myQ Chamberlain Smart Garage Control Hub & Sensor $16.98 USD + Shipping

are they still charging a subscription fee for the service?

Edited

Read this review first before buying!

Top reviews from the United States
Steve
3.0 out of 5 stars What Chamberlain doesn’t tell you (and should!)
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2018
Style: myQ Smart Garage™ HubVerified Purchase
You’re looking for a solution to open your garage door from a remote location. Package deliveries, the housekeeper, your tool-hoarding neighbor. This is one of several products out there that will do the trick.

If you’re a garage door tech, move along. You know this already. If your a DIY homeowner with grand plans, you must read on - This is what Chamberlain should tell you about their system but doesn’t.

While generally easy to install, without an Introduction or Basic Principles of Operation as a preamble, you will likely have the same issues I did. Read on for the lessons I learned and tips that will save your hair. I will explain each of the major elements of the system and provide suggestions to improve your probability of a successful installation.

The Door sensor: This sensor communicates with the smart hub using Bluetooth to indicate door operation and open/ closed condition. During installation it is paired to the smart hub which is best performed with the unit attached to a closed door between 3’ and 10’ from the smart hub. By design, Bluetooth distance is limited to 33’ but don’t count on consistent operation at this extreme end of the range. Consider this distance during installation and future operation.

Your 2.4ghz cordless phones, baby monitors, etc., can cause Bluetooth interference. Get them out. If your wireless router has a setting for Bluetooth coexistence, enable it.

Your Wireless (Wi-Fi) Network: The Chamberlain documentation says that 2 bars of 2.4ghz WiFi signal is enough for consistent operation. This can be checked by looking on your phone. I say, your mileage may vary. I installed a dedicated access point for the smart hub as I couldn’t get the system to work reliably. A wired connection is also supported.

Configure the smart hub with a static IP Address on your wireless network. This will help ensure the Chamberlain service can reach the smart hub quickly and easily when you activate the door. The additional time for the router or server to lookup a dynamic IP Address and establish a connection could create timing issues.

The Smart Hub: The smart hub includes a Bluetooth receiver for the door sensor, a 2.4 ghz radio to connect to your wireless home network for the system to communicate with Chamberlain’s servers on the internet, and a radio frequency (RF) transmitter to send HomeLink rolling codes to your garage door opener (on a channel in the 300-400mhz range depending on your garage door opener) - just like your remote clicker.

I discovered that the RF transmitter in the smart hub is fairly weak. While your car can transmit a signal a half block away, the smart hub can't. The instructions make a recommendation for placement of the smart hub but will make an explicit statement here - install it within the 4-6’ “recommendation”. Consider this when planning your installation. Apparently, orientation is important for maximum reach. If it doesn’t work reliably, flip it 180 degrees on its mount. Finally, like other garage door remotes, if it loses power you might have to re-program the system with the garage door learn button. They don’t tell you this so I will.

Finally, the smart hub needs to be located where it can communicate with; 1) the door sensor (Bluetooth), 2) the garage door opener (RF) and, 3) your wireless (WiFi) network to work consistently! Each has its own distance limitations so placement of the hub is critical.

Your garage door opener: You obviously have one to which you are adding this system. Do your homework and make sure it’s compatible before you buy. If you’re not positive, call or email them with your make and model numbers in hand. Mine is a Craftsman (Chamberlain) made in 1999 with the door sensors so I was good to go. NOTE: Garage door openers have a limit to the number of remotes they can support. My Craftsman supports 4 remotes. With two HomeLink-connected cars, the remote door opener, and the smart hub I am now at the max allowed by my opener. As a result, I had to decommission my "clickers". Do your homework and factor this into your plans.

The Phone App: A basic, functional, app with a few frills. It works well enough though some settings are best changed on the web site (that I didn’t know about). When installing the smart hub your phone will need to be on your 2.4ghz wireless network to complete the setup. After that, it doesn’t matter what your phone is connected to - your home network or a cell connection. The system can be setup entirely from your phone. I set up an open alert, a close alert and a 10pm door not closed reminder. The alerts can be sent to you via Text or email.

The Chamberlain service: Does not support Alexa or IFTTT (without a fee) and that’s fine for me. I always have my phone handy and I don’t need the security concerns that come with IFTTT. Also, multi-user accounts are not (yet) supported. I just program the wife’s phone with the same username/ password and off we go.

The system is fairly rudimentary and in my opinion could use some added intelligence. If the system components exchanged more status information it could probably avoid situations where the “door [is] not responding” or better error status information could be presented to the user. Sometimes I think it’s just that Chamberlain's servers are slow.

LED & Florescent lights: I hear you asking “why is this important?”. Both can emit radio and electromagnetic interference that can mask the signal between the smart hub and your opener. If you experience unreliable operation - out they go. The last thing I did was remove an LED lamp from a motion sensor fixture nearby and replaced it with a standard incandescent. Since the light is only on for a few minutes I’m not worried about the power usage if it means the garage door will close when commanded.

I give Chamberlain credit for trying to make the install easy. Considering the different operating environments and variables, it’s a challenge to cover all the bases. Unfortunately, a quick start guide simply isn’t enough in this case and the online instructions are no better. They have made some assumptions about what you need to know (or don't need to know). The above precautions should be spelled out to avoid customer frustration and reduce the number of calls to their help desk (and returned product).

The good news for me is that after 2 months of trial and error and multiple calls and emails to their help desk, I think we may finally have all the issues cleared up. My fingers are crossed.

Now you know everything Chamberlain should tell you but doesn't. Best of luck!

Bluetooth, WiFi and RF? What a weird decision.

Looking at the manual here: https://www.chamberlain.com/ca/addition ... /MYQ-G0402 it seems it isn't possible to hardwire this thing.


These myQ Chamberlain openers have problems where defective keypads were opening peoples' doors without asking, so it's a hard pass for me, but I still find it odd that they have a Bluetooth only accessory in a garage.

Most alternatives have hardwired beam-break sensors, hardwired buttons, that sort of thing, so having a Bluetooth only sensor is just so weird.

Bought and installed this unit in June 2021 and it has worked flawlessly since then. No subscription fee and I have never had an issue with interference with my LED lights. Great for remote operation and peace of mind (did I remember to close the garage door when I left?), plus I have it set to close the door automatically at a pre-set time in the evening in case it happened to have been left open. At this price, I'd say its a great buy. I purchased mine through Amazon.ca.. It cost slightly more, but I had it faster...

snoopyben wrote: ↑ $16.98 USD +$9.12 Shipping (Tax/Duties included)

US $26.10 -> CDN: $33.37 (ish)

Canadian Link: https://www.amazon.ca/Smart-Garage-Open ... B08GD3D9YJ
CDN Price: $38.25 + Tax = $44.00 (ish) which appears to be an all time low

You are saving about $10 CDN getting it from US Amazon vs CA Amazon, but you will get it much sooner from CA Amazon. Tough call

I have the black one that i've been trying to sell on kijiji for a while (upgraded my opener that has this feature built in). Hit me up if anyone wants it relatively soon.

Have the older version (black color), works great - bonus for me is there is the app works on apple watch, great for when I'm out walking the dog and its rainy/ snowy outside, easy to open the app on the watch and go in thru the garage.

I had purchased the older black myQ hubs and sensors from Amazon US a few years back and had no trouble connecting to and operating 2 different Chamberlain (1/2 HP and 3/4HP) 10-year old belt openers. In that house I had a wired AP in a bedroom above the garage to ensure good WiFi signals.

I have moved recently and purchased the newer white myQ opener also from Amazon US during their prime day for $16 USD, it took only a few days to deliver so no shipping delay. I installed it with a 20-year-old Garaga/Liftmaster chain opener and no issues either. The router is in the basement but not too far from the garage.

I'm quite happy with either one and found that it works quite well and is a lot better than the dumb sensors (using remote red/green LED to indicate closed/open door) that used to be available before these "smart" myQ sensors became available. Controlling the doors using the app and the notifications are much better than using the wireless keypad.

Both times Amazon Canada prices were at least double what I could get from Amazon US but even now I would not hesitate ordering from the US site for something like this.

Also to chime in, I bought two sets of the older black ones a couple years ago (also when they were on sale at Amazon.com) and just got around to installing them this summer during my garage reno and they work as advertised without any interference or problems.

Cheap and simple solution if your opener is older and didn’t come with a wifi option.

At $16.98 would it make sense to get 2 of these garage hubs and controls to get the 2 sensors, instead of paying for the seperate garage door sensor at $19.99?

Basically use one hub but get 2 sensors for a few bucks less.

Was about to pull the trigger, then noticed that adding a second door sensor costs more than this unit.

Can anyone comment on the differences between this newer white version and the older black version? I'm not finding any differences in features or technologies used. Thanks.

Neocodex wrote: ↑ Was about to pull the trigger, then noticed that adding a second door sensor costs more than this unit.

Just order two.

MisterEMan wrote: ↑ Can anyone comment on the differences between this newer white version and the older black version? I'm not finding any differences in features or technologies used. Thanks.

I didn't find much difference in terms of Tech Specs, however personal experience is that my White one works better than the black one so far.

- I had the black one for 1.5 years, few months ago I got the White one from Amazon.com because I had points on a CC.

- For me the white one works great, I have not had any false alerts yet. I have notifications set to open / close and auto close at 9PM if ever left open and with the black one I had false alerts hand full of times over the 1.5 years that I owned it causing me to panic [before i got a Wyze v3)

- I installed it right above the garage door opener itself and its plugged into the outlet directly above my garage door opener so the distance between the HUB and Opener = <3 feet. Sensor is on top right corner of garage and is normal distance from the opener [in same place as I had the black one]

- Setup was a breeze.

- I do have LED light bulbs in my garage door opener and Koda sensor based shop light that relies on 5GHz for "motion", therefore is always on when ever garage door opens, so far have had 0 interference on the hub or sensor [no false alerts vs my black one].

- My router is about 35feet on the floor above from the hub and 3 walls away.

- I do have Wyze V3 cam in the garage so I always have a visual.

ive had the "Chamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Hub - Wi-Fi enabled Garage Hub with Smartphone Control, Model MYQ-G0301, Old Version," for 3 years and never had an issue. and no subscription fees, just install their app and youre good to go.
the only thing i dont like about their app is there is always a 'notification' and when i check, its them promoting their other products

Bought 2 from US and 1 from CA for me and my parent's house. Thanks, OP.

Will this tell you if your garage door remains open after a set period of time. ie. 15, 30, 45 min?

Not to open/close the door.