Garage doors usually come with proprietary remotes, which may have drawbacks. This page explains how to replace remotes for the Entrematic Magic 600-2, with the Shelly 1 Gen3 relay and the Shelly BLU Button Tough 1.

DISCLAIMERS:

  • Electricity is dangerous, garage doors as well. I don’t take any responsibility if something goes wrong by following those instructions. If you’re unsure, ask a professional.
  • Think twice before letting your home automation beeing controlled from the Cloud (someone else’s computer).
  • I’m not related to Shelly by any means. Their hardware just checks all the boxes and their tech support is helpful. It’s a lot of bang for the buck !

Analysing the door operator

My Entrematic Magic 600-2 has RJ10 inputs at the back.

Magic 600 RJ10

According to the manual:

  • RJ10 input 3 is an impulse input, but pinout isn’t provided.
  • Terminals 18 and 19 on the PCB are impulse input as well.

Following PCB tracks we see that pins 2 and 3 of the RJ10 connector are linked to the terminals 18 and 19.

PCB FrontPCB Back

Shorting those two pins (dry contact) controls the door the same way the remote does. A simple relay can be used to control the door operation.

Requirements and hardware selection

For this projet to be successful, following requirements are needed:

  • Relay with dry contact, like pressing a wall switch would do.
  • Inexpensive, sturdy and reliable remotes.
  • Secure communications, as I don’t want my garage to be opened with a simple replay attack. I verified this here.
  • Backup access if my remote breaks.
  • Offline operation, without Internet. The garage door is controlled only in front of it.

The Shelly 1 Gen3 has following key characteristics: ¨

  • Dry contact relay output
  • Offline operation, no internet needed.
  • Built-in access point with WPA2-PSK, which allows to access the WebGUI (also as backup access)
  • Integrated Bluetooth gateway which allows use of BLE remotes

The Shelly BLU Button Tough 1 has following key characteristics:

  • BLE with AES encryption (hard to forge messages)
  • Message counter in the AES nonce (replay attacks not possible)
  • Inexpensive
  • Sturdy and reliable (a couple of months of testing do confirm that)

Regarding the RJ10 connector and cable, a phone headset cable I cut did the job.

Cable on Shelly Cable on Magic 600

Setting up Shelly BLU Button Tough 1

The Shelly BLE debug app is needed for that.

Procedure:

  • Start the app
  • Press the button
  • Pair the button the with Pair
  • Update firmware with OTA
  • Encrypt the button (don’t lose the PIN you set as you’ll need it to re-pair the button)
  • Get the information JSON blob with Read and save it somewhere safe. It contains the AES encryption key.

Setting up Shelly 1 Gen3

You’ll need the latest firmware file, a laptop with Wi-Fi and a web browser, and at least one ready remote.

Initial device setup

  • Power on the device
  • Connect to the open WLAN it just created
  • Set up WPA2-PSK and reconnect
  • Set a password for the web interface
  • Upgrade firmware to latest version
  • Enable Bluetooth

Input/Output Settings

  • Input mode Button
  • Output type Momentary
  • Action on power on Turn OFF

Input/Output settings

Output automation settings

  • Auto OFF after 1 second (like pressing a wall switch)

Automation settings

Add buttons

  • Enter button MAC Address

Button MAC

  • In the button detail view, enter the encryption key

Button Detail

  • Create an action for this button

Button Action

  • Press the button : you should hear the relay switch and switch back after one second.

Repeat operation for each button and you’re good to go !