Guys - what the hell is going on? My garage opened at 7:05CT today by itself. I just happened to be outside at 7:50 and noticed it was open.
I checked the ADC log and sure enough, it shows garage “little one” open at 7:05. No command or request was sent. I didn’t “butt dial” it to open, in fact wasn’t even using the ADC app at the time but was cooking.
ADC call center has no log of any issue, intrusion or activity. WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?
My garage contains a ton of tools, two motorcycles and lawn equipment. Thankfully nothing happened, but still - if this is a zwave issue - it could have been my house door. This is unacceptable and I demand a full audit of why it happened, and how to stop it from happening again.
Hi peet, I can certainly understand how that would be frustrating. We’re happy to try to figure out what happened in any way we can.
Liftmaster MyQ devices communicate through the internet directly to Liftmaster’s servers. They do not communicate with your alarm system directly. They work with Alarm.com via a “back end” integration between Liftmaster and Alarm.com.
As you pointed out, no command or request was sent by ADC to open the garage door which indicates it was opened by something other than ADC such as the button in the garage or a garage door remote. It’s also possible that a malfunction occurred within the MyQ equipment or even the garage door opener itself.
If you don’t already have one, I recommend setting up an ADC notification so that your phone will be notified when the garage door opens. It doesn’t prevent this from happening again but it would let you know immediately.
Z-Wave locks on your house door do communicate directly with your alarm system and are a very different technology than Liftmaster/Chamberlain MyQ devices but neither should open on their own.
On Monday we can help investigate further when Liftmaster and Alarm.com are open for support inquiries.
Hi Ryan - it’s scary, not frustrating. No button was pushed - we weren’t within 10 feet of a button. So hopefully your logs can show where the command originated. We do have push alerts, but let’s face it, I don’t have my phone on me all the time. Plus in some cases, like yesterday, I did see it on the screen just after it opened, but I figured it was an undismissed alert from earlier as I came in that garage around 4pm.
FYI - last night I pulled the plug on the opener in that garage. Right after I called ADC around 8PM. I just got this now:
Home: The Little One is offline as of 1:49 pm on Sunday, May 6 2018.
This is a monitoring message from suretyCAM. Log in at http://suretydiy.com/alarm to manage your system and view other recent activity.
security and automation
Ref: M11822530208 - 3161812
Not the greatest system that it took almost 18 hours for the system to figure out the opener is offline! If it took the system that long to notify me of this, I don’t have warm and fuzzy feelings about it notifying me when it self opens. Just passing on additional info for your hunt on Monday.
Not the greatest system that it took almost 18 hours for the system to figure out the opener is offline! If it took the system that long to notify me of this, I don’t have warm and fuzzy feelings about it notifying me when it self opens. Just passing on additional info for your hunt on Monday.
This is expected. The MyQ gateway cannot send a notification that it is down when it goes down, this must be inferred by supervision checks. If a number of checks fail, a notification is generated to let the user know the device is unresponsive. This may mean powered down or off-network.
ADC call center has no log of any issue, intrusion or activity. WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?
Looking at the logs, the ADC reps were correct in that there is no command sent to perform an action. The Gateway sent a status update showing the door was open, so Ryan’s response would indicate what the issue is:
“As you pointed out, no command or request was sent by ADC to open the garage door which indicates it was opened by something other than ADC such as the button in the garage or a garage door remote. It’s also possible that a malfunction occurred within the MyQ equipment or even the garage door opener itself.”
One the the following happened:
A Local RF garage opener button/keypad was pressed or malfunctioned.
The opener malfunctioned
The MyQ Gateway malfunctioned
or
The safety eye was tripped and reversed track when it was last closed and the status did not get updated by the tilt sensor until later (if wifi hub model).
To best assist we would want to confirm the model of MyQ Gateway you are using. Is it the 821LM or Chamberlain equivalent Wifi universal hub?
If so there are status reporting problems with some of the wifi hubs on the MyQ server end. They are currently no longer permitted to be added to new Alarm.com accounts. This is known to affect new installs, but is not out of the realm of possibility I suppose. See this announcement for more details.
the gateway did not go down, the garage opener itself was unplugged. In fact, the gateway continued to work on the second garage door.
none of the 4 conditions you identify happened other than maybe 2 or 3… but in any of those two cases, that’s still terribly insecure.
The gateway is CIGBU/C from Chamberlain. Not sure if that’s universal or not. That being said, that model number isn’t listed in the announcement you referenced. Thoughts?
No, that would be a Gateway which is wired to the router, not the universal wifi hub, so the announcement would not apply.
That would mean you either have 888LM or Chamberlain equivalent wall buttons or directly MyQ compatible overhead units.
the gateway did not go down, the garage opener itself was unplugged. In fact, the gateway continued to work on the second garage door.
I misspoke but this would work the same way with the opener and the Gateway. Failed communication must happen, either by attempting to open the garage remotely while it is unplugged or by supervision checks as the Gateway is wirelessly communicating with the openers.
none of the 4 conditions you identify happened other than maybe 2 or 3… but in any of those two cases, that’s still terribly insecure.
I do understand the concern, but as no remote interaction occurred and a status was successfully updated at the time it opened, we would need to explore the likely local possibilities in this case.
Phantom operation can be caused by a few local things:
Short on the wall control or any wired access button/keypad.
Receiver Logic Board malfunction (on the overhead controller)
Button stuck on a remote or wall control.
If you recently learned in any new devices to the controller, if someone nearby happens to press an RF garage opener on the same frequency it could get learned in, though that is pretty rare.
You can check for possible shorted wiring on the wall control button by removing it from the wall and making sure that the wires are not stripped back too far on the sheath and that the wire is not left frayed and possibly touching each other when installed.
What model of overhead controller is it? it is likely a good idea to default the overhead and re-learn RF devices, which should help #2 or #4. The overhead manufacturer would be able to help.
Sorry to butt in but is it possible that the door was not closed the last time you came in (before 7:05)? What time was that? Is there an event in the log? Just curious because mine sends an alert when I’ve left the door open for 30 minutes. So if you came in at 6:35 and didn’t close the door, then the 7:05 event could be the “30 minute warning”. Just speculating, following the mystery…
Sorry to butt in but is it possible that the door was not closed the last time you came in (before 7:05)? What time was that? Is there an event in the log? Just curious because mine sends an alert when I’ve left the door open for 30 minutes. So if you came in at 6:35 and didn’t close the door, then the 7:05 event could be the “30 minute warning”. Just speculating, following the mystery….
The event in question is indeed an Open event, not left open.
Whenever an Open event occurs in history without a command associated, that means that a local source such as a wall button, RF button, safety eye, keypad, etc., unrelated to the MyQ system opened the door. The door’s status is relayed by the opener (or Tilt sensor if a universal hub) to MyQ.
I have a pair of Chamberlain 41D7675 openers with IQ built in. FWIW.
Today I plugged “little one” in and used ADC to open and close it twice. Interestingly, the first time it opened, it didn’t retract to it’s full open position… it opened about 5 inches low and hit my helmet, which never happens. I looked back and saw that it was low. Closed fine, waited a few minutes stayed closed. Came back 7 hours or so later, opened fully/normally. Closed normally. Watching it closely.
Nothing is shorting - it’s a new install with a clean wire run and insulated wire staples that are very loose (wire not pinched anywhere). Eyes didn’t cause it to reopen - the event in question, garage closed all the way. I always wait until it does to ensure that. As mentioned, it’s an “up and coming” neighborhood where people are carjacked in their garages… so i ALWAYS make sure.
Only things the network engineer in me thinks possible:
faulty board in opener circuits
Interference causing it to open (we have lots of WIFI, BT, related signal in the area… I’ve done a site survey with wifi tool and it went pretty nuts)
I recently re-added a z-wave universal remote system, it’s a secondary controller and flaky as crap - the Neeo Remote system.
Most likely scenario is 3, but the Neeo doesn’t see the garage opener at all and was not touched during the time the door opened. It’s possible some flaky code written by their developers caused a glitch, but unlikely as I mentioned, I wasn’t using the remote at all.
Well, the CIGBU/828LM Gateway is not Z-wave, so the Neeo would not see it, but it does use a 900Mhz range RF signal to communicate with the openers. The signaling between the opener and Gateway is encrypted IIRC, and higher frequency wifi/bluetooth signals should not affect it at all. Common 900mhz culprits are baby monitors and cordless phones.
The MyQ Gateway can audit itself and provide command and status history, but that does not extend to control sources that do not use MyQ unfortunately.
Do you have any other garage automation devices connected? Did you ever use a Z-wave garage opener? Do any of your vehicles use Homelink or built in wireless control?
Today I plugged “little one” in and used ADC to open and close it twice. Interestingly, the first time it opened, it didn’t retract to it’s full open position… it opened about 5 inches low and hit my helmet, which never happens. I looked back and saw that it was low. Closed fine, waited a few minutes stayed closed. Came back 7 hours or so later, opened fully/normally. Closed normally. Watching it closely.
Remote activation of the door should operate the door normally as in there wouldn’t be different levels so to speak of “open”, so if the door is not opening fully and you notice this behavior happening again, I would definitely check the installation of the door opener.
Well if it’s at 900 then I can’t think of anything nearby except maybe new neighbors who may have a baby monitor. None of them have landlines as far as I know (younger renters) but they do have babies. We don’t have any such devices and to your question, don’t have any other garage automation. Just two of these openers, talking to the gateway which plugs into my local ethernet switch.
Is there anything in the MyQ “account” or their website that would show more? I don’t recall setting any of this up so can’t remember if I had to setup through them before I set it up on the GC2.
Is there anything in the MyQ “account” or their website that would show more? I don’t recall setting any of this up so can’t remember if I had to setup through them before I set it up on the GC2.
No, and it does not communicate through the GC2. It is setup through Alarm.com directly which by extension registers the Gateway with Liftmaster. Status and event history shows in Alarm.com activity history.
The MyQ Gateway sends status via your internet, and command history events are logged to your cloud history. We see the applicable history in the Alarm.com dealer portal.
If a wired or fob rf source triggers the door, we would see exactly what we see for the event in question. (also if the overhead opens without trigger due to internal error).
You mention these are new. How long have the openers been installed?