Garage door opener questions

[ericm]

The new house and shop will have a total of six garage doors with openers. Yes I'm fortunate, I know. Or maybe just stupid. The garage's doors are 10x10 and 8x10 (8 high) while the shop's are 12x12. All will be moderately insulated. I want wall mount jackshaft openers for all of them.

Are Liftmaster 98022 the ones to get?

If I get all Liftmaster, how well will MyQ work with six openers and at least that many vehicles? None of the vehicles will be running the MyQ app. I can probably use a three button remote or the built in homelink in the vehicles that have them and program their home bay in each one, and use the phone app if I need to put them in a different bay.

It's probably better to get all the same make of opener so I can only have one phone app to deal with, right? It looks like Chamberlain owns Liftmaster and does MyQ too so I could probably mix those two. Anything else I should think of?

 

[Torque&Recoil]

Dang, six doors ! Awesome !

I am a fan of jackshaft openers. I installed two Liftmaster jackshaft openers in my outbuilding a few years ago. They are quiet, lift 10x12 insulated doors with ease, and have automatic locks. I am sorry, but I can't help with your connectivity questions (six openers), because my Liftmasters are an older model. I can attest that the installation, reliability, and utility of the Liftmaster's is pretty darn good. You probably should call Chamberlain and ask about MyQ with six openers, because there might not be too many people here with that many openers in play. Otherwise, your plan sounds fine to me.

 

[BurtEggley]

Think about it - how many neighbors have liftmaster, 8? 10? Do they open each others' doors?

 

[Stuart in MN]

It looks like Chamberlain owns Liftmaster and does MyQ too so I could probably mix those two. Anything else I should think of?

That probably explains why when i was shopping for a new opener recently I noticed a Chamberlain brand jackshaft opener for sale at Menards. (I'm on a budget so I opted for the low end chain drive opener.)

 

[ericm]

Think about it - how many neighbors have liftmaster, 8? 10? Do they open each others' doors?

Our new place is a farm surrounded by other farms. There's no neighboring buildings close enough to pick up garage door opener signals.

In any case it's been decades since the authentication between opener and remote was selected using a few dip switches. Modern ones use a rolling code system and have keys unique to each opener. While it's not completely impervious to attack the attacks I know of require some sort of local access, for example to place a key recorder/jammer device between the remote and the building. It's easier for thieves to just cut through the siding to get into the building.

 

[ericm]

Reading more about MyQ it sounds like the software is garbage, like a lot of software. Lots of posts like "my garage door goes up and down all the time" and "my garage door opened by itself and someone stole my car".

Also there are some open source hardware/software implementations like Konnected blaQ and Ratgdo that can hook the openers up to home automation protocols like Homekit. My wife would really like to get into all that but I prefer simple and reliable. We'll see what we actually end up with.

Chamberlain openers have lower limits on the number of remote devices they work with vs the Elite level Liftmaster.

 

[Youngandfree]

Reading more about MyQ it sounds like the software is garbage, like a lot of software. Lots of posts like "my garage door goes up and down all the time" and "my garage door opened by itself and someone stole my car".

Also there are some open source hardware/software implementations like Konnected blaQ and Ratgdo that can hook the openers up to home automation protocols like Homekit. My wife would really like to get into all that but I prefer simple and reliable. We'll see what we actually end up with.

Chamberlain openers have lower limits on the number of remote devices they work with vs the Elite level Liftmaster.

MyQ on my craftsman opener has been great. Never had the software flake out and randomly open my door in the 4 years I've been in this house.

 

[manwithtools]

Reading more about MyQ it sounds like the software is garbage, like a lot of software. Lots of posts like "my garage door goes up and down all the time" and "my garage door opened by itself and someone stole my car".

Also there are some open source hardware/software implementations like Konnected blaQ and Ratgdo that can hook the openers up to home automation protocols like Homekit. My wife would really like to get into all that but I prefer simple and reliable. We'll see what we actually end up with.

Chamberlain openers have lower limits on the number of remote devices they work with vs the Elite level Liftmaster.

I've had the Liftmasters on prior properties, both shaft and chain driven. I'm going with Genie shaft mount on the new shop. No knowledge yet about which might be best, time will tell. The Liftmasters had their issues, but they were a couple of generations older than today's offering.

 

[kbuhagiar]

I've had MyQ from the beginning and I've never had any problems or issues with it.
The beef with MyQ software is that it doesn't integrate with any voice-command platforms (Alexa, Google, etc.) and has made it clear that it intends to stay that way. Depending on where you stand, that could be a plus or a minus.

 

[kbuhagiar]

Reading more about MyQ it sounds like the software is garbage, like a lot of software. Lots of posts like "my garage door goes up and down all the time" and "my garage door opened by itself and someone stole my car".

Most of these issues were not MyQ problems. Early on there was an issue with the wall-mount push buttons (which also acted as the radio receivers) going bad and causing garage doors to randomly open. Not good, but that has since been fixed.

 

[Recoveryman]

Ericm: When I started to program three openers for two doors (just access), I found that when I programed the second opener, the first programmed opener no longer worked. Finally figured it out. I learned that after having programmed the first, I needed to place it in a place such as a metal box so the first one would not be unprogrammed. My wife wasn't using her oven, so I would program a opener and then put it in the oven. Thus, I successfully programmed all three for the approriate doors. Good luck.

Recoveryman

 

[Hooked]

I recently installed one of 98022 openers to replace an older MT5011 chain drive. We really like the new unit. I read some of the issues with MyQ and decided I didn't have a need for it anyway but may set it up after reading the above comments. Our property in fenced with a locked gate so I don't use the lock function on the door nor do I keep the man door locked (or the house......lol).

 

[Glemon]

I have three openers on the MyQ system, took a minute to get them to connect to my Wi-Fi, but once that was done they have worked great. The remotes always work, never have opened or shut randomly on their own. Occasionally from my phone it takes a minute to find the network, but it always does. The shut down automatically at a certain time and the remote open and close from the phone app are great features and have worked flawlessly.

 

[moab11]

I've been running the MyQ app on my openers for about 10 years now and really like it!
Being able to remotely open the garage door for my parents or a friend to drop something off when I'm not home is great, plus getting the alerts when the door is opened and closed.

 

[MackMan]

My old garage door openers (probably from the 90's) would randomly open... Happened a few times while we were out of state, my ADT camera would alert me of motion in the garage and I'd check and see a door open, then panic and try to find a local friend to go by and close it for me. I replaced both of the old ones with new Craftsman MyQ belt drives and have never had one open or close unexpectedly. The app can be a little slow to connect sometimes, but it's better than nothing. I also have this personal condition where 10 minutes after leaving the house I can't remember if I closed the door or not... It's nice to be able to quickly check, and actually be able to close it if I forgot (which I never actually have, but...)

 

[dcg9381]

I don't like "MyQ" - for me it's been a hit or miss on being able to close the garage door. Sometimes I have to restart the app. I have only one MyQ opener.

I was disappointed to find that a 2024 Tesla will not open a standard garage door opener that uses "rolling code" - but it IS integrated with MyQ. Seems like product collusion to me, as they require a subscription for the myQ integration on both sides of that.

Jackshaft opener 100% all day long. Zero trouble from mine. Satisfying "clunk" to let me know it locks.

 

[ericm]

Oh that post made me wonder of MyQ is subscription. I looked it up and:

myQ is free to use for their standard features in their myQ app, such as opening and closing your garage door from the app, check the status of your garage door, and more. However, if you want to link it to select smart home devices and home automation systems such as IFTTT and Google Assistant, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee.


Just in case anyone finds this thread later.

 

[metschers]

I installed five Liftmaster 8500 wall mount jack shaft openers about thirteen years ago.
2- 7x9 home doors
1-8x8 shop door
1-10x10 shop door
1-10x16 shop door
The only issue I’ve had was a problem with 2 of the wall switches and 2 of the deadbolt latch assembly. Liftmaster sent everything to me under warranty.
I use the myQ app daily and it works pretty well unless you have a power outage you then you have to manually open/close all the doors to reset the app. Otherwise it will show a “?” mark for each door.
I think after thirteen plus years now, that’s not to bad.

 

[DrinkMan]

We only have 4 garage doors on our house (plus 2 at our coastal house). 3 are Liftmaster/Chamberlain and 1 is a Genie. All are standard overhead openers. Unfortunately, it requires 3 different openers. 2 of the Chamberlains (downstairs garage) are on 1 remote (we have 2 of those remotes), one Chamberlain (upstairs garage) has a dedicated remote. And we have a universal remote that one button opens one of the downstairs doors and the Genie. We have had strange behaviors trying some of the Liftmaster programmable remotes where if we try to open/close the upstairs door, one of the downstairs doors will open/close at the same time. It gets really crazy when we close the upstairs door and the downstairs door opens. After testing and trying everything, we learned that the order that we program them makes a difference in the behavior. Finally we gave up on the idea of having 1 remote that could be programmed for all 4 door (plus the 2 Genie openers at our coastal home) with all this weird results and threw it away. Now we just make sure the right remote is in the right car and at times, we end up with 2 remotes in a car. I'm looking forward to hearing your results and may someday replace our 6 doors with one model and the "perfect" remote that we could buy one for each car (best result would be doors that I could open from our phones).

 

[ericm]

I’ve got three wall-mount LiftMasters myself, and MyQ handles them just fine. Mixing different brands means juggling multiple apps, which is a headache. If your vehicles have Homelink, it’s a breeze to set up, and you’ll probably never use the phone app unless you really have to. Just be sure you have the clearance for the jackshaft units. It’s been hassle-free for me

Thanks, checked the clearances already. I'll make sure the garage openers will be Liftmaster or Chamberlain to match shop.

 

[dave*99]

I have 4 liftmasters. 2 are jackshaft openers. All installed in 2020. All work great. I started out with the MyQ app. It worked great and I liked the feature that I could program the doors to autoclose at 10PM.

But to make things easier I took the openers off MyQ and linked them to Alarm.com which serves my alarm system. One less app to think about.......and I'm not the only one who lives here....

The openers can't connect to both apps simultaneously. Alarm.com does not support autoclose but it will send me a programmable alert if doors are left open. I can control the doors from a phone app on Alarm.com I pay Alarm.com for their service so there is a fee, but I paid that before connecting the GDOs

It all works well. No issues at all.

 

[jarhead]

How do you like the 98022's?
Been looking at one for my detached shop. The old house we bought has a belt drive in the attached directly under our bedroom, it's quiet and uses MyQ

 

[pvanderlugt]

I have 4 shop doors on MyQ… 2 each 15 YO 8500’s and 2 newer 98022’s.. converted the 8500 to work with MyQ with the new style wall switch…. works great , no issues using my phone, or any of the openers to work the doors… no mystery door movements ( early 8500 did have a problem with the circuit boards, since updated and fixed). No surprises, notifications work great… would do it all over again…. BIG NOTE… they will only work with normal wound , normal height installed doors…. They will NOT work with reverse wound low clearance doors ( cable pulleys on the outside of the track)…