Automate Your Garage

January 31, 2014 / / 66 Comments

We’re happy to announce that we’re about to include a new addition to the Doors & Locks section of the SmartThings Dashboard that will make it easier than ever to monitor and control your garage door. The functionality will be added to the iOS app today, and to the new Android app experience that a closed group of beta testers are currently using.

Gain peace of mind by knowing that your garage door is closed and secure, receive immediate alerts if it opens unexpectedly, and rest assured knowing that you can open and close it with the push of a button from anywhere.

Inside the Doors & Locks section, you’ll now notice that when adding a new door, there’s a prompt that allows you to define the type of door you’re adding–either a “Garage Door” or a “Conventional Door”:

GarageDoor1      GarageDoor2

If you select “Garage Door,” you’ll be presented with a series of common use cases and actions that are specific for a garage:

WhatDoYouWantToDoWithGarageDoor3

As with the Home & Family, Lights & Switches, and Damage & Danger sections of the Dashboard, you can monitor and control your garage by choosing already-connected devices, or choose to pair new devices. Depending on what you wish to do, there are two main devices that you’ll need to monitor and control your garage:

If the action you’re configuring requires you to set up a SmartSense Multi sensor in your garage, you’ll see a few helpful screens showing you tips for how to mount the Multi:

Image-1 Tips2 Tips3
(Note: You only need to install the larger half of the Multi to monitor your garage, as it contains the accelerometer.)

After you’ve installed your SmartSense Multi, you’ll see the open/close status of the garage door in the Doors & Locks section of your Dashboard. And if you’ve installed a relay, you’ll see an icon representing it within the Doors & Locks section that you can easily tap to open and close it.

And that’s it: You’ve just breathed life into your garage and made it smart!

* – There is a minimal amount of wiring involved in order to hook up a relay switch. Here’s our maker in residence, Danny, to talk a little bit about installing a relay:

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Join the conversation! 66 Comments

  1. tasi

    This is fantastic, and I’ve already set it up.

    BUT, I already had a multi sensor mounted on the garage door rail (both the sensor and the contact part), and use to be able to see the status of the door (open or closed). After I defined the door as being a “Garage Door”, it always shows as open. I’ll have to mount the multisensor on the garage door the way described (for the tilt sensor?), but shouldn’t it continue to use the contact sensor as an indicator of door status? Right now the contact and the multisensor sit on the rail, they don’t “tilt”.

    Maybe allowing the contact sensor would fix the problem for me?

    Thanks.

    • marc

      Tasi you have to contact the SmartThings help team and they can go in and make your garage door sensor work properly. Mine didn’t show open and closed correctly until I contacted them.

    • Ryan Smith

      Hi Tasi,

      Just got done hooking mine up. I originally mounted the multi sensor (just the big part) on the garage door horizontally and it told me the door was always open. I took it off and mounted it vertically and now it works perfect!

      I lost my garage door opener and a new remote costs about $30. I already had a multi sensor on a door I didn’t really need it on so for an extra $20 bucks (relay switch), I can open my garage door from anywhere in the world and also get notified if I leave it open when I leave. Can’t beat it.

      Ryan

    • Rahman Honarmand

      Just got done hooking mine up
      http://naslemusic.com/

  2. Zybeon

    So I have to spend 110 bucks to control my garage door that only requires a momentary short to activate. I understand the sensor as you need something more reliable to tell of it’s really closed or of something was in the way and it opened again. I still think the door/window sensors are still too expensive. For my two car garage with an exterior door it is going to cost me $270 just to ensure all the doors are closed. More if I plan for that door to auto lock. Using a 120v relay for low voltage switching is a waste due to the much higher cost of the relay.

    Are there any cheaper low voltage relays to use?

    • JerseyTechGuy

      About 65 bucks and built it yourself with the Smartthings shield.
      http://build.smartthings.com/forums/topic/arduino-smartshield-garage-controller/

    • PatA

      The button inside my garage is a typical doorbell button, which is a momentary push button. If my understanding is correct, the Evolve LFM-20 Fixture Module will turn ON a load when you send it an ON command by closing its relay contacts, and it will turn OFF a load when you send it an OFF command by opening its relay contacts. If SmartThings is controlling the LFM-20, will SmartThings send an ON command followed by an OFF command to mimic a momentary push? or do you have to send an OFF command separately by yourself? I would really like to know if SmartThings has a “pulse ON” command that mimics a momentary button push for ON/OFF devices?

      • patrick808

        Yes, it does. Or, at least mine does.

        • PatA

          Thanks for the reply, Patrick. I went ahead and purchased SmartThings about a month ago. I found out that you can configure other devices to control the garage door opener. I used a spare Intermatic HA02 that I had lying around. I modified it by cutting a trace inside that went from the relay to the HOT leg and then I cut the neutral wire inside that connected to the relay. End result: one dry contact switch. I soldered wires to the relay and connected those in parallel to the garage door opener button. I set up the SmartApp in SmartThings to turn on the HA02, then turn it off after one second. Works like a champ!

    • Jerry Z

      there are Z-Wave Tilt Sensor that are cheaper

  3. Willis Rudolph

    I believe that this new advanced smart app is going to make life easier than ever and it is going to full fill those needs and demands of people that will definitely reduce the rate of robbery and put difficult things into smart and small solution.

  4. Pitter Kelvin

    This is exciting to hear that the garage doors are now
    becoming automatic with great new and smart sense multi sensor and smart things
    dashboard which will definitely make life easier.

  5. JerseyTechGuy

    It’s pretty amazing what you can do. I started with this project:
    http://build.smartthings.com/forums/topic/arduino-smartshield-garage-controller/

    I am now working on enhancing it so the system will know when my car pulls up to the door it will open automatically and once I’ve parked and gone into the house a combination of presence sensors, door sensors, etc will decide to close the garage door.

  6. Luis

    How open the dogs kennel, what the specific lock to do that?
    Actually when cleaning girl arrives the dog stay in kennel for her safe, after she leaves I have to go home and open the kennel to leave dogs out.

  7. hohokusmike

    I solved this 3 years ago with addition of a Dropcam so I could ‘see’ the garage doors. Obviously I cannot open/close the door remotely but it is a more simple solution to see if the door is open/closed. The camera also lets me see if someone enters the garage. I will add the relay to remotely activate the door should ‘others’ leave the door open inadvertently.

  9. Akram Fathalibeigloo

    Thank you. This is very interesting and useful functionality.

    درب اتوماتیک

  10. moein96

    I’m so excited. that was great app !
    I’ve already set it up and I am very satisfied of that . thanks for sharing !
    درب اتوماتیک

  11. achelan

    Hi dear , Thanks for the reply, Patrick. I went ahead and purchased SmartThings about a month ago.
    کرکره برقی , درب اتوماتیک شیشه ای , دوربین مدار بسته , درب اتوماتیک پارکینگ
    Best regards

  12. moein96

    This is fantastic, and I’ve already set it up.
    خرید وی پی ان
    خرید فیلترشکن
    خرید کریو

  13. Ali

    ned again. I still think the door/window sensors are still too expensive. For my two car garage with an eسئو

  14. Ali

    send it an OFF command by opening its relay contacts. If SmartThings is controlling the LFM-20, will SmartThings send an ON command followed by an OFF command to mimic a momentary push? or do you have to send an OFF command separately by yourself?سئو

  16. amini

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  17. Electro Hefaz

    Thank you. This is very interesting and useful functionality.
    کرکره برقی

  18. Electro Hefaz

    Thank you. This is very useful.
    کرکره برقی

  20. هدف

    Thanks for this post!
    modirehadaf.com

  21. amir

    This is fantastic, and I’ve already set it up.
    خرید پستی

  22. ehsan

    video of this post loaded too late
    حمل بین المللی

  29. Mojtaba

    send it an OFF command by opening its relay contacts. If SmartThings is controlling the LFM-20, will SmartThings send an ON command followed by an OFF command to mimic a momentary push? or do you have to send an OFF command separately by yourself?
    دوربین عکاسی چاپ سریع

  30. rasool abrishami

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    خرید بلیط هواپیما

  31. julia jody

    Thank you. This is very useful. خرید کاندوم

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  44. copyrangi

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  46. nmp co

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    کفسابی

  47. nmp co

    Thanks for pitching in. It worked.
    چاپ بنر

  48. Niaco

    نماشویی
    Thank you for useful informations

  50. Sajad Ferdosi

    About 65 bucks and built it yourself with the Smartthings shield.
    http://baran-music.com/

  51. sandughche ir

    About 65 bucks and built it yourself with the Smartthings shield.
    دانلود فیلم

  52. reza

    there are Z-Wave Tilt Sensor that are cheaper

    https://mytehranmusic.com/

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