Control Your Garage door opener

[okshadow 0]

I watched a video that the guy had two way com between him and his front door and then backed up a screen had a program to open and close his garage door and then back to video, what is needed to be able to do that. Zmodo 16 channel dvr.

[dvarapala 0]

I watched a video that the guy had two way com between him and his front door and then backed up a screen had a program to open and close his garage door and then back to video, what is needed to be able to do that.

 

My wife forgets to close the garage door all the time, so I set up a system to allow me to close it remotely. To close (or open) the door requires nothing more than a simple relay; when the relay contacts are closed, it's exactly like pushing the button open/close button. I also have a garage door magnetic reed switch to sense whether the door is open or closed. I took an off-the-shelf embedded microcontroller board that had on-board relay outputs and opti-isolated inputs and programmed it to read the state of the door sensor and pulse the relay output on command to close the door. The embedded board is connected to a Linux server via an RS-232 serial port.

 

On the Linux box I run a simple daemon which keeps in constant contact with the embedded board. If the garage door opens it starts a timer; when the garage door is closed the timer is stopped. If the (5-minute) timer expires, I get a text message on my cell phone telling me the door is open. I can then connect to my DVR and look at my garage cam to see what's going on. A button on a simple web page allows me to close the door.

 

The embedded microcontroller board and the other parts cost roughly $150. I was already running the Linux box with a web server, so the incremental cost for those was $0.00.

[securitall 0]

Great idea, I'll try this one!

[nDAlk90 0]

The embedded microcontroller board and the other parts cost roughly $150.

 

This is cheaper.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Garage-Butler-Automatic-Door-Closer/dp/B002EJULB8

[dvarapala 0]

 

This is cheaper.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Garage-Butler-Automatic-Door-Closer/dp/B002EJULB8

 

And does far less.

 

The problem with a fixed timer is it will close the garage door no matter what is going on. Would you want your garage door to close on you while you were in the process of unloading groceries from your trunk? Have fun cleaning up when the garage door squishes your jug of milk... Plus there's no remote control capability like the OP wanted.

[nDAlk90 0]

There is a "hold" button on the unit. Which will stop the timer while you are unloading your car.

 

 

This is cheaper.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Garage-Butler-Automatic-Door-Closer/dp/B002EJULB8

 

And does far less.

 

The problem with a fixed timer is it will close the garage door no matter what is going on. Would you want your garage door to close on you while you were in the process of unloading groceries from your trunk? Have fun cleaning up when the garage door squishes your jug of milk... Plus there's no remote control capability like the OP wanted.

[dvarapala 0]

There is a "hold" button on the unit. Which will stop the timer while you are unloading your car.

 

That's great - can I press it remotely using a web browser on my Android smart phone?

[nDAlk90 0]

No. But if you mount the unit next to the door, as soon as you drive in you could press the hold button on the unit.

 

 

There is a "hold" button on the unit. Which will stop the timer while you are unloading your car.

 

That's great - can I press it remotely using a web browser on my Android smart phone?

[Boogieman 1]

the garage butler would not solve the problem of someone pressing hold and leaving the door open.

Total DIY solution http://didicloseit.com/

This is an off the shelf solution http://shop.gogogate.com/en/ but I don't think it can send a timed message after the door is left open....

coming soon https://garageio.com/

[thewireguys 3]

This product works very well for remote controlling garage doors with 2-way feedback. They have an app you can install on your smart phone or you can control it via the web interface.

 

http://www.controlbyweb.com/webrelay/

[renedarling 0]

I watched a video that the guy had two way com between him and his front door and then backed up a screen had a program to open and close his garage door and then back to video, what is needed to be able to do that. Zmodo 16 channel dvr.

 

hi

please anyone provide more information on this ( Control Your Garage door opener )

[buellwinkle 0]

Here's what Buellwinkle would do. Get a camera with Alarm out, preferably in the garage so you can see what you are closing the door on, just sayin.

 

When you see the garage is open, send an URL command to the camera close the garage via alarm out. This can be as simple as a favorite on your cell phone browser. Cost to do it (assuming you have a camera with alarm out already) is just for the piece of wire from the camera to the garage door opener.

 

We use alarm out on a camera to open the gates to the community, I think it can handle a simple garage door. There's even an app for it for Axis cameras, but would imagine you can develop an app for it to work with other brands of camera with alarm out and URL triggering, simple app to write, one button, click it, sends URL command to trigger alarm out.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/mg/app/garage-door-axis/id751412884?mt=8

[thewireguys 3]

Controlbyweb can do this with feedback.

 

Lots of cameras will need a relay between the camera and the motor. The Controlbyweb unit does not. After using both the Controlbyweb relay and a IP camera to control Garage doors I find Controlbyweb to faster and easier to use.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Guest

[dvarapala 0]

Here's what Buellwinkle would do. Get a camera with Alarm out, preferably in the garage so you can see what you are closing the door on, just sayin.

 

When you see the garage is open, send an URL command to the camera close the garage via alarm out.

 

You hand-waved on a pretty important detail there, my friend.

 

So how will you know when the garage door has been left open? Do you have to keep logging on to your garage camera every few minutes to see if it's open or not?

[buellwinkle 0]

The idea would be that you are not sure if you left it open/closed or you are just looking at your cameras and realize it's closed. That very same camera can trigger alarm out to close the garage door and I would assume you would see it close via the very same camera, no?

 

All camera alarm out does is close a circuit, same as if you used a button to close a circuit to close your garage door as most have. You really don't need anything else other than the URL to momentarily trigger alarm out on your camera. We use alarm out on an Axis camera to trigger a gate to open, works well and consistently in commercial use. There's an Axis URL command that triggers alarm out for a specified amount of time.

 

There are devices that can do as you suggest, open/close door and display the state of the door but they can cost as much as a camera like the Liftmaster internet connect or they are experimental projects with Arduino or Raspberry PI, so why not use the camera.

 

When I get around to it, I'm decommissioning an old ACTi ACM-3511 and that has alarm out, so I'll put it in the garage and hook it up to the opener, but probably not for 2-3 weeks or so until I have time to switch out the camera as the camera I want is not available for a few weeks.

[dvarapala 0]

The idea would be that you are not sure if you left it open/closed or you are just looking at your cameras and realize it's closed.

 

That's fine as far as it goes, but the typical scenario in my household is my wife forgets to close the garage door while I'm off at work, so without an asynchronous alert of some sort that door might stay open for hours before I happen to notice it.

 

Some cameras that have discrete inputs as well as relay outputs, in which case you can install a standard alarm system magnetic contact switch to your garage door and connect that to the camera's discrete input, then have the camera (or your VMS) send you an email or text message when the door is left open too long. This would prompt you to log in to your camera and close the door if needed.

[charles_shaw 0]

What about a WeMo Maker? WeMo can will send push alerts when something is on or off (circuit open or closed).

 

http://www.belkin.com/us/F7C043-Belkin/p/P-F7C043/

[digger11 0]

If you have a Vera home automation controller you can do what I did.

Add a MimoLite by Fortrezz (http://fortrezz.com/index.php/products/mimolite) to your Z-Wave network, install a wired magnetic sensor on the garage door, and connect the MimoLite to the magnetic sensor and the garage door opener's button.

 

Install the Vera garage door app, and it lets you see whether the door is open or closed, and remotely open or close the door. Then you can set up any sort of notification or automated actions you want.

[kanim791 0]

The idea would be that you are not sure if you left it open/closed or you are just looking at your cameras and realize it's closed.

 

That's fine as far as it goes, but the typical scenario in my household is my wife forgets to close the garage door while I'm off at work, so without an asynchronous alert of some sort that door might stay open for hours before I happen to notice it.

 

Some cameras that have discrete inputs as well as relay outputs, in which case you can install a standard alarm system magnetic contact switch to your garage door and connect that to the camera's discrete input, then have the camera (or your VMS) send you an email or text message when the door is left open too long. This would prompt you to log in to your camera and close the door if needed.

 

Thanks for your kind information

[hipis 0]

I watched a video that the guy had two way com between him and his front door and then backed up a screen had a program to open and close his garage door and then back to video, what is needed to be able to do that. Zmodo 16 channel dvr.

 

You mean this . I used only my dvr