Chamberlain MyQ
Background
In the summer of 2019, I purchased Chamberlain MyQ to complement my Chamberlain garage door opener.
“MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener Chamberlain MYQ-G0301 - Wireless & Wi-Fi enabled Garage Hub with Smartphone Control, 1 Pack, Black”) MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener Chamberlain MYQ-G0301 - Wireless & Wi-Fi enabled Garage Hub with Smartphone Control, 1 Pack, Black MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener Chamberlain MYQ-G0301 - Wireless & Wi-Fi enabled Garage Hub with Smartphone Control, 1 Pack, Black - - Amazon.com https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B075H7Z5L8
Setup
I was pleasantly surprised and the ease of setup with my house. A step-by-step wizard walked you through:
- Updating the device network settings
- Associating it with an account
- Mounting and linking an open/close sensor
- Learning your garage door opener
In my case, I had no problems and was easily able to learn my garage…in this case it was the same manufacturer and was a recent model.
Integration
SmartThings
Basically, integration is non-existent. There were a few community-driven implementations, but there has never been anything officially supported.
Amazon
MyQ has first class support for Alexa. However, their key differentiation is integration with Amazon Key for Garage deliveries. This is a great concept. Basically, paired with some camera system such as Ring, you can enable deliveries directly inside your garage. This immediately secures your packages from prying eyes.
Unfortunately, availability is geographically limited. I expect this to expand.
For Alexa, they natively only support closing the door. This is a good thing…it prevents a thief with a loud voice from using an “open sesame” vulnerability.
IFTTT
This was supported from day 1. Using IFTTT was a viable, while indirect, approach for a SmartThings integration.
Security & Sharing
MyQ did a decent job here. The app applies biometric controls (e.g. face recognition).
A few times I have invited friends to pet sit. I invited and granted them access to my garage door a limited amount of time. The only thing that was a little confusing with the visitor had to change “locations” to see our door. That was not immediately obvious to them.
Sensor
I did not experience any false positives/negatives on detecting if the door was open or closed. It is a uses a gravity to determine whether it horizontal (open) or vertical (closed).
Battery life is about 3 or 4 months for the sensor. Otherwise, it’s rock solid.