Remote Living > Housing
Garage Door Opener Inverter Asleep.
armadillo:
Has anyone here figured out a way to run a remote controlled garage door opener without having to have the inverter awake all the time? I'm told that getting the sensor to recognize the remote signal is an issue when the inverter is in sleep mode.
I know some of the new garage door openers have a battery backup that works off a small motorcycle battery so apparently DC operation is possible, but I did some research and found that it's an emergency mode that takes 20 seconds to get the door open, which I guess is a fourth as long as it normally takes.
I could run a 24 VDC wire to the opener and/or remote sensor with a step down to 12VDC easily.
Could I get the remote sensor to work on DC and close the relay, thus waking up the inverter?
I'm not competent with electronics so I need to keep it simple.
dnix71:
Buy an inverter with a remote control. I bought a sine wave inverter from Home Depot and after buying it discovered it has a remote control. There is a box that plugs in to the front and a coin cell battery key chain control. On and Off at the push of a button. The remote control box must pull some power but I've never noticed a drain on my car battery.
The inverter is hard wired to my car with a supercapacitor boost module for starting hard loads. The inverter is powered off unless I need it, but the wireless box and the boost cap array are always connected. I have never had a problem with the arrangement draining the battery.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sunforce-1000-Watt-Pure-Sine-Wave-Inverter-11240/100660092
SparWeb:
Depends on which switch you're talking about, and how your GD works.
My GD has two controls: a battery powered remote that I keep in the car and a button on the wall beside the door to the house.
The remote in the car has to talk to a receiver in the GD opener. That's not going to be on if the inverter is in sleep mode.
I assume this is the remote you're talking about, but in the same breath, the other button on the wall isn't going to work either, for the same reason.
I would try thinking about devices like the "clapper". Unfortunately the clapper needs the AC already to be on, but the trick is that a device like it, that you could turn on remotely somehow, is able to switch on a big AC electrical load, knocking the inverter out of sleep mode. So what you really need is the clapper that switches on an AC load (like a lamp) but is controlled by DC.
That exists.
It's called an Arduino (30 USD) https://solarbotics.com/product/50450/
Add a RF receiver shield (7 USD) https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1089.html
I just re-read your OP and see you don't have much experience with electronics. I suppose I could say this would be a great way to learn - the Arduino's are popular partly because they're easy to use, as far as electronic gadgets go.
Another way to skin the cat is to set up a "tripwire" in front of the garage door, basically using a second pair of the same infrared sensors that are used on the garage door already. These sensors work on 12vDC (mine do, so maybe you have the same type). Set them up so that the circuit is broken when your car is close enough. That controls a relay, and that relay switches on that AC light that wakes up the inverter and now the GD responds to your remote.
armadillo:
--- Quote from: SparWeb on October 08, 2017, 12:34:24 AM ---Depends on which switch you're talking about, and how your GD works.
My GD has two controls: a battery powered remote that I keep in the car and a button on the wall beside the door to the house.
The remote in the car has to talk to a receiver in the GD opener. That's not going to be on if the inverter is in sleep mode.
I assume this is the remote you're talking about, but in the same breath, the other button on the wall isn't going to work either, for the same reason.
I would try thinking about devices like the "clapper". Unfortunately the clapper needs the AC already to be on, but the trick is that a device like it, that you could turn on remotely somehow, is able to switch on a big AC electrical load, knocking the inverter out of sleep mode. So what you really need is the clapper that switches on an AC load (like a lamp) but is controlled by DC.
That exists.
It's called an Arduino (30 USD) https://solarbotics.com/product/50450/
Add a RF receiver shield (7 USD) https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1089.html
I just re-read your OP and see you don't have much experience with electronics. I suppose I could say this would be a great way to learn - the Arduino's are popular partly because they're easy to use, as far as electronic gadgets go.
Another way to skin the cat is to set up a "tripwire" in front of the garage door, basically using a second pair of the same infrared sensors that are used on the garage door already. These sensors work on 12vDC (mine do, so maybe you have the same type). Set them up so that the circuit is broken when your car is close enough. That controls a relay, and that relay switches on that AC light that wakes up the inverter and now the GD responds to your remote.
--- End quote ---
The garage door is on the eave side of the roof which means any trip wire sensors would get covered by snow. Getting my head wrapped around the concept that the objective is to wake up the main house inverter from inside my truck, no need to even tie in to the GDO circuitry or even understand it. Once that's accomplished, the garage door opener, no matter how it's designed, should work fine. I wonder if there is some kind of security motion sensor made for lights that I could power off my 24 VDC that has a relay that turns on an incandescent bulb on a 120 VAC circuit, thus waking the inverter? A variation of this idea, maybe a 24 VDC remote control unit with a 120 VAC relay? That way I wouldn't have to mess with 12 VDC at all, nor any confusing devices/circuitry I don't understand. The Arduino is way over my head.
--- Quote from: dnix71 on October 07, 2017, 08:43:23 PM ---Buy an inverter with a remote control. I bought a sine wave inverter from Home Depot and after buying it discovered it has a remote control. There is a box that plugs in to the front and a coin cell battery key chain control. On and Off at the push of a button. The remote control box must pull some power but I've never noticed a drain on my car battery.
The inverter is hard wired to my car with a supercapacitor boost module for starting hard loads. The inverter is powered off unless I need it, but the wireless box and the boost cap array are always connected. I have never had a problem with the arrangement draining the battery.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sunforce-1000-Watt-Pure-Sine-Wave-Inverter-11240/100660092
(Attachment Link)
--- End quote ---
Seems like it would work, if I understand your suggestion. I would have to buy a step down from 24 VDC to 12 VDC to charge a 12 VDC battery, buy the battery and the inverter. The inverter only has outputs of 500 watts each so the GDO would have to draw less than that. I couldn't find info on how far the remote would work.
Maybe just buy a pure sine wave inverter with 24 VDC input and 700-800 watts 120 VAC output, no battery, no step-down? My 24 VDC is on a 25' run of 10-2 romex so it might not have enough ampacity.
armadillo:
Would something like this work to power a 120 VAC light bulb from my truck? Of course I would have to click 2 different remotes every time I need to open the door. I assume once the inverter is awake, it would stay on long enough for me to fumble for the GDO remote and get it started.
https://www.amazon.com/Solidremote-12V-Universal-2-Channel-Transmitters/dp/B01JGDV8UM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa/134-7023793-3778753?ie=UTF8&qid=1507467638&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=12v+remote+control+relay&psc=1
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