature as we never have to worry about the garage door being left open.

 

[brkaus]

I meant a notification to my phone? Being a bit pessimistic, I was hoping for a notification in the event someone broke into my garage again. This is by no means a deal-breaker; just curious.

The MyQ notification on the phone can be set to trigger when the door opens (or open for x minutes). But it wouldn’t know if the emergency string was pulled to disconnect the opener.

@MorrisonHiker I haven't spent much time debugging, but I feel there is bug lurking. I sometimes get notifications about my door being open for 30 minutes when it was just opened. I suspect each time the door is opened it starts a timer for 30 minutes. At the end of the timer it checks - door open - alert! It doesn't reset the timer when the door is closed. Just a gut feel - easy to test, I just haven't done it yet.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

The MyQ notification on the phone can be set to trigger when the door opens (or open for x minutes). But it wouldn’t know if the emergency string was pulled to disconnect the opener.

@MorrisonHiker I haven't spent much time debugging, but I feel there is bug lurking. I sometimes get notifications about my door being open for 30 minutes when it was just opened. I suspect each time the door is opened it starts a timer for 30 minutes. At the end of the timer it checks - door open - alert! It doesn't reset the timer when the door is closed. Just a gut feel - easy to test, I just haven't done it yet.

Fortunately, we haven't seen that bug. Maybe try adjusting the close position slightly? We did have one garage door which would constantly reopen but we adjusted the close position and it fixed that.

 

[S&B's M3]

Ok, so here's the notifications I get when the door opens and closes:

The first is in the top banner with a secondary notice on the MyQ app icon:

And the second is what appears when I open the notifications:

 

[Mishakim]

I meant a notification to my phone? Being a bit pessimistic, I was hoping for a notification in the event someone broke into my garage again. This is by no means a deal-breaker; just curious.

Just FYI, the Chamberlain openers being discussed use motor position to determine door position, so they only alert you if the door is opened by the opener, not if the emergency pull is used, or if it is somehow forced. Aftermarket smart garage door kits, on the other hand, use a position sensor -- either a tilt sensor, or a pair of sensors that separate when opened, just like a house door. That would work for detecting a break-in.
Also, you mentioned no WiFi in the garage -- Chamberlain needs that for sending you the alerts, so you'll need their MyQ Home Bridge, which uses RF Remote Control to control the opener, and can be located in the house where you have WiFi. It's for openers that "don't have built-in WiFi", but is also good for new openers that have it, but can't use it at their location. (Be sure to keep the space in the name, or you'll get Homebridge, the tool for getting unsupported things into Apple HomeKit, which does have a Chamberlain MyQ plugin)

 

[Kevy Baby]

Thanks again to everyone who has responded - there has been some great info here. My temporary solution was to put a gate latch with padlock over the emergency pull key (since it is apparently quite easy to pick). Sure, it's ugly, but it is in the alley so I don't care.

I will give our local (Brea, CA) PD a lot of credit. After the first break-in, they came out to take a full report and dusted for fingerprints wherever they could.