We just rolled out a big enhancement to our Konnected Cloud connector for the GDO blaQ with SmartThings and Alexa! Everyone who’s already using the GDO blaQ with Konnected Cloud will automatically get this update over the next few hours.
There are a whole bunch of functionality and integration enhancements in this release, which I’ll detail in just a sec. Also, while testing this release we also made some improvements to the GDO blaQ firmware that add reliability and latency improvements to our cloud integrations, and recommend that all GDO blaQ users update to Konnected project version 1.3.3.x for the GDO blaQ (you can update via the Konnected app wirelessly). The firmware updates are recommended, but not required, for the ST and Alexa new features.
SmartThings new features for GDO blaQ
SmartThings users will now see an ehanced device detail screen when you tap on your GDO blaQ device tile in the SmartThings app:
The top card is the door control – here you can open and close the door, and see the current state of the garage door. Pretty basic and unchanged from the original functionality.
Now we get into the new stuff – first is the Motion sensor. This tracks the state of the motion sensor that may be built-in to your garage opener wall button. If present, this will show motion status in real-time and can be used to trigger automations in SmartThings. If your garage opener wall button does not have a motion sensor, this card will remain greyed out.
Next, we see WiFi signal strength measurement (RSSI). This is expressed as a negative number, which is confusing, I know, but that’s how SmartThings wants to show it. The closer to zero, the better. A decent RSSI is -50 to -70 or so.
The Lock state card represents the remote control lock-out feature on the garage door opener. Locked means that the wireless remotes are locked-out, but you can still open/close the garage using the wall button or GDO blaQ commands/automations. Use this to automate locking out your garage remotes at night for security, especially if parking your car outside in the driveway or in the street.
The Dimmer card actually represents the garage open percentage. SmartThings doesn’t currently have a generic “Level %” control, so we are using a dimmer slider to represent the garage open level. 0% means fully closed, and 100% means fully open. You can slide to open the garage to a specific level, and if the garage is stopped when partially open the level will update in SmartThings after the door stops moving.
The Light control can turn on and off the garage opener light.
The Obstruction contact sensor card shows the state of the IR safety beam sensor across the garage door threshold. You can use this to trigger automations if something is blocking the garage door.
Alexa new features for the GDO blaQ
Alexa users also enjoy access to the same new capabilities via Alexa voice commands, or “utterances” and Alexa routines. Remember, Alexa identifies devices by what you name them, so make sure to name your garage doors something unique and easy to say/hear especially if you have more than one. Alexa will inherit the name of the GDO blaQ device from the Konnected app, or you can also rename it in the Alexa app.
Alexa responds to commands and inquiries to open or close the door (this hasn’t changed):
- Alexa, open the [device name]
- Alexa, close the [device name]
- Alexa, is the [device name] closed?
- Alexa, what’s the status of the [device name]?
Now, you can also try these utterances:
- Alexa, set the [device name] to 50 percent
- Alexa, turn off the light on [device name]
- Alexa, lock the [device name]
- Alexa, is the [device name] unlocked?
In Alexa routines, the GDO blaQ device will also show up as a trigger under Smart Home. You can trigger routines in Alexa off of the garage motion sensor or lock feature.
Let us know!
I know that many of you have been waiting patiently for this rollout. Please use this thread for questions, comments, feedback.
