Genie garage door button protocol

[JackOfDiamonds]

Once upon a time, men were men and garage door opener buttons were simple momentary switches. Closing the circuit triggered the opener.

I just put in a new Genie garage door opener to replace my prehistoric Craftsman opener. The old opener used the classic pushbuttons, so I was able to have multiple buttons in multiple locations by wiring multiple buttons in a bridge so that any one of them closing would trigger the opener. But my new opener came with this gem attached. It not only triggers the opener, it also turns the light on and off, locks it somehow....all using the same 2 wires.



How is this sorcery achieved? Does it send some protocol like I2C over the wires? Does it put different values of resistance between the wires, like USB protocol sensing? Morse code? Pulse coding like the old rotary phones? Modem noise? And more importantly, can I chain multiple units somehow?

 

[klassenl]

Once upon a time, men were men and garage door opener buttons were simple momentary switches. Closing the circuit triggered the opener.

How is this sorcery achieved?

It's actually not sorcery it's black magic.

Does it send some protocol like I2C over the wires? Does it put different values of resistance between the wires, like USB protocol sensing? Morse code? Pulse coding like the old rotary phones? Modem noise? And more importantly, can I chain multiple units somehow?

If it's not black magic Morse code is definitely the next option.

 

[BrandonV]

It just a series of 24V pulses with differing pulse widths and periods for each function.

 

[BillD]

Does it put different values of resistance between the wires

This. My 25 year old Genie that has the same functionality (1) open/close (2) light (3) lock uses resistors.

 

[Zeke]

Be thankful it's that simple.

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

Well, if it's resistors, then wiring multiple consoles together means any of the resistor functions will probably not work or will be unpredictable if you program them on both consoles, because the resistor values will interfere. But any resistance value at all is probably "safe" and not likely to break anything. If the big button happens to be a dead short, which would be smart because it would mean the opener would work with regular pushbuttons, then if I wire in another pushbutton it should work just the same as the main one and not impact the other functions. I guess the only way to know is to test it.

 

[kbs2244]

call Genie install support
you cannot be the first guy with this question
they will have a how to answer

 

[BillD]

Well, if it's resistors, then wiring multiple consoles together means any of the resistor functions will probably not work

The buttons are momentary switches, so unless you will be pressing the open/close button on multiple pads it should work just fine. The "lock" feature in theory can interact with each other, since they are not momentary switches, but I'd bet the pads are designed to be paralleled so all features should work just fine.

 

[Higgy1300]

I just replaced my 23 year old craftsman with a genie. reused All wiring. I will say it’s is quiet.

 

[cr-garagedoor]

It's likely that the accessory you received with your new Genie garage door opener is a multi-function wall console. These consoles are designed to control various features of the garage door opener, including opening and closing the door, controlling the lights, and possibly engaging a lock feature, all through the same two wires.
To achieve these functions with just two wires, the wall console and the garage door opener use a proprietary communication protocol. This protocol is not likely to be something as complex as I2C or USB, but rather a simpler and custom communication scheme specific to Genie garage door openers.

 

[MovingAlong]

Once upon a time, men were men and garage door opener buttons were simple momentary switches. Closing the circuit triggered the opener.

I just put in a new Genie garage door opener to replace my prehistoric Craftsman opener. The old opener used the classic pushbuttons, so I was able to have multiple buttons in multiple locations by wiring multiple buttons in a bridge so that any one of them closing would trigger the opener. But my new opener came with this gem attached. It not only triggers the opener, it also turns the light on and off, locks it somehow....all using the same 2 wires.



How is this sorcery achieved? Does it send some protocol like I2C over the wires? Does it put different values of resistance between the wires, like USB protocol sensing? Morse code? Pulse coding like the old rotary phones? Modem noise? And more importantly, can I chain multiple units somehow?

Here is your answer on Genie's site. Well, the answer to your last question anyways...