Question:
Any DIY plans to build a garage door sensor plan?
I am interested in DIY plans to monitor garage door i.e. to monitor if
the door is open or closed.
Answer:
I'm in the process of getting the components and wiring up my garage doors,
so that I can be notified if the door opens unexpectedly and also so that I
can close the door with X10. The way I will wire it, X10 will only be able
to close the door since I don't want any smartass with an X10 remote opening
my doors.
I was going to use a solution similar to some that are posted on the web
which involve using Universal Modules and possibly Powerflash Intefaces
along with a contact set to handle this, but I settled on a more expensive,
but better integrated solution. I have two doors to control and monitor so
that makes some of the difference.
Smarthome has a set of garage door contacts which are designed for doors
that might not work with standard type security contacts.
I'm actually getting the 7456 model because I want the contacts to close
when the door opens.
I'm also getting the Smarthome IOLinc unit with two contact closure probes.
These items replace two Universal Modules and two Powerflash Interfaces.
The probes allow the detection of the garage door state via the contacts and
the remaining two relay hookups on the IOLinc will handle the door
operation.
My MisterHouse setup will monitor this and I can pretty much code anything I
want to handle the doors. For instance, I could write a routine so that if
I "arm" the system when I leave the house, any opening of the garage doors
detected will trigger a close command after some period of time like 5
minutes or something. It can also send a text message to my cellphone to
let me know that something weird happened. When I come home, I disarm the
system and if a door is opened, nothing will be done automatically.
I'm doing this because on two occasions, I've come home to find one of my
garage doors wide open, though I closed it when I left and I always wait in
the driveway until I see the door close completely
