Chamberlain Garage Door Opener Review

Chamberlain Garage Door Opener Review & Project Overview – Model WD832KEV

• Total Price: $295.77 (all three parts, tax & shipping – prices may fluctuate)
• Time to Complete: 2.5 hours (including clean-up)
• Level of Project Complexity: Basic
• Overall Rating: (4.5 of 5.0) Very Good.  This is a great garage door opener and the mobile integration is satisfactory.
• Link To Amazon:  Chamberlain WD832KEV Ultra Quiet and Strong 1/2 HP Belt Drive Garage Door Opener
• Link To Amazon:  Chamberlain 8808CB 8-Feet Belt Drive Extension Kit
• Link To Amazon:  Chamberlain CIGBU MYQ Internet Gateway

Planning

I rewired the house for a home network and wanted to add mobile connectivity with the new opener. I also wanted something that was quiet.  I decided on the Chamberlain Ultra Quiet and Strong 1/2 HP Belt Drive Garage Door Opener with the 8 foot extender kit and the Chamberlain Internet Gateway module.  All three parts were ordered from Amazon.com and shipped right to my front door.  You can see the parts list above.

Chamberlain Garage Door Opener Option:  ½ vs ¾ Horsepower

The ½ horsepower system was the best fit for this project because the garage door is very light (aluminum) and is well balanced.  When deciding on horsepower take into account the material and size of your door which should give you a total weight estimate. You can disconnect the door from your existing opener (most have a quick disconnect rope your can pull down on) and see how much effort it takes to open and close.

If the door is very heavy or frankly you just want to play it safe, get the ¾ horsepower system.  I believe the price difference is negligible.

Extension System

THIS IS SOMETHING YOU WILL WANT TO PAY ATTENTION TO!  Many garage doors will require an extension kit. I have seen this in about half of the doors I’ve installed.  Make sure you measure your door!  I have an 8’ garage door and as a result I had to order the 8’ extension kit. This model comes with an 8’ and 10’ kit.  Measure twice, order once.

Mobile Access (iPhone & Droid)

I really wanted to operate this door via remote control from my mobile phone (iPhone) and Chamberlain offers a VERY affordable way to do this so long as you have high speed internet access at your house. The CIGBU MYQ Internet Gateway is a great addition to this system. It cost about $45.00 and takes all of 20 minutes to connect and configure.  Very handy and very cool.

Execution

It took about 3 business days to get everything from Amazon.com.  From start to finish this project took me less than 2.5 hours and I was happily surprised.  In addition to following the included directions, here are a few tips and tricks to make this project go more smoothly.

• Take your time – It took me 2.5 hours but if this is the first time you’ve done a project like this, you should budget 5 hours.  Lay out all your parts and remove the packing material from the work area. I used a scrap piece of carpet to set things on mainly so that the bottom of the door opener would not get scratched. Then, skim through all the instructions.
  • Note: There is an addendum for the belt spring installation.  Make sure to find it in the packaging.  Not having these instructions set me back about 10 minutes although once I found them, no problem.

• Build the new door opener FIRST, then remove the old one.  It’s a good idea to build the new opener first.  Once the new opener is assembled, measure the total length of the new one and compare it to the old one.  They should be roughly the same length.  Now you can remove the old door opener.
• Removal Safety.  If you are working alone, use a ladder to set the old garage door opener on during removal. They are not super heavy but they are very awkward which could lead to an accident if you’re not careful. I would remove the motor side first, then release the wall or ceiling mount side which makes this step safer and easier. When possible, get someone to help with the removal and installation steps in this process. You can build everything first which means that the second person only needs to be involved for about 30 minutes.

• 

  Configuring The Door.  To configure the point the garage door stops at the top and the bottom of the door cycle was as easy as hitting a few buttons.  You can jog the door up and down to get it to the perfect spots.  Once the door is in the perfect up and down spots, you can commit them to the garage door opener memory.  Note: I had to run through this sequence twice to get it perfect.

• Internet Gateway / Mobile Access.  Plug this device into your internet gateway or home network switch, power it up and then logon to the www.mychamberlain.com website to finish the configuration. Its going to ask for your serial number so snap a picture of it using your smartphone before you sit down at the computer.  It’s always a pain to have to run back and forth. Once done, it is pretty cool to open the garage door or check door status using your phone.

Enjoy your new garage door opener and let me know if you have any questions.