Wifi Connected Garage

Introduction:

Are you interested in adding an extra layer of security to your household? The implementation of a Wifi controlled garage door opener might be what you are looking for. This gives you the ability to not only remotely control your garage door from your smart phone, it also allows you to monitor the status of your garage door. Whether you are at work or away on vacation, you will know if your garage door has been opened, and which of your authorized users are coming or going. Your door can be opened from anywhere Wifi or cell service is available. If you are at work and your significant other is locked out, you can easily let them in without even having to leave the office.

This also keeps you from having to mess around with obsolete garage door openers and keypads. A standard garage door opener has very limited range and they are often faulty and unreliable. Their limited range only lets you open your garage when you are essentially parked right in front of it. You may also encounter a problem when you have more vehicles than available garage door openers. Since everyone this day and age has a smartphone, this problem is easily avoided with the Wifi controlled garage door opener. This also gives you the ability to control who has access to your garage door. You do not need to worry about people sharing your keypad code with shady individuals who may want to steal your things.

This simple addition to your garage door can go a long way to protecting your home.

How it Works:

A Particle photon connects to the internet and can be controlled from anywhere cell service or Wifi is available. The photon is used to control a relay which is connected to the garage door motor. The relay is used to simulate a button press and trigger the garage door to activate. The relay used in this case needs 5V to switch, but the output of the digital pins is 3.3V. A transistor is used to control a 5V signal which can then control the relay. Each time the door is triggered, an event is published. A second photon subscribes to these events and turns on an LED. Once the door has been triggered, magnetic switches are used to monitor the position of the door. One for the open position and one for the closed position. Both the switches are mounted to the track of the door. A magnet is attached to the door and moves between the two switches allowing for the state of the door to be determined. Each time the position of the garage door changes, an even is published. This event is connected to ThingSpeak through the particle console. ThingSpeak then graphs the position of the door as a function of time. When the state is equal to one, the door is open. When the state is equal to zero, the door is closed.