Suggestions for controlling garage door

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Suggestions for controlling garage door

lchiu7

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Topic # 222742 26-Aug-2017 15:25

Got a new garage door opener installed a few months ago and didn't think about HA but it looks easy. There is a connection on the motor which is just a momentary switch (relay) it seems that closing the circuit briefly causes the door to change state (open or close).

There are also radio controlled remotes of course.

I have both GH and Alexa and would like to be able to control the door from either. I also run HABridge on a Pi3. I am guessing some sort of Zwave relay would do the job but I would then have to invest in a Zwave bridge I presume? That could be attached to a PC or maybe the PI?

Any ideas of the most cost effective way of doing this? I am not worried about outsiders being able to access the door since my Dots and GH cannot hear any command from outside no matter how hard you shout!

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Reply # 1853500 27-Aug-2017 21:48

I use the Aeotec (https://aeotec.com/z-wave-garage-door-controller) and it works quite well. Has a tilt sensor as well so tells me if someone tries to jar the door open.

richms

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Reply # 1853511 27-Aug-2017 22:19

Im still trying to comprehend the usefulness of triggering the garage door by voice from the house. I guess if you use it as a main entrance to the house, but IMO running a door like that without seeing it is too risky.

Richard rich.ms

Aredwood

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Reply # 1853523 27-Aug-2017 23:28

You will definitely need some sensors to report when the door is currently open or closed. Or at the least make a latching type circuit, so you have the equivalent of 2 buttons for door control, 1 for open, other for close. And pushing the open button when door already open, or close when door already closed, won't do anything. Otherwise you run the risk of the door state and what Alexa thinks the door state is, getting out of sync.

Best would also be error reporting as well. As the opener should be designed for safety to reverse open again if it hits an obstruction while closing. So being able to report this and/or a jammed door would be useful as well.

hairy1

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Reply # 1853570 28-Aug-2017 06:30

One person supports this post

https://opengarage.io

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

dacraka

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Reply # 1853591 28-Aug-2017 08:08

I installed a Belkin Wemo Maker on my garage door and it works well with open/close sensor (magnetic reed switch).

lchiu7

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Reply # 1853868 28-Aug-2017 10:46

t0ny:

I use the Aeotec (https://aeotec.com/z-wave-garage-door-controller) and it works quite well. Has a tilt sensor as well so tells me if someone tries to jar the door open.

That looks good. However in my previous research it appeared that tilt sensors only work with folding door, not tilting doors. So you mount the sensor on the bottom section and when that hits the horizontal the door is open. However with a tilting door I would image the sensor would signal the door open as soon as the door begins to lift.

I have seen other sensor that you mount on the rear of the garage and bounce a light off the door. When the door isn't there, no light is reflected and so the door is open.

What sort of door do you have?

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lchiu7

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Reply # 1853869 28-Aug-2017 10:49

richms:

Im still trying to comprehend the usefulness of triggering the garage door by voice from the house. I guess if you use it as a main entrance to the house, but IMO running a door like that without seeing it is too risky.

Actually IFTTT is one of the features you can have. So when you drive near your house, the phone senses you are near and opens the door. And similarly as you drive away it closes the door.

My door is quite safe in that is starts very slowly and will stop when it encounters any obstruction.

Seeing another poster about the Belkin would solve the issue I presume of knowing if the door is open or closed.

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t0ny

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Reply # 1853874 28-Aug-2017 10:54

sectional door. The sensor is mounted up top so a tilt can be detected even if the door goes up slightly (as its the first section of the door that tilts)

lchiu7

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Reply # 1853878 28-Aug-2017 10:58

dacraka:

I installed a Belkin Wemo Maker on my garage door and it works well with open/close sensor (magnetic reed switch).

That looks good. I presume it can trigger a low voltage switch which is what the garage door opener uses? I just have a switch on the wall that when triggered closes a switch on the motor and triggers open/close. The open/close sensor would be useful (links?) if it could be read by an app.

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michaelmurfy

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Reply # 1853910 28-Aug-2017 11:23

I just recently assisted one of my friends with building his own (out of a ESP8266, a relay and a couple of reid switches). He runs his own custom internal API to control the hue bulbs, garage door etc.

Something like this however the one we built is a lot more simple. I'll try and get him to share some screenshots of his internal API if anyone is interested.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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robfish

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Reply # 1853925 28-Aug-2017 11:40

hairy1:https://opengarage.io

Looks good. Does anyone have any comments on supply and delivery to NZ?

Rob

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Reply # 1853935 28-Aug-2017 11:54

michaelmurfy:

I just recently assisted one of my friends with building his own (out of a ESP8266, a relay and a couple of reid switches). He runs his own custom internal API to control the hue bulbs, garage door etc.

Something like this however the one we built is a lot more simple. I'll try and get him to share some screenshots of his internal API if anyone is interested.

I used a heavily modified version off this project: https://www.hackster.io/jason-cox/esp8266-garage-door-monitor-bd6f06

I probably spent around $110 (includes expensive shipping) to get the ESP8266 and all the other components, case, cables, relay, switches etc.

My setup is: ESP8266/wifi/http -> Odroid/NodeJS/OAuth -> websockets -> browser

I have my own Node API using websockets for any interface. You could modify the API to talk to Alexa or IFTTT. I don't like hooking things up to the cloud due to the latency. Though if you control the door based off your location this wont really be an issue.

I recorded this video as a latency test:

It works well. I can provide a cut down version of my API, but wouldn't recommend it unless you like Node.

bigreddog

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Reply # 1853980 28-Aug-2017 12:57

robfish:

hairy1:https://opengarage.io

Looks good. Does anyone have any comments on supply and delivery to NZ?

Piece of cake. Ordered 1 in May, everything worked as it should. Have been playing with different tools to trigger it, IFTTT using webhooks has been fine, with notifications for when the button is pushed.

tieke

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Reply # 1854030 28-Aug-2017 13:59

I also use Opengarage and have it integrated with Home Assistant. As per a previous comment I made:

Opengarage works well - took me about twenty minutes to set it up and haven't really thought about the tech side since. Someone on the homeassistant forum gave some good info on it and added the appropriate support, so it was easy to add. (As far as connectivity goes, my homeassistant stuff is separated from the WAN, so if I need to do anything remotely I just VPN in first).

As far as the open/closed reading goes, you can view the current result of the distance sensors so I just checked on what the registered distance was with the door up and down and set my open and closed parameters accordingly (it's effectively 3ft vs infinity as it's pointing at sky if there's no door there, so not much chance of false interpretations).

I didn't bother seeing where I could attach the activation wires to the actual motor unit, but instead used the spare remote button integrated into the manual pull-down release. I just popped that off and wired the opengarage unit directly to it.

Have a double-garage, but only one side has an electric door-opener on it, otherwise I would get another opengarage unit for the other side - maybe make it myself instead, as I think I did a quick costing at only about $15 worth of parts, but the amount of time it would take and who I could blame if it didn't work meant that I decided on the made-up one to start with.

Pretty quick delivery as I recall - less than a week after ordering

lchiu7

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Reply # 1854193 28-Aug-2017 16:45

t0ny:

sectional door. The sensor is mounted up top so a tilt can be detected even if the door goes up slightly (as its the first section of the door that tilts)

Then I presume that if the sensor is mounted on the bottom or top of a tilt-a-door then it will register an open as soon as the door tilts since the whole door pivots?

Out of interest, where did you get it from and how much?

Thanks

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