Disable audio/visual warning for Wyze Garage Door Opener

Hi,

The Wyze Garage Door Controller has an awesome feature : it allows controlling any device remotely, not just garage door controllers, but anything that has a dry contact operation.

Unfortunately, the controller does have an audio/visual warning for 5 seconds. This is problematic for other use cases.

This suggestion is to add an option for users to disable the audio/visual warning. It is fine to ask users to accept a disclaimer.

The audio/visual warning is overkill anyway : regular operation through the remote control does not produce any warning, and you can trust your users and not be too patronizing by adding warnings against their wishes. Doors, by regulations, already have numerous safeties in place too.

But this is not about garage doors anyway, it is about enabling the use of this product to an extended array of use cases.

Thank you !

Another community member posted this in Wyze Discord:

Per the federalregister § 1211.14 Unattended operation requirements. (4) The visual alarm signal described …shall be visible… using a flashing light of at least 40 watt incandescent or 360 lumens. The flash rate shall be at least once per second, with a duration of 100 ms to 900 ms, for the duration of the alarm. (ii) The alarm shall signal for a minimum of 5 seconds before any unattended closing door movement… And on and on like government laws like to do (lots of other safety requirements).

Basically, it’s illegal not to have the sound and flashing and it has to wait 5 seconds before closing.

5 Likes

I admire your creative thinking on applying this product to other uses. What would be some of those other uses? You have a far more creative side than I. Thank you.

This is a deal-breaker for me. Even I can physically block the light and remove the beeping device, I still have a to wait 5 seconds before my garage door to close.

I currently have 2 possible solutions to this problem:

  1. If garage opener is released in another country without such regulations, I will consider purchasing from there.
  2. (This is a hack): Mount the QR code on the wall and always visible to the camera. This will trick the garage opener that door is closed at all times, and door opening doesn’t requires the flash and beeps.

People need to stop throwing the law book where it does not apply. This only applies for garage door openers. If the user certifies that the system is not operated as part of a garage door, then this does not apply at all.

There are many use cases for remotely operated gadgets.

Belkin used to sell a dedicated IoT/DIY product for this (WeMo Maker). There are a lot of successful products such as the Shelly. Wyze could start tapping into that market easily, since they already have the hardware now, they just need to remove the restrictions where they do not apply.

In my case, I work with a shelter to save stray cats. We use Wyze cameras to monitor the traps. For some difficult traps, we need a remotely operated trap, and being able to connect the trap to the Wyze camera would enable us to remotely trigger the trap. You understand why a 5s delay with flashing lights are a huge problem for this. This is just an example. I could add a separate gadget but this is a major problem because it requires more battery power (we often use power banks as the traps are outside), more wires, more setup, and also, the need to go to another app to trigger the trap which adds a delay.

2 Likes

I can appreciate that you have a unique application for the controller. Triggering cages to trap cats (safely) is very clever. I want to share a hack to a cheap device that I discovered years ago. I use this technique and it works very well. My controller for my GDO cost me $6.00 Works great. Check it out.

The eWelink app now supports Widgets.
And I found on one of their support pages it their devices work with NFC Tags,
With that trick, you could setup a NFC Tag and trip the cage without even opening the app.
I hope this helps.

I agree. I just emailed wyze about the same issue. I live in a condo. My garage is under owners home
So u can hear them open and close. I leave out early or come in late night that chime… wakes up all!! I should have the freedom to disable or aleast turn it down!!

image

Which one y’all think is the noise maker?

Can you send a picture of what’s under the sticker? And a pic of the other side of the circuit board?

I had the opposite problem, when the garage door was closing it was instantly closing without lights or sound. Come to find out that the QR code was so close to the top of the frame. it would successfully calibrate, but would fail to register the garage door door as opened or closed for some reason.

when I moved my QR code down on the door so that it was more in the center of the picture and calibrated again, I am now getting the lights in siren again before it closes.