My “Garadget - US (Type-A)” was rock stable for ~14 months / until ~6 weeks ago. I started getting false open messages overnight. First maybe one a night. Then several. The laser looked bang on but I bought a new pack of stickers just in case. Then realized the app gives you a reading. Mine hovers at 25% +/- 5%, threshold 10%, laser is bang on in the middle of the sticker. Signal strength -34dB.
Then late last night, while I was still awake, I got a false open and accidentally clicked “close”. Then real fast clicked “open”. The garadget melted down. It got stuck in a open/close loop and I couldn’t stop it. Had to unplug the garadget. Glad I was home.
Two concerns:
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How do you override/reset that melt down situation from within the app? If I was out of town and that melt down happened, that would have been very bad. I can see the motor burning out and my neighbors sending me concerning texts while it did that. That would suck.
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What’s up with the false open messages? Why did they start suddenly? The lighting in the garage didn’t change. Is the laser deteriorating or was a firmware bug introduced?
Garadget’s firmware and stock software will only operate the door on user command, it never makes that decision autonomously. Possible reasons for this situation are 1. the sensor started reporting the status incorrectly and there is some integration such as home automation or IFTTT that acted on it issuing open/close commands 2. there is some hardware or power failure that made unit act in unexpected manner.
Did you try powering your Garadget again? Does it work as expected after reboot?
BTW: 25% reflection can work, but it is kind of low. Do you have windows in your Garage? Maybe we need to reduce the amount of ambient light getting into sensor.
Thanks. No other integration. Power failure unlikely… unless the USB block is on the fritz. But even then, it has been plugged back in for a couple of days now and is working fine so I think that little power block is fine.
Re: 25% and windows: Yes, there is a row of small windows. But my only issues have been at night and there is very little light coming in those few garage door windows at night. I seriously doubt ambient light is a factor at night. My Garadget is mounted on/under the housing of the door motor.
Right now it is reporting Ambient Light 95% and Reflection 43%. I’ll check it again after dark.
Other reasons for lower reflection can be dust or condensation on reflector, obstacles (e.g. release rope), cobwebs in sensor openings, fading laser.
No obstacles or anything in the sensor. At night: Reflection 98% Ambient 36%.
98% is as good as it gets. Anything different this time?
I too recently encountered intermittent false open/close alerts.
I used to get 90~96% reflection, and I noticed it bounced up and down 60%, 40% 35%…
So I cleaned the reflectors (wiped it down with household cleaner…), it was quite dirty from dust… then cleaned the sensors on the garadget unit (stuck a q-tip with alcohol).
Back to around 80~90% range and no false alerts for now.
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