|
| Skylink Receiver with Garage Monitor #GT-100 | 
 enlarge | Brand: SkyLink
Category: Home Improvement
List Price: $42.11
Buy New: $29.40
You Save: $12.71 (30%)
New (6) from $29.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 37160
Color: grey
Media: Tools & Hardware
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 6.1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 7.1 x 1.8
MPN: GT-100
Model: GT-100
UPC: 623459700026
EAN: 0623459700026
ASIN: B000JJJRCE
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Good unit - Some limitations August 13, 2008
The Skylink GarageOne model GT-100A ordered from aaaremotes shipped promptly and well packaged. The unit consists of two modules: The GS-101 Garage Door Monitor (transmitter) and GC-433R Garage One receiver. The transmitter attaches to the garage door and uses a "feeler" that must physically contact the floor to detect when the door is closed. The receiver mounts on the wall, replacing or complementing your current door opener button.
The transmitter is powered by a coin cell which, according to Skylink, should last 2 years under normal use. The receiver is powered from the switch wires coming from the garage door opener. If your opener doesn't power these wires then you need the AC Adapter to power the receiver. Aaaremotes included the adapter with my order, even though it's described as an optional accessory.
Installation took about 15 minutes. I have a metal door with vertical frame members. Drilled 4 pilot holes into the center member near the floor and attached the transmitter with 4 sheet metal screws (supplied). Powering the transmitter was a simple matter of removing the paper tab from between the battery and the contact.
Then I removed the existing opener switch from the wall, detached the two wires connected to it, re-attached the two wires to the receiver module, and mounted the receiver on the wall. Installation is a bit more complicated if your garage door opener doesn't power the switch wires. Then you need the optional(?) AC adapter and be sure to mount the receiver near a wall outlet.
The large main button on the receiver works like an ordinary door opener. Push it once to open the door, again to close the door. When the door opens, the transmitter sends a signal to the receiver which then starts the timer. If the door is still open when the timer expires, the GT-100 closes the door automatically. The unit does not interfere with existing safety sensors and the door will still reverse if something trips a sensor while it's closing.
So far the unit has worked flawlessly. No false openings or closures. No problems of any kind. I have two trucks parked in the garage and they definitely block line-of-sight between the transmitter and the receiver. Yet I have not experienced any reception or reliability problems as reported by another reviewer.
To keep the garage door open, simply press the main button for 10 seconds to temporarily disable the timer. The timer re-enables itself on the next door opening sequence. The receiver also has two smaller buttons: a Lock button to lock out the optional Skylink handheld remotes, and a Learn button to program it to operate with the optional remote. The Learn button also turns the garage door opener lights on and off... a very handy feature if your door opener supports it (my Chamberlain/Liftmaster does).
The unit does have some significant shortcomings:
1) the timer settings are ridiculously short: 2/5/10/20 minutes. Other models provide up to an hour or more.
2) the timer beeps continuously while it's counting down, starting with one beep every several seconds at 20 minutes and increasing in frequency as timeout approaches. The beep can't be disabled, and it can be annoying. One beep every 30 seconds during the first 19 minutes followed by a rapid beep during the last 60 seconds would be preferred.
3) the timer apparently does not re-arm itself if a manual close is interrupted by something tripping the safety sensor. If you already left the garage and did not notice the interruption then the door simply stays open. This is a major drawback.
4) the best I can tell after contacting Skylink is that the transmitter/receiver is rf paired, not digitally paired. This means the installation of more than one GT-100 in the same garage (a common scenario if you have more than one garage door) might be problematic. Skylink customer support recommends separating the receivers (not the transmitters) by at least 5-6 feet to minimize interference. This isn't very reassuring, nor is it practical. Door opener buttons are usually right next to each other, not 6 feet apart. I am very disappointed that the product literature does not mention this.
Bottom line: The unit does what it was designed to do, but misses the mark in many other ways. I will be shopping for a different automatic closer for my second garage door.
 Probably will give you more problems than it will solve... July 15, 2008
This thing is junk.
First, all of the ads for this product say that you do not need an AC hookup to use this unit, when in fact, if you have certain types of opener or use certain types of installation, you need the "optional" AC adapter, and a convenient outlet. Second, the transmit power on the sensor unit is so weak that it will not make the trip to the button unit unless there is a CLEAR and DIRECT line of sight. How often are you going to have that when the sensor is at floor level and there are cars in the garage? Bottom line: I had to install the button unit on the ceiling at the opener, instead of in place of the existing wall button. This means I have to pull out a stepladder to disable the closure when I want the door to remain open. Ridiculous. This is a good concept, but desperately needs upgrading.
Also, avoid ordering from AAARemotes. They sent the wrong AC adapter, and then agreed to send the correct one ONLY AFTER they received the incorrect one from me, which required my waiting for US Mail to bring a return label, and then the process of shipping the bad one cross-country, and then the AAARemotes turnaround time and return cross-country shipment. They already had my money, and the mistake was clearly theirs, yet they refused to cross-ship or otherwise expedite a correction that should not have been necessary in the first place.
UPDATE: 11 days since AAARemotes received the returned part, and still no replacement. I can't even get them on the phone to find out the status. This is a very irresponsible seller, and I wish I had seen the poor reviews of them elsewhere prior to ordering this unit. Amazon should be ashamed of themselves for allowing these LOSERS to market through this site.
Great idea but lousy UI and unsafe May 31, 2008
This device is a great idea. It replaces your normal garage door button, or can be used in conjunction with it (which might be nice if you want another control on the other side of the garage). The door open sensor is small and unobtrusive, and the entire system takes minutes to install.
So why only 2 stars?
First, the device has three buttons: light, lock, and the large door control button. That's pretty standard, except that the door control button has been overloaded in a confusing way. When the door is closed it behaves like any other garage door control and opens the door. Once the door is open pressing the button once actually disables the auto-close feature. A second press is required to actually close the door. It would have been better to have a separate button to disable the auto close feature (perhaps with a prominent indicator light).
That's only a minor annoyance compared to the primary flaw with this device, which is that when the door is open the device beeps CONSTANTLY. I can understand (and want) a warning beep just before closing the door, but that's not what this device does. If you set it for a 20 minute timeout it'll actually beep for the entire 20 minutes, and then suddenly close the door. This is both incredibly annoying, and it also completely negates the safety feature of the beeping because there's no real indication of when the door is finally going to close. I'd actually considered clipping the wires to the speaker, which would remove the annoyance, but wouldn't fix the fact that it closes the garage door with no warning.
Skylink: please make a new version of this device that beeps for only 5 or 10 seconds immediately before closing the door.
 As advertised September 16, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It really is super easy to install and works great.
There are only two wires going to your current wall mounted switch, take the old switch off, connect the two wires to the new switch, and screw the "sensor" (which is mechanical and works well) to your garage door, done!
Your remotes don't need to be reprogrammed.
The only difference (other than the fact that you don't have to worry about forgetting to close your door anymore) is that now you have to hit the close button on the wall mounted switch twice to shut the door manually (since the first push of the button turns the timer off (for when you DO want the door to stay open))
|
|
|
Copyright
©
2006 Adminpal LLC | |
