So I just pulled the trigger on GDO BlaQ for my 2004 Craftsman garage door opener.!
I had like most of us bought MYQ device that was pretty much useless since they locked down with a monthly subscription. So basically only good to control garage door and know the status. That’s it, no automations possible.
Installation wasn’t straight forward. Instructions are perfectly clear and well written. I used Konnected app to add GDO Blaq , i connected to WiFi network ok but then i was stuck in a loop on the page where it is searching for device on my network to add it…even though it says ‘all set’. It wouldn’t add GDO Blaq to my Konnected app. A quick internet search and I fell on a recommendation by Nate to reboot the phone. I did and magic the device appeared in my Konnected app with my other konnect devices.
Installation took less than 10 minutes, 2 wires, double sided tape, plug device in and done.
I refreshed connected service in smartthings and GDo Blaq device appeared. I can now use it for automations, to control light open/close , door open/close, choose percentage to open . And there are also option to connect additional sensors if you want, but not needed in my case.
3 Questions.
Question1: I can no longer control the toggle button for the lights on my wall Craftsman controller , only open/close door toggle works . Is this done on purpose so not to turn off the power to GDO Blaq? Or did I do something wrong? I think it’s still useful to be able to control manually the light with button, or I have to set rules to turn off light after a long period of time if I need to work in the garage for long time.
Question 2: when I set up the device i was able to connect to the device through Konnected app with IP address , but now it says ‘this site can’t be reached’. Once set up I don’t think I need to connect to the device anymore to change anything…but I just wanted to ask.
Question 3; Everytime I go into my device in smartthings I get an error message for 2 seconds saying this device hasn’t updated all of its information status check again later…it’s a little annoying any setting I need to change?
Besides that everything works like a charm. Great addition to any smart home set up.
I am not sure exactly when it started for me but I am seeing the same connection errors as above. I have 3 openers and I can no longer access the device web page for any of them from within the app or from a browser. I have tried rebooting the devices, etc.
I have both alarm panel and GDO blaQ opener devices all showing the blue checkmarks within the app.
Interestingly I can still access the alarm panel web pages. Not sure if its relevant but from within the app the alarm panels are displaying in the format ip address:port (i.e. 111.111.11.111:11111) whereas my openers are only displaying ip address (i.e. 111.111.11.111).
I had rebuilt and updated the firmware on all my GDO blaQ opener devices. When doing so I did not pay attention and when rebuilding the firmware the Local Web Page/api setting defaulted to Disabled where it was previously Enabled. I rebuilt the firmware again with this setting enabled and solved my issue.
A little misleading that the rebuild flipped my previous setting but I should also have paid closer attention.
I am not using any local automations. I am using smarthings. So everything is on the cloud. If I want to access GDo Blaq web page do I need to enable local API ?
If it’s by design it’s not very good. I had to by a separate button to control it manually. A little annoying and counter intuitive…it’s the only con to this unit.
On the older analog wall buttons, the light and lock secondary buttons do unfortunately become disabled when a GDO blaQ is connected. This is because the GDO blaQ essentially emulates a digital wall button, and Chamberlain/Liftmaster’s digital protocol technically cannot co-exist with the analog protocol.
So, if you have a Security+1.0 garage opener with an analog wall button, and need your light and lock physical buttons back, the best solution is to upgrade the wall button to the 889LM digital wall panel.
