Garage Door Controllers

If you are looking to include your garage door into your network of smart devices, then a Z-Wave garage door controller is the perfect accessory for your needs. A Z-Wave garage door controller will integrate with your Z-Wave network like any other Z-Wave device. You will then connect the garage door controller with your garage door motion. When you go to open or close your garage door using Z-Wave functionality, your Z-Wave hub will send a signal to the smart garage door controller. The controller will then tell the motor to control the garage door.

While this is simple in principle, it turns out there are a lot of things to consider when using Z-Wave garage door controllers. The main consideration is that there are actually a lot of compatibility considerations when using these devices. For example, not every smart Z-Wave garage door controller will work with every Z-Wave hub. There are actually a lot of restrictions. You should consider the Z-Wave controller that you are building around and make sure that the smart garage door controller you want to use is compatible.

You must also consider the fact that some garage door motors will not support Z-Wave garage door controllers. This is often an issue with smart garage door motors, which won't pair nicely with smart garage door controllers. These smart garage door motors often connect with a WIFI network and are designed to be used with their own interactive automation platform. An example are the Chamberlain LiftMaster MyQ Garage Door Motors, which cannot be utilized with most Z-Wave garage door controller. However, there is a Total Connect 2.0 integration for the MyQ devices, which makes better.

Some smart Z-Wave garage door controllers include everything you need to get started. This includes a tilt sensor that you must install on the garage door itself. This tilt sensor lets the Z-Wave garage door controller know the current open/close status for the garage door. This is done by specifically pairing the tilt sensor with the Z-Wave garage door controller. Once you pair the Z-Wave garage door controller with the the Z-Wave hub, the hub itself will be able to determine the status of the garage door based on the activity of the tilt sensor. A smart garage door controller that does this is the Linear GD00Z-4.

The GD00Z works great with most 2GIG and Qolsys Panels. However, this smart garage door controller will not integrate with most Honeywell Wireless Panels. Instead, a Honeywell Wireless Panel will need to use a special Honeywell 5877 Garage Door Relay for garage door operation. The 5877 Relay communicates with your panel through a unique RF signal specifically designed for the Resideo Lyric and Honeywell LYNX Touch Panels. You actually assign this relay to one of the available garage door slots. You must then program a sensor to monitor the garage door status. The sensor needs to be assigned to a very specific wireless zone that is associated directly with that garage door slot. The panel will then use that zone to determine the current status of the garage door. Please note that the hardwired VISTA Panels using a Honeywell Tuxedo Touch Keypad or Honeywell VAM can still support a Linear GD00Z module.

One of the biggest perks that comes with using a smart garage door controller is having the ability to open and close your garage door from virtually anywhere. If you have access to an interactive monitoring and automation platform like Total Connect 2.0 or Alarm.com, then you can start using your smart garage door controller with smart scenes with your system. This will allow you to have your smart garage door controller activate automatically based on a schedule or with certain system events. You can also have your system respond based on activity changes for your garage door.