Garage Control/Status Question

[AnthemAVM]

I am working on getting Insteon set up in my new house and having a blast.

 

So this weekend, I am going to put my I/O LINC in to controll each garage door. Instead of putting a wired sensor in to give me status of the door, could I just put a TriggerLinc to give me the status so my KPL will show me the status?

 

Thanks

[brad77]

I would imagine that you could, but you'd have to be careful with your placement. The hard-wired sensor is meant to be mounted on the ground and has a very low profile. I believe that it's waterproof as well (or at least water resistant). The sensor also doesn't require power and has about a 2 1/2 inch range, whereas the TriggerLinc requires no more than 1/2 inch between the contacts and requires a AA battery.

 

A half inch isn't much clearance when you're talking about a garage door.

 

From Smarthome:

 

Smaller magnetic switches have a small operating gap where the contact and magnet must be within half an inch for reliable operation. While those switches are fine for most doors and windows in a home, they just won't cut it for larger doors. The included magnetic contacts operate functionally as far apart as 2 3/4 inches, making them ideal for garage door applications. A flexible 24" stainless armored cable protects the wires as they run along the ground or up the wall.

You may be better off running the wire.

[brad77]

Oh, and congrats on the new house!

[oberkc]

I suspect brad77 is correct about his observations about the triggerlinc. I have not used one, so I have no comment about that. I suggest avoiding this approach for different reasons.

 

First, the wired sensor is not that hard to install. It is no more difficult than stapling a garage door button wire along the ceiling, which you have probably done. It probably takes less time than replacing a battery in a triggerlinc a few times.

 

Second, the wired sensor can be placed high, also. Mine is near the top of the door. It works well.

 

Third, the IOLinc has several modes, based upon sensor input. If you don't have a sensor, you may be limiting your options for garage door control.

 

My suggestion is to go with the wired sensor that is part of the garage door kit.

[AnthemAVM]

Thanks for the information.

 

I was hoping to avoid running wires, as my garage is finished and not wires are visable. I guess I can put the wired sensor on the top of the door like my last house, and run the wires clean.

 

Thanks again for the input.

[oberkc]

I think it concievable that you could even mount the sensor on the track nearer still to the opener. This would further minimize unsightly wires. Wires could also be taped to the door track. This could be visually preferable to stapling to the wall.

[AnthemAVM]

I think it concievable that you could even mount the sensor on the track nearer still to the opener. This would further minimize unsightly wires. Wires could also be taped to the door track. This could be visually preferable to stapling to the wall.

 

Interesting concept of putting it higher up. It would be more of a normal open switch than a normal close.

 

Thanks

[oberkc]

It would be more of a normal open switch than a normal close.

 

Yes, it would. Of course the sensor can be wired where open (or closed) is either on or off, based on which wire you attach to the IOLinc

 

The problem with this approach, I assume, is that most people want positive indication when the door is CLOSED. If one mounts the sensor up high, activated only when the door is fully open, then you have that potential that a door might be in a partially closed state with the sensor not yet activated. The owner is happily laboring under the false impression that door is not "open" when, in fact, it is (at least partially).

 

My guess is that the best solution for you is to mount the sensor near the top of the garage door opening. The sensor should be triggered only when the door is fully closed. Run your wire along the track stucture a much as you can, to avoid the unsightliness of wires on walls. Install your IOLinc in the outlet powering the opener. This should minimize visible wires.

[brad77]

Does the reed switch in the sensor work when it is mounted perpendicular to the magnet on the door? If so, you could mount it somewhere along the door track (possibly even near the top of the door when it's closed).

 

This would capture movement much in the same way a sensor mounted on the floor would, but wouldn't require running as much wire and would be less likely to be kicked or tripped over (though I have to admit that I haven't really found that to be much of a problem).

[oberkc]

Does the reed switch in the sensor work when it is mounted perpendicular to the magnet on the door? If so, you could mount it somewhere along the door track (possibly even near the top of the door when it's closed

 

I believe that it would work when perpendicular, but that this is not necessary. I have my magnet mounted on the upper corner of the door, with the sensor on the door frame, immediately adjacent (and parallel) to the magnet.

[Scottmichaelj]

If you dont mind I will chime in with my .02 cents. I was using a RF to X10 module with the Black and Decker remote programmed in my trucks Homelink remote garage door opener so then when I open the garage door with the rear view mirror buttons I could also hit the second button (there are three) to send the on command to the RF X10 then turn on lights in my home if they were already turned off for the night. Great for when I was coming home late from the airport after midnight and all the house lights were off. Long story short the X10 was really unreliable and I was trying to figure out an alternative.

 

Getting to the point, I put in a triggerlinc in the top middle of my garage door (protected from weather) with a program that if its "X" time and "X" lights are "off" then if the triggerlinc was opened then "x" lights turn on. So I took it a step further and setup a program that if it was "after sunset" and if the triggerlinc was open (because the garage door is open) then certain lights like in the master bedroom, kitchen and garage hall would not turn off. I also been thinking about letting them turn off but then they turn back on as a better warning. I have not had issues with the triggerlinc and the battery seems to last a long while (so far two months without changing it). I use Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable batteries so it works out good for me. Not sure what to expect if the battery dies but couldnt you send a email to yourself via the ISY if it went dead and it needed to be changed? It takes like 2 mins to swap it out!

[AnthemAVM]

I ended up going over to the factory store and got the parts to use a hardwired sensor, and will try and get them installed this weekend.

[oberkc]

Getting to the point, I put in a triggerlinc in the top middle of my garage door (protected from weather) with a program that if its "X" time and "X" lights are "off" then if the triggerlinc was opened then "x" lights turn on. So I took it a step further and setup a program that if it was "after sunset" and if the triggerlinc was open (because the garage door is open) then certain lights like in the master bedroom, kitchen and garage hall would not turn off.

 

I do something similar with the garage door kit sensor.