This post is sponsored by Genie®.
Last week we talked about our garage and how we'll be taking this space on over the next couple months. We shared the installation of our new garage doors, and now we're ready to show you the other part of that project - the openers.
Since moving in to this home 4 1/2 years ago, we have never had two garage door openers that were fully operational at the same time. One was broken so we replaced it, but we lost the remote to the other. So we bought a remote for that one, then the new opener had an issue with the rail so it wouldn't close by itself. Imagine pulling out from the garage, pressing the button, then having to run out of the car quick enough to coax the door down manually the rest of the way. So convenient. Then this, then that, long story long it just became part of our routine. We've parked our cars in the driveway outside far more nights than they've been parked in the garage itself.
Enter our new door openers and they are so the opposite of our terrible garage experience up to this point, it's crazy. And it really involves two parts.
First, the openers themselves. To me, the sound of a garage door opening is like unto nails on a chalkboard. I knew that when we swapped out our openers, I wanted them to be (a) reliable, and (b) quiet. Of course you can't beat the Genie brand, and when they offered to send us their ultra-quiet Stealthdrive® garage door openers (available at Lowe's), it was exactly what I was looking for. They are so quiet, include a variety of controls, and even include a backup battery if the power goes out.
But the second part is what I'm really excited about. You've heard me talk a lot about home automation and upgrading to "smart" options when it makes sense for you. Genie came out with a device that makes any Genie opener a "smart" opener (and even many non-Genie openers), and it's called the Aladdin Connect®.
The Aladdin Connect is a garage door opener control panel that can control up to three garage doors, and connects directly to your Wi-Fi. When you download the Aladdin Connect app on your device, you can receive alerts for when your doors are opened, how they're being opened (which remotes are being used, for example), and you can even open them from where you are, using your smartphone--which means, no more giving codes out.
The Aladdin Connect only took about 5 minutes to set up, and another 5 to mount in place. It can either replace your current garage door buttons and serve both purposes (wired and wireless control), or can be mounted on the supports for the garage door opener and used mainly for the wireless capabilities. It does need to be plugged in to an outlet, so wherever you have an outlet is where you'll want to put it. We don't have an outlet close to where our current buttons are, so we mounted the Aladdin Connect up by the opener, but we'd love to add an outlet and use it in place of our current buttons when we do some other work in the garage.
And perhaps my favorite thing about the Aladdin Connect is, you don't necessarily need new garage door openers in order to use it. You don't even necessarily need to have Genie brand garage door openers, either! Each Aladdin Connect kit comes with one sensor, and you can purchase additional sensors for each garage door in your home.
Of course, when I talk about these smart device upgrades we often receive the question, "But is that really necessary?" For us, it has given us a lot of freedom to leave the house.
We've been able to open our garage door while Jules and I were at a business lunch, so the delivery guy didn't have to leave our boxes out in the snow. And on our home camera that we also have set up in the garage, we could see when he was done with the delivery and close the door behind him.
We've also been able to open the garage door for friends who needed to borrow some of our tools while we were out, and family who wanted to borrow the 4-wheeler for an afternoon while we were up at the cabin, without giving out the code to the exterior pad opener. Everyone is so much on the go nowadays, being able to monitor and control various access points of your home remotely provides us so much peace of mind.
Check out more of what Genie® has going on, and learn more about the Aladdin Connect on Genie's website.
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These are handy. We have a chamberlain, and I added the MyQ hub because our garage door sometimes opened on its own (I assume that someone nearby had a similar sysTem that was triggering it). Now we are notified when it is open. Interestingly, we haven’t had any other random openings...but I have peace of mind and it nice to be able to open it remotely if necessary. I wish I could say I’m as happy with the August door lock...
Very timely for me! Just this morning, I arrived to work and started to wonder "did I close the garage door?" Fortunately, I have a grown son that was able to go by the house and check for me (Yes, I did!). I am looking for a remote device and phone app today!
I hope you guys looked into the cybersecurity of these devices! Especially for something like a garage door opener that provides access to your house. I heard a story recently about a hacker that was able to hack into someone's smart toaster, use that to get into their home wifi network, and then from there use their Alexa to control & disable the home alarm system. If you're going to have smart devices that control physical entry to your house, it's good practice to make sure they're secure, and also at least have them set up on a separate network, so that no one can get into them using something like your toaster. Just a thought!
Good thought, Liz!
That would require several points of security failure that are not just simply. You are fearmongering concepts you do not fully understand the extent of. Even if a hacker could compromise the security of the toaster the following additional breachers all in succession one after another requires so much work that another point of weakness would be more attractive
I have a "smart" garage door opener, sprinkler controller, HVAC controller and a few more "things" in my home automation collection AKA Internet of things.
Very awesome tools.
Until you get one of these devices then you will not appreciate the advantage or peace of mind in these powerful WiFi devices.
Make sure that your devices are IFTTT d Alexa capable, for FREE! Don't pay for IoT compatibilities.
The reading the opening paragraph of this post felt like you've been to our house. Loosing an opener, one not working, having to get out of the car to coax the doors down and stay down... Haha. I thought it was just us! and the NOISE! Our garage doors are right next to where our boys bedrooms are and I cringe every time we have to open or close the doors when they are asleep.
QUESTION: How did you address the inconsistent door opening and closing? Was it all in your motor? or did you replace the track as well?
It was an issue with the track. So when we got these new openers, we also replaced the tracks (since the Stealthdrive uses a belt instead of a chain, which is why it's so quiet) and it works perfectly now.
I have a "smart" garage door opener, sprinkler controller, HVAC controller and a few more "things" in my home automation collection AKA Internet of things.
Very awesome tools.
Until you get one of these devices then you will not appreciate the advantage or peace of mind in these powerful WiFi devices.
Make sure that your devices are IFTTT d Alexa capable, for FREE! Don't pay for IoT compatibilities.
Door openers are taken for granted.
If they don't function properly or make noise then hire someone to tune them up.
Like your car, take care of it and it will take care of you.