Garage Door Contact - Any alternatives to drilling concrete?

I would like to wire a contact to my residential garage door to indicate when it is open at a remote location and possibly connect to an alarm system. The relay and the wiring I can handle.

What I don't like are the large contacts that need to fastened to drilled into the concrete driveway. This seems to be the most common type of contact available. I know they are sealed but I have issues with lots of water and drilling holes in the concrete that may lead to damage later on.

Can anyone recommend alternatives?

I'm looking for something simple like a mercury tilt/position switch that can be mounted on or near the support rails. Before I jury rig something, I was wondering if anyone has had success with something off-the-shelf.

I've tried wireless. In my setup it doesn't work... the distance is too great. The door would come down and the receiver would get stuck with the indicator in the UP position.

Thanks!

Beachcomber

Reply to
Beachcomber
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Reply to
Roland Moore

You can install a standard garage door contact at the top of the door. I did it that way for years. Using an aluminum angle bracket, connect the magnet to the top stiffener rail of the door. The magnet will protrude above the door edge. Connect an Ohm meter or (better) a continuity tester to the leads from the sensor. Place the sensor about 6" above the magnet and slide it down until the circuit completes. Now move the sensor down another inch. Mark the wall for the screws and anchors to hold the sensor.

Before you begin unplug the garage door opener so you don't get knocked off your ladder if someone hits the remote.

Before you drill the mounting holes pull the emergency release cord so that you can operate the door manually. Hold th sensor in place and slide the door up and down a few inches to make sure the magnet won't strike the sensor. Next raise the door all the way to make sure the magnet clears the ceiling. There's rarely a problem but check first and adjust if necessary.

Mount the sensor. Solder and tape or shrink wrap the leads. Route the wires away from any moving parts or cables.

It's Miller time.

Following are examples of the types of sensors I have used in this manner: GE Security 2202AU

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The Honeywell (aka Ademco) model comes with the angle bracket and costs a bit less so it's a better choice for your application.

Another gentleman mentioned using a sensor that's designed to mount on the door rail. Those work well but occasionally need to be adjusted and retightened. Following is an example:

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There are other models around some of which cost more and some less.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

I use the large steel ones with armor cable to the wall. I have some that have been in five years and no recalls.

Reply to
Rich

SENTROL 2315 - their great. OHD contact that clips on the track, they cost more, but take half the time to install.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

"Beachcomber" wrote {howto sense open garage door w/o using sensor at bottom of door?}

A) Often you just need a short annunciation in some usually-occupied part of the house that the door is in motion -- if so, then hang a transformer on the opener unit's courtesy 'light-up-the-room' lightbulb socket(s), and run that low voltage across the house to a 12 volt lamp at said part of house. Sadly most modern units turn off the light after the door's been up for a bit, to save bulb life I suppose, so this isn't for just everyone's tastes. B) Don't sell jury-rigging short; for instance you can extend the 'reach' of a momentary switch with a long springy strap or whisker -- in the deluxe version, with a roller or slippery curl on the end. Have that bear against something at or near the top of the door, where nobody'll mind it. I just love little Cherry {TM} switches, and some of them come with this.

Or have a bracket on the door push on your switch on, or off to the side of, the frame via spring or something else spongy; the goal here is to make it all work with no precise positioning needed.

Where to scrounge scrap metal? Saw blades are nice and springy, and you can savage discarded mattresses for good stout coil springs to hacksaw a few inches from...

Last time I was called to 'fix' an old project like this, it was actually an erratic bulb filament at fault, so try a new remote-socket bulb _first_ when things get flooky. Glue spare bulbs to your fixture with rubber cement, as the next homeowner ten or twenty years later won't have a clue where to buy them...

C) Drilled concrete probably isn't as horrible a liability as one might suppose, though it's rough to accomplish. And they make some really wonderful glues nowadays, so you could put stubby screws in to plug the fixture holes, and glue the base down instead... Chisel it all off cleanly if you have regrets later.

Reply to
Frank Winans

Well, there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything.

I guess you're the kind of person that does it the wrong way.

Reply to
Jim

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