Garage door opener

[PhillyDoc]

I can tell you in 4 years of using MyQ over Wi-Fi I’ve never had an issue with it.

Congratulations! I am so happy for you.
I can tell you in 2 years of using MyQ, it works about 70% of the time! Plenty of forums report similar problems. My garage door opener is within 100% signal strength of the Wifi.

I used to think it had something to do with Wifi/Cellular competing with one another! Even Amazon Key sometimes has to use the keypad to close instead of their app. It is just not perfect.

So once again, it is awesome that MyQ works for other people 100% of the time, although I'd prefer a voice command instead of fumbling through app screens. It doesn't for me, so I appreciate and value the HomeLink.

 

[Runt8]

I mentioned that I do not like using the visor clicker style openers because I had someone in the past break into my car, steal my registration and garage door opener out of my car, and a couple days later break into my garage.

In Colorado they now give you two copies of the registration, one with an address and one without, along with a warning to keep the one without the address in your glovebox.

 

[WilliamG]

Congratulations! I am so happy for you.
I can tell you in 2 years of using MyQ, it works about 70% of the time! Plenty of forums report similar problems. My garage door opener is within 100% signal strength of the Wifi.

I used to think it had something to do with Wifi/Cellular competing with one another! Even Amazon Key sometimes has to use the keypad to close instead of their app. It is just not perfect.

So once again, it is awesome that MyQ works for other people 100% of the time, although I'd prefer a voice command instead of fumbling through app screens. It doesn't for me, so I appreciate and value the HomeLink.

I absolutely hear you. People complain about HomeLink not working for them either without being super close to the garage door. I’ve had no issues with this, but there are lots of complaints, there, too.

At the end of the day, as I mentioned earlier, more options are better, especially if they bring meaningful and positive benefits to a lot of people.

 

[PhillyDoc]

I absolutely hear you. People complain about HomeLink not working for them either without being super close to the garage door. I’ve had no issues with this, but there are lots of complaints, there, too.

At the end of the day, as I mentioned earlier, more options are better, especially if they bring meaningful and positive benefits to a lot of people.

If my HomeLink didn't work like it should, I would be right here bitching about it instead! Ideally would be nice if it just came with the car, but apparently they have to pay for a licensing fee for every module Tesla puts in a car, whether it is used or not!!

 

[Kennymb5384]

Depending on your garage door opener you may be able to clear the unit and program new "clickers" to use.

Yeah, I have Homelink now, so I am good to go. Cleared the codes and reprogrammed for the wife’s car!

 

[JPP]

I mentioned that I do not like using the visor clicker style openers because I had someone in the past break into my car, steal my registration and garage door opener out of my car, and a couple days later break into my garage.

BTW slightly off topic--for those of you who put their home address into any auto nav system, always enter an address down the street from your home. Never enter your real address. Perps can copy your address and then burgle you.

 

[ReddykwRun]

I did not notice the clicker was gone. I swap with the wife on who parks in the garage. Usually I have her park in the garage because she takes the kids to school early, and doesn’t have to be in the rain. I knew they took the registration, but didn’t notice the clicker was gone...

Hey, while we are talking about that "other" door most of us use to enter our homes but some seldom lock I would recommend installing a push-button key pad lock on your door between the garage and home, no need to fiddle with keys and it's a dead bolt style lock that locks also on the inside with the flip of a leaver. Also, I would strongly recommend using some concrete tie wire a.k.a. "bailing wire" available at the hardware store and making a "fish-proof" wire "rail" coming off your emergency door release pull handle where it's attached to the door trolley. You can pop open a garage door in just seconds by using a wooden wedge and a thief can "fish" the pull rope and enter your garage. Take a double length of wire and run it through the hole on the door trolley, with two hands double twist it down (giving it rigid strength) and attach it to the lower end of the black steel arm where it bends 90 degrees before it connects to the anchor plate on the door. Form this wire rail in a slight bow fashion. Use some bread tie wires to use as "break-away" wires and now attach you emergency door pull rope and handle to the wire in about 3 spots to remove any slack. If done correct it's damm impossible to "fish" the rope from the outside. If ever necessary you can still reach up from inside the garage yourself and pull the handle and it will work as designed to disengage the door trolley from the lift mechanism.

 

[Kennymb5384]

Hey, while we are talking about that "other" door most of us use to enter our homes but some seldom lock I would recommend installing a push-button key pad lock on your door between the garage and home, no need to fiddle with keys and it's a dead bolt style lock that locks also on the inside with the flip of a leaver. Also, I would strongly recommend using some concrete tie wire a.k.a. "bailing wire" available at the hardware store and making a "fish-proof" wire "rail" coming off your emergency door release pull handle where it's attached to the door trolley. You can pop open a garage door in just seconds by using a wooden wedge and a thief can "fish" the pull rope and enter your garage. Take a double length of wire and run it through the hole on the door trolley, with two hands double twist it down (giving it rigid strength) and attach it to the lower end of the black steel arm where it bends 90 degrees before it connects to the anchor plate on the door. Form this wire rail in a slight bow fashion. Use some bread tie wires to use as "break-away" wires and now attach you emergency door pull rope and handle to the wire in about 3 spots to remove any slack. If done correct it's damm impossible to "fish" the rope from the outside. If ever necessary you can still reach up from inside the garage yourself and pull the handle and it will work as designed to disengage the door trolley from the lift mechanism.

Great suggestions! While I do not have a keypad lock on my garage door leading into my house, I do have an alarm sensor on that door. The keypad lock is a great idea. Especially since I have one on my deadbolt and do not carry keys anymore!

 

[I'm_Jp]

I use Nexx Garage, and basically use geo-fencing all the time. No buttons needed. Works with alexa.

 

[ReddykwRun]

BTW slightly off topic--for those of you who put their home address into any auto nav system, always enter an address down the street from your home. Never enter your real address. Perps can copy your address and then burgle you.

Sad for them burglars. Here in Lower Alabama they get ventilated and take the room temperature challenge.

 

[DMLou]

Sad for them burglars. Here in Lower Alabama they get ventilated and take the room temperature challenge.

I'd imagine that even down there, they'd only get ventilated if the home owner is actually home. Of course, breaking into a home just about anywhere when the owner is home is pretty much Darwin Awards material as you never know if the owner is packing heat.

 

[ReddykwRun]

I'd imagine that even down there, they'd only get ventilated if the home owner is actually home. Of course, breaking into a home just about anywhere when the owner is home is pretty much Darwin Awards material as you never know if the owner is packing heat.

A sign of the times we live in sad to say. I live way out in the country on a dead-end road on several acres and last year some fool attempted to open the front door at 5:AM during the Christmas Holidays, I was awake and my 65-pound Australian Shepard sleeps with his back facing me on the floor in my bedroom, always diligent and alert and on guard, we both heard the door noise and he and I both knew it was not two guys on bicycles in white shirts wanting to talk. Let's just say I keep the doors locked for their protection. He wanted a piece of whoever and I activated my 2nd Amendment defense system. While I am away cameras and motion detectors fill in the gap and at night I now have motion sensor lights all around the outside of the house. I pity the fool that comes calling as the first one did. The way my ICF home is constructed you have no way of knowing if someone is home or not so it is always a gamble.

 

[Dan203]

I bought the $300 option. Was worth it. The GPS enabled open/close is pretty cool.

 

[DMLou]

I bought the $300 option. Was worth it. The GPS enabled open/close is pretty cool.

I'm going to do so as well once I get my VIN. I've had many near panic attacks after leaving my house about to go on vacation or something and worrying that I left the garage door open. $300 is worth it to keep my blood pressure down.

If it wasn't for that GPS option, I probably would have skipped it.

 

[Dan203]

I'm going to do so as well once I get my VIN. I've had many near panic attacks after leaving my house about to go on vacation or something and worrying that I left the garage door open. $300 is worth it to keep my blood pressure down.

If it wasn't for that GPS option, I probably would have skipped it.

You should buy one of these...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075H7Z5L8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It works with almost any garage door opener and can tell you if the garage is open or closed via an app, and allow you yo close it from anywhere in the world.

I ended up buying a MyQ opener, but I bought one of those for my Sister who has like a 20 old opener and it still works great. Wasn’t hard to install either.

One tip though.... ignore the book and just use the app. The app has step by step instructions for installation that actually make sense. The little book is gibberish.

 

[DMLou]

You should buy one of these...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075H7Z5L8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It works with almost any garage door opener and can tell you if the garage is open or closed via an app, and allow you yo close it from anywhere in the world.

I ended up buying a MyQ opener, but I bought one of those for my Sister who has like a 20 old opener and it still works great. Wasn’t hard to install either.

One tip though.... ignore the book and just use the app. The app has step by step instructions for installation that actually make sense. The little book is gibberish.

Ah, no. No way in hell am I going to use anything that puts my garage door opener on the internet. I was given the option to do so when I had my new garage door opener installed a few years back and I unequivocally said no. The security for these sorts of devices is an absolute dumpster fire.

 

[Dan203]

Ah, no. No way in hell am I going to use anything that puts my garage door opener on the internet. I was given the option to do so when I had my new garage door opener installed a few years back and I unequivocally said no. The security for these sorts of devices is an absolute dumpster fire.

You realize garage doors aren't secure no matter what right? There are ways to hack the main opening mechanism that's much, much, easier than hacking the internet connected part if someone really wants to get in. In fact the internet part might actually help prevent that as you can set it to notify you every time the door is opened. So if it's opened and you're not home you'd actually get an alert.

 

[DMLou]

You realize garage doors aren't secure no matter what right? There are ways to hack the main opening mechanism that's much, much, easier than hacking the internet connected part if someone really wants to get in. In fact the internet part might actually help prevent that as you can set it to notify you every time the door is opened. So if it's opened and you're not home you'd actually get an alert.

While that's true, that would at least require some sort of geographic proximity to my home. With an internet connection, any yahoo anywhere can breach whatever server is used to host the app's interface, get my private data from there, and do who knows what with it in addition to maybe remotely opening my door.

No thanks. I'll prefer to keep my potential attack surface smaller. It's the same reason I don't use Nest thermostats, Ring doorbells, and the like.

 

[Dan203]

While that's true, that would at least require some sort of geographic proximity to my home. With an internet connection, any yahoo anywhere can breach whatever server is used to host the app's interface, get my private data from there, and do who knows what with it in addition to maybe remotely opening my door.

No thanks. I'll prefer to keep my potential attack surface smaller. It's the same reason I don't use Nest thermostats, Ring doorbells, and the like.

If they're not in proximity to your home what good would it do for them to open your door? Just to f*ck with you?

Hacking into a server like that is not as easy as the media makes it seem. So the few people in the world capable of doing it typically hit high value targets. Not a lot of value in being able to open/close someone's garage door remotely if they don't actually live anywhere near you.

As for personal information.... all they have is my name, email and a random password from LastPass. They don't even have my address so even if a hacker got into my account they wouldn't know where my house even was. So worst case scenario is they open my door remotely just to f*ck with me, I get an alert on my phone that it's open so I close it. Then I change my password and they're done. Really no security risk at all.

It would be easier for someone to steal your Tesla. If I were to figure out your Tesla password I could get the exact location of your car, remotely unlock it, remotely start it and drive it away.

 

[Sans-gas]

I use the Home Link Garage opening system and love it. Every once in a while it won’t open the garage (or close it), but it’s pretty darn seamless and functional. I also push the wall button to open the garage door before I get in my car. I’ve used the skip button a couple times when I’m approaching the drive and see door’s open and I don’t want to interfere with whatever is going on within. There’s plenty or warning if you look at your screen as you approach.