--- title: Low-Cost Garage Door Automation with Home Assistant and... description: A practical guide to automating garage doors using Home Assistant, Sonoff 4CH PRO R3, and Aqara Zigbee door sensors. Covers hardware selection (why dry-contact... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/low-cost-garage-door-automation-with-home-assistant-and-sonoff-tz8lte96f twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Low-Cost Garage Door Automation with Home Assistant and Sonoff | daily.dev og:description: A practical guide to automating garage doors using Home Assistant, Sonoff 4CH PRO R3, and Aqara Zigbee door sensors. Covers hardware selection (why dry-contact... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/low-cost-garage-door-automation-with-home-assistant-and-sonoff-tz8lte96f og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/TZ8lTE96f.png og:image:alt: Low-Cost Garage Door Automation with Home Assistant and Sonoff og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Low-Cost Garage Door Automation with Home Assistant and Sonoff **[apalrd's adventures](https://daily.dev/sources/apalrd)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A practical guide to automating garage doors using Home Assistant, Sonoff 4CH PRO R3, and Aqara Zigbee door sensors. Covers hardware selection (why dry-contact relays are required), flashing Tasmota firmware, configuring MQTT topics, setting PulseTime for momentary relay activation, and creating a Template Cover in Home Assistant's configuration.yaml. The Sonoff 4CH PRO R3 is highlighted as a cost-effective option for controlling up to 4 doors, while the Shelly 1 is recommended for single-door setups. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why does my garage door automation need a dry contact relay and not a regular smart relay? Garage door openers require bridging two contacts without connecting them to any voltage source — a dry contact relay does exactly this. Standard smart relays like the Sonoff Mini output mains or DC voltage from the relay, which will not work and could damage the opener. The Shelly 1 and Sonoff 4CH PRO R3 (PRO version only) provide electrically isolated dry contacts suitable for garage door control. _Builders wiring up garage door automation find the right hardware choices covered on daily.dev._ ### How do I configure Tasmota PulseTime for a momentary relay trigger on a garage door opener? Set PulseTime via the Tasmota console using the command PulseTimeX, where X is the relay number. For values below 111, the unit is 0.1 seconds — so a value of 15 equals 1.5 seconds. This causes the relay to turn on briefly then switch off automatically when triggered, mimicking a button press on the garage door opener. _Developers building Tasmota-based automations track tips like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Someone built a $10 ESP32 smart garage door opener that works with Home Assistant](https://daily.dev/posts/someone-built-a-10-esp32-smart-garage-door-opener-that-works-with-home-assistant-ohikudqvi) · XDA Developers · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [I put Zigbee sensors on every door and window, and my smart home beats more expensive regular alarm systems](https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-zigbee-sensors-on-every-door-and-window-and-my-smart-home-beats-more-expensive-regular-alarm--mvubzgtmh) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A few Zigbee sensors and a light switch replaced my $250 Ring alarm system](https://daily.dev/posts/a-few-zigbee-sensors-and-a-light-switch-replaced-my-250-ring-alarm-system-nmyh1gxex) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Home Assistant waters my plants\!](https://daily.dev/posts/home-assistant-waters-my-plants--i0o9wij2e) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Chicken Coop Door Performs In Harsh Environment](https://daily.dev/posts/chicken-coop-door-performs-in-harsh-environment-9ycmkw9js) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#backend](https://daily.dev/tags/backend) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/low-cost-garage-door-automation-with-home-assistant-and-sonoff-tz8lte96f) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Low-Cost Garage Door Automation with Home Assistant and Sonoff","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/low-cost-garage-door-automation-with-home-assistant-and-sonoff-tz8lte96f","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/low-cost-garage-door-automation-with-home-assistant-and-sonoff-tz8lte96f"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:56:38.927Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:31:19.747Z","description":"A practical guide to automating garage doors using Home Assistant, Sonoff 4CH PRO R3, and Aqara Zigbee door sensors. 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