Published May 20, 2017

Is the Garage Door Open?

Garage doors hard to see? Need to know if they are open or closed? This project may be of use to you.

IntermediateShowcase (no instructions)5 hours2,334

Things used in this project

Hardware components

SparkFun ESP32 Thing

1 Thing will work for two garage doors. The other Thing is used for the LED Strip indicator.

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

using a Pi to run MQTT broker and Node-Red

NeoPixel strip

used to indicate open closed. Yes, it is overkill, but fun. Project expects a 1 meter strip with 60 LEDs. The switch monitor board will also light up a strip if either switch is open.

magnetic switch (reed)

two switches needed if monitoring two doors from a single ESP32

Software apps and online services

mosquitto MQTT broker

(or other MQTT broker). I'm using the Pi to run this broker.

Node-RED

running on the Pi. Monitors MQTT and sends appropriate indicators of door status. This runs the "business logic" of this system.

Story

My wife and I are rather tired of needing to walk down some stairs and then craning our necks to view an out-of-view garage door. This project solves this problem!