Meross Introduce ‘Collie’ Garage Door Controller With HomeKit
Chinese Smart Home company have been turning out a steady stream of HomeKit products of late, which included a Garage Door Opener for the UK, US and other countries. Now, to go along with this product the company are introducing the ‘Meross Collie Garage Door Controller’, with the claim that it’s the first of its type, stating;
World’s first garage door controller supports Apple HomeKit without add-on devices. All you need is your phone and the controller
Meross claim you only require the controller and your phone, with no other hardware, and is designed to work with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT.
The product itself looks like a mini router, comprising a small box, with a single antenna, along with a few ports that we assume are to connect the controller to your garage door motor. It can also work with up to three garage doors, each with individual control. It’s also designed to work with CarPlay if that’s something you have installed in your car.
As with the previous garage door controller, the ‘Collie’ is designed to work with all the major garage door motors, including the likes of Chamberlain, Craftsman, Avanti, Somfy, Nice, Hörmann, and many more – over 200 brands according to their website. It would also seem that the product includes a built-in alarm, although whether that is exposed to HomeKit too, we’re not sure.
At present, the company are preparing a crowdfunding campaign for the new device via Indiegogo, with a 30% discount for those reserving a product in advance of the launch, although there’s no price mentioned at this time. We assume the price will be listed once the funding campaign starts.
You can check out the product on their website, along with the option to sign up to reserve one if you wish.
Does this little thingie still need to connect to a main router? Or can it act as its own router! I ask because many garage doors in buildings are underground and the home Wi-Fi network is not available there, cause waves do not pass through the thick basement reinforced concrete.
Hi Julien, I’m honestly a bit in the dark as to how it works, as there’s little by way of a thorough explanation of how it works. It does say it’s the only device needed, aside from your phone, but that would then mean that there’d be no remote access, so I can only assume it still needs a WiFi connection.
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Interesting! I was about to buy the garage door opener module.
Maybe I’ll wait for this new device to come out? Do you think it will be more expensive than the module already on sale?
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