Garage door sensor recommendation

Other Devices & Integrations Door Locks & Sensors
1

Hi all,

I’m new to home automation and to this forum as well. I just got my Veralite setup with 2 Kwikset deadbolt door locks and a Foscam camera. I’m planning to add more in the future but very slowly. My next immediate need is to get a sensor for our garage door. I can’t make up my mind to finalize one because of mixed reviews, battery life concerns, reliability etc.

Which one would you highly recommend for the garage door sensor?

  1. Aeon Labs DSB04100
  2. Everspring SM103-1
  3. Hawking HRDS1

If I miss anything from this list, please let me know.

Thanks

2

I have the Everspring SM103’s on both of my garage doors and they work fine. I run a scene before I go to bed that turns off my outside low voltage lights and checks the status of the garage doors. It reports via Prowl to my iPhone whether the doors are open or closed. I’ve had one for about 6 months and the other for about 3 months and I haven’t replaced batteries in either yet.

I hope this helps.

3

I’m trying to automate my garage door also. I just receive the AEON Door/Window sensor and can’t get it to be included in my vera zwave network. I have no experience with the other sensors.

4

[quote=“rajhouse, post:1, topic:172523”]Hi all,

I’m new to home automation and to this forum as well. I just got my Veralite setup with 2 Kwikset deadbolt door locks and a Foscam camera. I’m planning to add more in the future but very slowly. My next immediate need is to get a sensor for our garage door. I can’t make up my mind to finalize one because of mixed reviews, battery life concerns, reliability etc.

Which one would you highly recommend for the garage door sensor?

  1. Aeon Labs DSB04100
  2. Everspring SM103-1
  3. Hawking HRDS1

If I miss anything from this list, please let me know.

Thanks[/quote]

I have 5 of the Aeon labs sensors. One on my garage and the others are on a couple of windows and exterior doors. They all work great and I have not had any issues with them reporting whether they are open or closed. The only thing I have not been able to do is get them to update there battery status. I do not know if the other sensors listed update that information correctly. I have had them for 6months and they are still working fine.

5

I got the Aeon labs D/W sensor to work on my garage. It’s only been a day but the garage door has been opened many times and it seems very reliable. It was not the typical side-by-side install that you see on the product pages online since the config of the door didn’t allow that (see picture below).

Anyway, I got many scenes running to set the status of the door, a timer if the door is open for 15 minutes a text goes out, etc. Pretty cool stuff.

6

I’m using my Alarm system sensors. I have an Ademco 20P. I have a wireless sensor that detects when the door is down and one that detects when the door is fully open. I use Vera to run scenes to automatically arm and disarm the alarm when I leave and arrive. If you have an alarm system you may consider using it.

7

Thanks to all the replies. I ordered Everspring SM103-1 and received it yesterday. I was able to include it in my network within few minutes and got all working.

Since these are not battery efficient (as evidenced by few users), now my question is on the alternate power source for this sensor. I read couple of posts mentioned about using old phone charger. I have several DC adapters waiting to be recycled. If I remember correctly I have 2 that produce 4.2v and 4.8v. Will one of them work? How do you make wire contacts to the battery terminals? Do you solder the wires? If any one has a picture of how you did it, please post.

Thanks

8

I have the Everspring SM103-1 with external contacts.

The contacts were from Amazon, and just ~$4.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056K5ZC2/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00

I originally wasn’t using the external contacts, but I wanted to get the RF portion of the sensor away from the metal door and rails. I ended up mounting the sensor to the ceiling, and the contacts to the rail and trolley, with some decent double-sides tape (I do live in SoCal, and it doesn’t get crazy hot in the garage, so I’m not too worried about the tape coming undone).

9

[quote=“rymiller, post:5, topic:172523”]I got the Aeon labs D/W sensor to work on my garage. It’s only been a day but the garage door has been opened many times and it seems very reliable. It was not the typical side-by-side install that you see on the product pages online since the config of the door didn’t allow that (see picture below).

Anyway, I got many scenes running to set the status of the door, a timer if the door is open for 15 minutes a text goes out, etc. Pretty cool stuff.[/quote]
@rymiller, would you mind sharing how you did the timer if the door is open for 15 minutes? I’d like to do an auto-close after a timeout period, but I’ve just started with Vera and haven’t figured it all out yet. Thanks!

10

See my solution at [url=http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,4773.msg87244.html#msg87244]http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,4773.msg87244.html#msg87244[/url]

This creates a virtual Lock for your door.
You can set a scene to trigger when the Lock is unlocked … Wait 15 minutes … then lock the door … And of course you can send a notification.

11

Ah, that makes sense. I’ve seen the virtual lock thread and was planning to try it, but hadn’t put it together yet that I could trigger off that. I’ll give that a go and see how it works. Thanks!

12

I don’t like having the lock automated on a timer, since sometimes I want to leave the door open during yard work, car washing, etc.

Instead, I use the Countdown Timer plugin. 1 scene starts it when the door opens, another cancels it when it closes, and a third goes off when the timer expires, which sends me Prowl notification at level +2.

I can then check on it myself, or close the door remotely. I’m planning to be add a camera to verify the door operation prior to operating it.

13

good call. you really do not want to close the garage door while kids or pets are under it

14

[quote=“PurdueGuy, post:12, topic:172523”]I don’t like having the lock automated on a timer, since sometimes I want to leave the door open during yard work, car washing, etc.

Instead, I use the Countdown Timer plugin. 1 scene starts it when the door opens, another cancels it when it closes, and a third goes off when the timer expires, which sends me Prowl notification at level +2.

I can then check on it myself, or close the door remotely. I’m planning to be add a camera to verify the door operation prior to operating it.[/quote]

I’ve been playing with this a bit. What’s the purpose of your third scene, since the first scene can send a notification when it expires?

15

[quote=“zogg, post:14, topic:172523”][quote=“PurdueGuy, post:12, topic:172523”]I don’t like having the lock automated on a timer, since sometimes I want to leave the door open during yard work, car washing, etc.

Instead, I use the Countdown Timer plugin. 1 scene starts it when the door opens, another cancels it when it closes, and a third goes off when the timer expires, which sends me Prowl notification at level +2.

I can then check on it myself, or close the door remotely. I’m planning to be add a camera to verify the door operation prior to operating it.[/quote]

I’ve been playing with this a bit. What’s the purpose of your third scene, since the first scene can send a notification when it expires?[/quote]

I am not sure I understand your question. I do it with three scenes to avoid LUUP calls and other timers. The first scene is triggered when the door opens. If I sent a Prowl notification 2 minutes into that scene, I would get a notice every time the door opens.

16

[quote=“PurdueGuy, post:15, topic:172523”][quote=“zogg, post:14, topic:172523”][quote=“PurdueGuy, post:12, topic:172523”]I don’t like having the lock automated on a timer, since sometimes I want to leave the door open during yard work, car washing, etc.

Instead, I use the Countdown Timer plugin. 1 scene starts it when the door opens, another cancels it when it closes, and a third goes off when the timer expires, which sends me Prowl notification at level +2.

I can then check on it myself, or close the door remotely. I’m planning to be add a camera to verify the door operation prior to operating it.[/quote]

I’ve been playing with this a bit. What’s the purpose of your third scene, since the first scene can send a notification when it expires?[/quote]

I am not sure I understand your question. I do it with three scenes to avoid LUUP calls and other timers. The first scene is triggered when the door opens. If I sent a Prowl notification 2 minutes into that scene, I would get a notice every time the door opens.[/quote]

When I set up a scene like your first scene, I had the option to send a notification when the timer expired. So the question is why a 3rd scene to send a notification, when the first scene can do it?

This is probably very basic stuff that I’m just not getting, so apologies if that’s the case.

17

Everspring with an external switch.

18

[quote=“zogg, post:16, topic:172523”][quote=“PurdueGuy, post:15, topic:172523”][quote=“zogg, post:14, topic:172523”][quote=“PurdueGuy, post:12, topic:172523”]I don’t like having the lock automated on a timer, since sometimes I want to leave the door open during yard work, car washing, etc.

Instead, I use the Countdown Timer plugin. 1 scene starts it when the door opens, another cancels it when it closes, and a third goes off when the timer expires, which sends me Prowl notification at level +2.

I can then check on it myself, or close the door remotely. I’m planning to be add a camera to verify the door operation prior to operating it.[/quote]

I’ve been playing with this a bit. What’s the purpose of your third scene, since the first scene can send a notification when it expires?[/quote]

I am not sure I understand your question. I do it with three scenes to avoid LUUP calls and other timers. The first scene is triggered when the door opens. If I sent a Prowl notification 2 minutes into that scene, I would get a notice every time the door opens.[/quote]

When I set up a scene like your first scene, I had the option to send a notification when the timer expired. So the question is why a 3rd scene to send a notification, when the first scene can do it?

This is probably very basic stuff that I’m just not getting, so apologies if that’s the case.[/quote]Do you mean in the scene that starts the timer? If you 2 triggers for the scene, the first being “door opened” and the 2nd being “timer expired” the scene would run for both. As soon as the door opens, the timer starts & you’d get a prowl notification. And when the timer expires, the timer starts & you’d get a prowl notification. That would end up being a loop that repeats every 2 minutes until the door is closed.

My usage is similar to futzle’s (the creator of the Countdown Timer Plugin) description of a light timer: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,9425.msg62531.html#msg62531

19

[quote=“PurdueGuy, post:18, topic:172523”][quote=“zogg, post:16, topic:172523”][quote=“PurdueGuy, post:15, topic:172523”][quote=“zogg, post:14, topic:172523”][quote=“PurdueGuy, post:12, topic:172523”]I don’t like having the lock automated on a timer, since sometimes I want to leave the door open during yard work, car washing, etc.

Instead, I use the Countdown Timer plugin. 1 scene starts it when the door opens, another cancels it when it closes, and a third goes off when the timer expires, which sends me Prowl notification at level +2.

I can then check on it myself, or close the door remotely. I’m planning to be add a camera to verify the door operation prior to operating it.[/quote]

I’ve been playing with this a bit. What’s the purpose of your third scene, since the first scene can send a notification when it expires?[/quote]

I am not sure I understand your question. I do it with three scenes to avoid LUUP calls and other timers. The first scene is triggered when the door opens. If I sent a Prowl notification 2 minutes into that scene, I would get a notice every time the door opens.[/quote]

When I set up a scene like your first scene, I had the option to send a notification when the timer expired. So the question is why a 3rd scene to send a notification, when the first scene can do it?

This is probably very basic stuff that I’m just not getting, so apologies if that’s the case.[/quote]Do you mean in the scene that starts the timer? If you 2 triggers for the scene, the first being “door opened” and the 2nd being “timer expired” the scene would run for both. As soon as the door opens, the timer starts & you’d get a prowl notification. And when the timer expires, the timer starts & you’d get a prowl notification. That would end up being a loop that repeats every 2 minutes until the door is closed.

My usage is similar to futzle’s (the creator of the Countdown Timer Plugin) description of a light timer: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,9425.msg62531.html#msg62531[/quote]

I was thinking that I added a notification during the scene creation, but actually I had added it to the timer device itself. Since that timer device instance is only used for the garage door, it seems to me that Scene one triggers on the door opening and starts the timer, and if it expires then it sends the notification. Scene 2 cancels the timer and thus the notification if the door closes.

Since that timer device is only used for the garage door, then I’m trying to see an advantage to having a 3rd scene to do the notification.

Sorry for the confusion.

20

[quote=“zogg, post:19, topic:172523”]I was thinking that I added a notification during the scene creation, but actually I had added it to the timer device itself. Since that timer device instance is only used for the garage door, it seems to me that Scene one triggers on the door opening and starts the timer, and if it expires then it sends the notification. Scene 2 cancels the timer and thus the notification if the door closes.

Since that timer device is only used for the garage door, then I’m trying to see an advantage to having a 3rd scene to do the notification.

Sorry for the confusion.[/quote]
Ah, I see what you are doing now. That is one way to make it work. I am not using the built-in notifications, I am using the Prowl notification plugin. As far as I know, that can’t be done from the built-in notifications.

My timer-expired scene does a few other thing as well, so I need to keep it around.