Using a relay to control an external garage light with the GDO blaQ

Konnected Garage Door Opener
,
1

I absolutely DETEST the clicky 827LM LED light that came with my 8500w and would like to have the blaQ drive a relay to turn on a different light instead. The electrical connection seems to be easy enough (from above use Input 1 GPIO5 as output) but I’m not sure where in the esphome yaml the definition would go. I imagine we’d have a configurable 30 second timer when it opens - just not sure in relation to the packages where it would be integrated.

BTW I’m going to use this light - it’s 100x nicer looking… 12 inch Square LED Ceiling Light, 3200LM 24W 5000K DayLight Super Bright Ceiling Lights, White Flush Mount LED Lamp, Recessed Lighting fixtures for Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom Hallway Office Garage - Amazon.com

Sorry to partially hijack the thread but this may be useful for someone else.

Using Input 1 & 2 as Outputs to Operate Garage Door Bolt
2

Hey @David_Stewart, yes adding a relay for an external light should be pretty simple. The YAML doesn’t have to go anywhere specific. The best practice is to adopt the configuration into ESPHome builder and this will auto-generate a config file that references our master config file on GitHub.

Then, you just add additional features at the bottom of the file. You can also use the !extend keyword to modify/extend the exiting component. In your use case, to add an external on/off light, it should be as simple as dropping something like this anywhere in the config file:

output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: $input1
    id: io_1

light:
  - platform: binary
    name: Garage Light
    output: io_1

This would add an additional light entity in Home Assistant to control your external light. It wouldn’t override the internal light control of the GDO blaQ.

1 Like
3

I think that this might work - at least it compiles… this will be just another package included in the main GDOv2-Q.yaml file… thoughts?

output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: $input1
    id: my_garage_light_output

light:
  - platform: binary
    name: My Garage Light
    id: my_garage_light
    output: my_garage_light_output

binary_sensor:
  - platform: template
    id: motor_light_trigger
    internal: true
    lambda: |-
      return id(gdo_motor).state;
    filters:
      - delayed_off: 300s  # Keep light on for 5 minutes after motor stops
    on_state:
      then:
        - if:
            condition:
              binary_sensor.is_on: motor_light_trigger
            then:
              - light.turn_on:
                  id: my_garage_light
            else:
              - light.turn_off:
                  id: my_garage_light
4

@David_Stewart I moved this to a separate thread to not totally hijack the original topic.

Regarding where to put the code – the best practice is to adopt the device in ESPHome Builder, then just stick your customizations at the bottom of that adopted config, like this:

Screenshot 2025-12-10 at 5.19.32 PM
Screenshot 2025-12-10 at 5.19.32 PM891×446 36.8 KB

If you’re compiling the firmware directly from our garage-door-GDOv2-Q.yaml file directly, that’s totally acceptable, and yes you can add it as another package if you’re doing it that way.

I think what you’ve got will work, but I think there’s a simpler way, without creating a new sensor, by just extending the current gdo_motor binary sensor with an on_state trigger, and making the light entity turn off by itself via an on_turn_on trigger. Off-the-cuff example:

light:
  - platform: binary
    name: My Garage Light
    id: my_garage_light
    output: my_garage_light_output
    on_turn_on:
      - delay: 5min
      - light.turn_off: my_garage_light

binary_sensor:
  - id: !extend gdo_motor
    on_state:
      then:
        - if:
            condition:
              binary_sensor.is_on: gdo_motor
            then:
              - light.turn_on: my_garage_light