Comments on: Ultimate garage door monitor

By: hybrid reviews

hybrid reviews — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:23:33 +0000

When I die, bury me on the golf course so my husband will visit

By: nds-flash

nds-flash — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 00:11:16 +0000

could set it all up so that doors open just enough to get the car in and if a wrong code is entered too bad your roof is gone.

By: John Smith

John Smith — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 15:33:46 +0000

i suggest using the remote sensor mentioned in post 30.

For more information on the serial interface, look into this product:
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=Motion+Detector+Chamberlain&btnG=Search
its the motion detector that turns the light on and off. think about it, the only way this detector can work properly is if it knows the current state of the light. it determines this with the serial interface.

-john smith

By: jaded

jaded — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 07:19:40 +0000

Julio,

You want something like the Liftmaster 915LM: http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=Liftmaster+915LM&lmode=online&scoring=p
It’s a stick-on tilt-switch transmitter and a reciever with a red and green light. You just stick the sensor on the top panel of your garage door, and plug the receiver in wherever you want.

When the door is fully closed, the receiver’s light glows steady green. When the door is open even a little bit, it flashes red.

I’ve had one that was shipped with my Sears garage door opener for about three years now, and I really like it. And I only have to replace the coin-sized sensor battery about once a year.

John

By: julio

julio — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:29:00 +0000

John ‘Chamberlain’ Smith,

I would love to uncover a way to determine from inside my home if my door is open or closed. I have a garage that is not attached to my house and I have found it open many times leaving for work in the morning. Good thing it is a safe neighborhood or those shiny new golf clubs would have been gone.

Any ideas anyone??

I do have a chamberlain

By: julio

julio — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:28:32 +0000

John ‘Chamberlain’ Smith,

Any ideas anyone??

I do have a chamberlain

By: John Smith

John Smith — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:59:08 +0000

I am a former engineer of Chamberlain (the worlds largest garage door opener manufacturer).

Though unknown to most people, Chamberlain openers actually have a serial interface. Door position (as well as much other data) can be easily obtained via the interface.

-real idenity withheld (Chamberlain is a big, powerful company).

By: jaded

jaded — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 08:01:09 +0000

If you’re interested in seeing a garage door open a “crack” or “just enough for Fido”, adding a simple magnetic reed switch when the door is open by the desired amount is a simpler solution. That could even be tied into your alarm system as a “closed” position (assuming the crack is for ventilation and not a dog.)

Two things to watch out for when doing this project:

1: Safety. Garage door springs store a tremendous amount of energy. If you loosen the wrong bolt, you could be unleashing a instantly snapping steel pole and cable. If it doesn’t break bones in your hand, you’ll be lucky. (I was lucky!)

2: Security. If you leave your door open more than a crack, a criminal can lift the door by pushing hard and reversing the motor. (Worm drives are not at risk.) The only thing holding your door closed is friction. You may have noticed most openers have a J shaped bar to connect the travelling part of the opener to the door. The J shape allows the trolley to get closer to the front of the garage, helping prevent this attack. Leaving the door open even a crack slides the trolley way back, giving the thief leverage.

By: bEN JACKSON

bEN JACKSON — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 06:00:34 +0000

a 100 ohm pot is going to use WAY too much current for this sort of thing. this would work fine with a 10k pot and use 1/100th the power. otherwise it’s a neat idea.

By: ravuya

ravuya — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 02:14:18 +0000

Ooh, I’m seeing definite evil potential in an analogue remote control for my garage door.

Stand out on my front lawn and wave something with an accelerometer around to control it from afar.

By: sammy

sammy — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:57:15 +0000

I leave my garage door cracked to help cool it down when I return home. I live in FL and the garage faces south. Leaving it open some really helps. I agree with the post above about using a fraction of a watt would be wasteful. You should be able to put an inline 110VAC switch at the bottom of the garage travel to interrupt power to the wall wart and reduce this consumption. My garage is closed fully about 90% of the time. A problem if your circuit ever fails and the automation system sees 0 volts as door closed.

By: Freiheit

Freiheit — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:55:57 +0000

RE: power consumption.

Should be simple to have it poll when you ask the controller, “where is the door”?

It would be equally simple to have it tie into a logger that would trigger a poll event when the garage door moves.

By: Pedro

Pedro — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:22:41 +0000

ok, call me crazy but what about a CNC hot-wire cutter? a hot wire is lifted up and down while a block of foam – mounted on a turntable – is moved forwards and backwards.

not a great system for intricate details but prototyping bodywork, aerodynamic shapes, regular shapes/prisms should be ok…

or hey, just make your home automation system a little flashier. ;)

By: bp

bp — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:30:24 +0000

This is cool though I too am scratching my head a bit about what I would use it for. The pet idea is possible… but beyond that I’m kind of drawing a blank.

Interesting write up though. I wonder if there are other mechanisms with a similar setup that you could use this as a closed circuit controller for? Like a giant CNC made with garage door openers? Just perfect for when you need to cut a 2:1 model of a car out of foam.

Hey that’s not a bad idea….

By: winphreak

winphreak — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:12:21 +0000

just a possible use, but it could be set up to only lift one foot to, say, let animals in and out. there are some uses for setting it to a certain height, I just can’t think of them at the moment.