Garage Door Opener & Alert Project

tx.st.home · March 7, 2018, 6:28pm

Inspired by one of Nate's Konnected video's (https://youtu.be/nlv3w3IvJ44) I was inspired to integrate a Konnected DIY board to Chamberlain garage door control. While many of garage door openers use a momentary switch to activate the garage door my Chamberlain system didn't. So the initial challenge was to discover how to implement a simple momentary contact to activate the door on my system.

So I disassembled the Chamberlain Wall Mounted Mutifunction Control Panel to gain access to the PCB. Knowing the activation was a button push I located the only monetary switch on the PCB labeled (SW1). Then using my multi-meter I checked for continuity on the four (4) SW1 pins (see pic) when the switch was activated and found that the pins located diagonally across from each other closed with the switch activated. So I soldered a wire leads from a pair of pins opposite of each other and extended them outside of the door opener case.

Not knowing if the voltage or noise levels that maybe present on these leads I choose to isolate them with a normally open relay and not directly connect them to the DIY PCB. Next I used the Konnected smart app to configure the DIY PCB board pins GND, D8 as a momentary switch to activate the relay.

With hardware in hand, I strapped together the system for an initial test (see pic) and it was a success! Of course when I showed the wife she wasn't impressed. Her only meaningful comment was it looked horrible and dangerous taped to the wall. So the next step was to package it in a wife approved container. In fact, she mentioned that a travel soap container looked like it would work. So, I let my fingers do the shopping and ordered a couple of black plastic clam shell travel soap containers from Amazon. I have to say after a few mods to the container to allow for a 12VDC power plug and wiring leads from the door PCB things were looking good (see pic).

Since I intended to automate the door opening and closing with a presence sensor I wanted to add an audible alert anytime the door was activated to ensure anyone in the area was aware of the movement. So I used a Smartthing Multipurpose sensor configured as a garage door sensor and mounted on the garage door. This sensor provides the open/closed status on the door and also has accelerometer feedback. So with a couple of smart apps I now have a complete system which detects a presence sensor to activate the doors, monitors the accelerometers and activates the piezo buzzer to produce an audible alert when the door moments is detected. (see pic).

Garage Door Control PCB

Prototype

Packaging

Mounted with Piezo Buzzer

Wife Approved Installation

mpossjr · March 7, 2018, 9:48pm

Haha, not surprised at the wife's response. At least she didn't say "It worked fine before you took it apart."

Nice looking, clean install in the end. Kudos!

I am working on a similar setup with my garage doors. I have about $50 in credit to Ponoko that I'm going to use and have them laser cut an enclosure for me and I am going to mount it near the opener.

Have you noticed any excess heat in your enclosure? Those open pins on the DIY Konnected look pretty bare.

tx.st.home · March 7, 2018, 10:16pm

Great point on the temperature. Given I live in Texas and the summer temps can exceed 100 Deg F.

As a point of reference I just measured the temperature with a infrared thermometer.

Outside Air Temp: 68 °F

Garage Wall: 72 °F

Black Enclosure: 76 °F

DIY ESP8266 Processor Inside Enclosure: 86 °F

DIY ESP8266 Processor In Ambient Air: 84 °F

Given the delta temperature inside and enclosure and outside is only 2 °F it doesn't appear the enclosure has any significant impact.

When the ambient air temperature reaches 100 °F which is 32 °F higher then today's temperature then add that 32 °F to the 86 °F to get a 118 °F or approximately 48 °C.

If I recall correctly, most commercial grade electronics operating temperature limits are from 0 °C to 70 °C which means the worst case temperature (48 °C) is only ~70% of rated temperature (70 °C).

-Cheers

vishalsharma.it · August 16, 2018, 10:16pm

Nice setup. Specially wife’s idea of using a soap case. I am gonna do the same. Is your existing setup working fine like wall button, remote and infrared sensors on the garage door? I did the same and open/close works just fine from ST but everything else was broken. I am especially interested in the door infrared sensors because operating without them or some other mecanism to stop the door in case of an obstruction is really dangerous. TIA.

tx.st.home · August 16, 2018, 10:28pm

@Vishal,

This has been installed for at least 5 months without any issues. All standard and safety features of the Chamberlain garage door system are fully functional. This includes the IR sensors, the wall mounted multifunction panel and all car remotes.
Let me know if you have any specific questions about my hardware or software configurations.

-Greg

vishalsharma.it · August 16, 2018, 10:35pm

@Greg. That’s great to hear that everything works in your case. I also have Chamberline’s device and followed the instructions from https://help.konnected.io/support/solutions/folders/32000034950. Not sure if something needs changing. I have been stuck at a clogged kitchen sink which actually isn’t clogged just draining slowly. I will revisit the steps and compare with my setup sometime this week and see if it works. Let me know if anything should be different from the help page. TIA!

tx.st.home · August 16, 2018, 10:46pm

@Vishal,
So your opener works when activated using ST but the wall mounted switch, car remotes and the IR sensor are inoperable?

-Greg

vishalsharma.it · August 16, 2018, 10:49pm

That’s correct.

vishalsharma.it · August 17, 2018, 1:13pm

@Greg, I tested the setup again and here’s what I have noticed:

Remote works fine but the wall button is disabled. Will check it’s wiring again.
The motion eyes are acting weird. They work fine from inside and outside when working without Konnected but with Konnected work only from inside.

This doesn’t look like device issues to me. Any ideas?

tx.st.home · August 17, 2018, 11:17pm

@Vishal,

To ensure that we each are configuring our systems in identical ways I've create a block diagram of my system configuration.

In the upper right is a picture of the Multi function wall switch circuit card. It depicts the two wires that I soldered to the SW1 switch and then interconnect with the 5VDC Relay Normally Open Contacts. To activate the door using the Konnected Smart App I configured Pin D8 as a momentary switch that when pressed will energize Pin D8 which is connected to the relay IN contact. When D8 is energized the 5VDC relay will be activated and relay contacts will close. With the relay contacts closed the jumper wires soldered to the SW1 switch will activate the garage door.

Note: I haven't made any other modifications to the standard garage door system. The wires which interconnect from the Wall Mounted switch and the Garage Motor unit (circled in ORANGE) and the two (2) sensors mounted at the bottom of the garage rails and their 2 pairs of interconnected with the Garage Motor unit (circled in RED) from the Wall Mounted are identical to a standard installation.

If you have a different configuration then mine can you provide a configuration diagram and perhaps I can identify any issues.

-Greg

vishalsharma.it · August 20, 2018, 7:17pm

@Greg. Apologies for the delayed response and I still haven't checked everything. There is been so much going on in the house and I am a first time homeowner. With that said, I compared my config with your diagram and there are basically 2 differences. 1) I don't have a piezo buzzer yet 2) My garage door opener has 2 points where I can connect the wires from the relay to like in the article which is on Konnected website. I have connected my NO & COM one to each point, again just like the help article. The only thing needs to be checked is if the wires are tightly plugged into 1 & 2 points for the wall button and both sensors. Will check that and post the update here.

tx.st.home · August 27, 2018, 4:10pm

Vishal,

After reading your last reply I now recognize that my configuration for activating the garage door is different than your configuration. In your setup you are activating the garage door using a relay which momentarily closes. When the relay is closes it connects the two terminals from your garage door opener together which mimics a momentary button push to activate the opener.

The model of my Chamberlain opener does NOT activate by momentarily connecting the two terminals. Therefore I had to hack the wall mounted controller to mimic a button push. The hack involves attaching two wire across the momentary button in the controller which are then attached to the NO relay. So when the NO relay momentarily closes it mimics the button push of the wall controller.

Cheers,

Greg

vishalsharma.it · February 19, 2019, 7:31pm

@Greg, I know it's been a long time since I posted here. Got busy with life and couldn't find time to work on it. It will be great if you are still available and can help. First of all, I took the boards from wall which were hanging using painters tape and put those in a box. Now the problem, it's still same as last time. Everything works except the wall button. I am posting some pictures of my garage motor unit and the wiring on the outside. I am not much comfortable in opening the case and seeing what's inside. I have relay's COM and NO connected to the garage motor unit in 1 and 2 respectively. 1 & 2 has 2 more wires coming out of the wall switch. Relay is connected to pin D1 on the NodeMCU and also taking power from the board. What can be done to make the wall switch work? TIA!

tx.st.home · February 20, 2019, 9:32pm

@Vishal, looking at the pictures you provided and the description of your configuration I have a suggestion. First simplify the setup by removing the wires for the NO relay to pins 1 & 2. Leave the two wires from the wall switch on pins 1 & 2. This configuration is should now work when you activate the wall switch the door opener should work. If it doesn’t work then the next step would be to verify the continuity of the wires between pins 1 & 2 and the wall switch. Use an multimeter and put the meter in Ohms mode. Attach one lead from the meter to the wire removed from pin 1. Next attach the other lead from the meter to the wire removed from pin 2. Once these are connected while watching the meter depress a hold the wall switch. The meter should give you a reading of the resistance of the wires. If it doesn’t then there either the wires have a discontinuity or the switch is bad. Let me know if you have questions.

Cheers,
Greg

vishalsharma.it · February 20, 2019, 9:40pm

@Greg, the wall switch works fine if I remove the relay wires from pin 1 & 2. That's the first thing I tested when wall switch stopped working. I believe that's the only thing you wanted to me try unless I didn't understand completely. I am no good with electronics unless I have the instructions. But, I was thinking to join wall switch wires to relay input or NodeMCU. Not sure if wall switch needs some power. Any suggestion?

tx.st.home · February 20, 2019, 10:13pm

@Vishai, Can you remove the wall switch from the wall and take pictures showing how the wires from the door openers pins 1&2 are connected to the switch. Does it look like the multifunction wall switch I provided pictures of in earlier posts. Can you find any type of model number on the wall switch?
-Greg

vishalsharma.it · February 21, 2019, 12:55am

Here you go.

tx.st.home · February 21, 2019, 1:43am

@Vishai, Try this. Disconnect the two wires from the NO relay to pins 1&2 on the door opener. Leave the wall switch wires connected to pins 1&2 on the door opener. Then remove both the red and white wires from the back of the wall switch. Next monetarily touch the red and white wires together. Verify if the door opener starts.

vishalsharma.it · February 21, 2019, 1:56am

@Greg. Will try that during daytime tomorrow. For now I can tell you that the wall switch is not getting any power and that seems to be the problem. Without NodeMCU, the wall button’s light is on but with it nothing. Is your suggestion about proving something towards this?

tx.st.home · February 21, 2019, 2:07am

@Vishal, The reason I’m having you perform the test is to determine if the wall switch is a simple momentary switch. Touching the wires momentarily will either make the door opener work as it would with a simple momentary switch. If nothing happens then the wall switch must contain some special logic that communicates with the door opener and activated it. If that’s the case then connecting the NO relay to the same pins 1&2 is interfering with that communication and disabling its function.