Simple Device That Can Tell My Phone If My Garage Is Open Or Closed.

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Simple Device That Can Tell My Phone If My Garage Is Open Or Closed.

steve181

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#318484 22-Jan-2025 18:12

Hi Everyone.

As the title says this is just for piece of mind when I get to work etc & worry if I closed the garage door or not.

The device needs to be independent of the garage door opener unit.

I thought I hit the jackpot with this (my phone is Samsung); https://www.samsung.com/nz/smartthings/sensor/smartthings-multipurpose-sensor-gp-u999sjvlahe/ but it seems to be hard to find in NZ? Seems like it's faded into obscurity? Unpopular?

The other thing I could do is install a motion detection camera but this seems like overkill.

Thanks!

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#3334537 22-Jan-2025 18:18

Do you have other "smart home" devices already,

I think the item you link to is an add on for the samsung home automation hub...

steve181

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#3334538 22-Jan-2025 18:21

wellygary:

Do you have other "smart home" devices already,

I think the item you link to is an add on for the samsung home automation hub...

No I don't. I am interested in that but overall it's a want & not a need you could say.

My phone is an S23 Ultra. My Modem is in my garage so there would be no issues with signal strength.

Oblivian

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#3334540 22-Jan-2025 18:34

I roll an earlier model than this.

As long as the listing mentions tuya/smartlife specifically you're onto a winner

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mO1sWiF

You need a double plug near the motor/drive and somewhere to stick the reed switches.
And if you have a standard drive you can even add the contacts onto the existing wall switch ones (most likely just go to simple open/close contacts) and it'll do the finger flick for you.

Once in place you can use a geofence to query the current state and switch if not closed sorta thing

gehenna

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#3334541 22-Jan-2025 18:34

Having a Samsung phone doesn't mean you have Samsung Smartthings. You need a Smartthings Hub, and then the phone becomes useful in a Smartthings environment. But without the hub, there's nothing for any devices or sensors to communicate with. These days I think you can get either a standalone hub device, or some of their fridges have a native hub IIRC.

For the garage, at a high level you want something like a open/closed sensor and/or motion sensor, or to hook into the door controller if it has any internal smarts. I use the former on all my internal doors and windows, but it's probably not ideal for a garage given there might not be an effective place to mount them where they are close together to make and break the circuit.

First things first, any devices like this will need a hub. Whether that's Samsung or otherwise is up to you. I'm sure some folks will pop in and mention Home Assistant, but I think based on the original question you might benefit from an off-the-shelf hub first so you can get used to the concepts on a "somewhat" consumer device vs the tinkering that goes into Home Assistant. HA does get easier once you're familiar with the concepts, but diving in without that context is a shortcut to tears.

mdf

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#3334543 22-Jan-2025 18:39

I've got one of these: https://opengarage.io/

Open source and tinker friendly, but no soldering, coding or hub required (though works with Hassio if you do want a hub).

steve181

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#3334544 22-Jan-2025 18:48

mdf:

I've got one of these: https://opengarage.io/

Open source and tinker friendly, but no soldering, coding or hub required (though works with Hassio if you do want a hub).

Looks cool but still seems like a bit of a learning curve compared to just pointing a camera at the garage door & be done with it?

Seems like there might not be a simple clean cut cheap solution with no learning curve that's similar to an air tag except it's not telling my phone where it's located but the status of my garage door.

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gehenna

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#3334546 22-Jan-2025 18:55

That's up to you. Yes, what you say will work. There will be a learning curve with anything beyond a camera pointed at the door, and possibly even the camera option may have a learning curve depending on how good your wifi is in the garage and whether you have power near where you will mount the camera, etc.

jonherries

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#3334547 22-Jan-2025 19:16

gehenna:
That's up to you. Yes, what you say will work. There will be a learning curve with anything beyond a camera pointed at the door, and possibly even the camera option may have a learning curve depending on how good your wifi is in the garage and whether you have power near where you will mount the camera, etc.

To expand on this a little more. In order for you “to be notified” you would probably need a subscription service with that camera to tell you this. If you wanted to connect to the camera “to just look whenever it takes your fancy” then you can get some cameras that allow direct access over the internet for free (eg. Wyze). You might have trouble with these depending on your home network complexity, and of course always streaming video to the internet (upload speed) might affect other things in your home network.

Jon

juanmor

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#3334559 22-Jan-2025 19:35

Bunnings have this:

https://www.bunnings.co.nz/orion-grid-connect-smart-garage-door-controller-with-sensor_p0261686

lxsw20

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#3334563 22-Jan-2025 19:57

https://shop.meross.com/collections/smart-garage-door-opener/products/smart-wifi-garage-door-opener?variant=39999959990428

This is what I have, it has an app on your phone (or can use homekit etc) and will tell you open/closed status and allow you to open/close the door from your phone.

Oblivian

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#3334564 22-Jan-2025 19:59

Following up..

Depends on what you call 'hard' learning curve. But the Bunnings one seems to work on same principle

For instance the apps work on logic. Block out what you want to do based on triggers and it does for you.

Ie just thew a geo example in. And if you allow Google to see it, voice commands to check 'is the garage open'. If the answer is yes 'close the garage '

https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/889756f1067053a78b22f10445aaece4.jpg

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SATTV

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#3334565 22-Jan-2025 20:02

I have one of these.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Compatible-Assistant-Multiple-Notification-meross/dp/B07QCTN71J/ref=asc_df_B07QCTN71J/?tag=nzgoshpadde-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=725043829654&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15681560421577527540&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9121868&hvtargid=pla-744128766203&psc=1&language=en_AU&mcid=5aacea8318b93ad5bf33484e47cfe9ab&gad_source=1

Quick and easy ( I have the apple versions so no app or anything for me to install )

You can close it from your phone if you forget.

John

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bmoff

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#3334568 22-Jan-2025 20:21

NZ$9.12 | Tuya WiFi Door Sensor Window Sensor Smart Home Wireless Door Detector Smart Life APP Remote Control for Alexa Google Home
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mqAsdcb

I have one of these on my chicken coop door. Works fine.

eonsim

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#3334569 22-Jan-2025 20:26

If you had home assistant or some other smart home platform there would be lots options (ultra sonic sensors, magnetic door sensors, cameras etc). With out that your best option (assuming you want to be able to check this away from the house) is a wireless security camera with cloud access that you can point at the door from either the inside or outside and then just check the image to see if it's open.

timmmay

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#3334571 22-Jan-2025 21:09

YoLink have a great range of devices which includes a garage door sensor. Garage door range here. I use their water leak sensors and a few temperature sensors. You need their hub, which isn't expensive. Buy from Amazon US, their website is very expensive.

Their big advantage is really long range - 1/4 of a mile they say. I know they can reach from one end of my suburban property to the other with no problems, and works from inside my fridge and freezer as well.

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