Option to Control a Garage Sectional Door

Hi, I have a Garage Sectional Door that has a remote were one button controls the up and down of the door ie Bell Press.

I am trying to find what would be the best option to control the door so that I know if the door is in the up or down position.

I would like to control it like a projector screen where when I turn it on the roller door goes down and when I turn it off the roller door goes up, but the only option at the rear of the Garage control unit is to short out the two contacts to make it either go up or down depending on the last movement direction.

Does anyone have any ideas of suggestions or do they know of a roller/sectional door controller that is better suited for CBus needs.

I am guessing I might need some additional inputs ie photo beams and or limit switches..

Any assistance will be appreciated ..

Thanks, Travis..

 

Travis,

I can only tell you what I did and maybe it will give you ideas to expand on that. I have my door setup to open|close depending on the last state of the door (as you mentioned in your proposal). What I do however have is a Comfort Alarm system that is linked to Cbus. Fitting a garage door sensor I know when the door is in the opened or closed state. In this way you don't need fancy logic to manage anything, the door knows what to do. If however you want to make sure the door is closed then all you have to do is check the door sensor, if it's not closed after <DoorCloseTime> then toggle it again. I almost forgot, when the door is in the open state, I flash a keypad LED on my kitchen keypad so I know in which state the door is. Flashing the LED attracts my attention a lot faster than just switching it on.

From one of my spare Clipsal relays I have a 2s timer that toggles the motor control so I can open or close it via Cbus as well. This is bit of an expensive relay contact and my plans are to move the control to the Comfort system and have the spare Clipsal relay contact do something worthwhile like lighting (when needed).

Ingo

 

The L5108RELVP ELV Relay offers a lower cost alternative for operating low-voltage or dry contacts.

 

Control of garage doors generally easy and not expensive. As Newman has indicated, pulse control using a ELV relay unit to activate. Most have pulse control capabilities and may already have a push-button fitted on the wall. Add a (normally open) contact in parallel with this. Feedback on the status of the door is best provided by using a heavy-duty reed switch. This can be connected to an AUX input unit or a C-Bus enabled security panel.

cheers

 

Garage Door Opener

I had a similar situation on how to interface the garage door opener to the C-bus.
Typically the garage door motor up on the ceiling has a terminal block where the 2 contact wires go and then route to a PB Switch on the wall .
However we have a programmable as it is a newer model:
http://www.liftmaster.com/consumerweb/pages/accessoriesmodeldetail.aspx?modelId=842

Strangely one of the 2 contact wires are constantly hot with 17VDC.
This powers the display and when depress (Bell press) the up/down button it breaks the voltage I.e. pulse. This triggers the Garage door to open/close.

My workaround was to remove the Garage door controller on the wall and then solider across the 2 contacts on the PCB then take those leads into a single contact on a C-Bus ELV relay.
However since the garage door is on the 1st floor and the programmed DLT is on the 2nd I have no way for a conformation if open or closed.
Obviously a external contact input (Proximity switch, photo-beam, Limit switch) on the garage door needs to go into a Clipsal via a Bus Coupler, or general input unit.
Now my question is how can a DLT or a Mark II keypad show a on / off state either by color icon?

Regards
Alan in Houston Texas

 

You won't be able to do it with colour since the DLT only has single colour indicators and the B&W MKII Touchcreen is... well... B&W.

If you assign the input to a bus coupler then you'll be able to turn a group address off and on to show the state of the roller door on any other C-Bus unit.

 

Garage Door Control with Home Safe

Hi,

Still trying to work out what will be the best option.

If I get the CIS Homesafe Security System is there input and outputs on it that could be used on the CBus network.

I ask so that when I activate the alarm, can i get it to run a scene on the cbus system

Also would anyone know if I could also use a signal out of the security system to notify a state. ie if the roller door is up or down.


My thought are that if the Security system can do this then I should be able to then control a ELV Relay to then be toggled depending on the signal from the reed switch.

If anyone can help with this it would be appreciated,

I know I will be able to do this as previously suggested with the use of bus couplers and the ELV, I was just seeing if I would be able to get the security to match in and exclude the need of the Bus Coupler.

Thanks, Travis..

 

Garage Door Control with Home Safe

Hi,

Still trying to work out what will be the best option.

If I get the CIS Homesafe Security System is there input and outputs on it that could be used on the CBus network.

I ask so that when I activate the alarm, can i get it to run a scene on the cbus system

Also would anyone know if I could also use a signal out of the security system to notify a state. ie if the roller door is up or down.


My thought are that if the Security system can do this then I should be able to then control a ELV Relay to then be toggled depending on the signal from the reed switch.

If anyone can help with this it would be appreciated,

I know I will be able to do this as previously suggested with the use of bus couplers and the ELV, I was just seeing if I would be able to get the security to match in and exclude the need of the Bus Coupler.

Thanks, Travis..

 

Travis,

Just to updqte you on my changes. I finally moved my door control to an ELV relay connected directly to my Comfort (Minder Pro) system. All that is required now is that I can press a CBus button and Comfort will then run a response to toggle the relay for 2s. This opens the door, activats a Cbus LED to flash and voila, working like a charm and I have my expensive Cbus relay spare to use for higher voltage/current stuff.

I am unsure if Homesafe can do the same. Someone else did have issues where they couldn't see open or closed zones in realtime, just search the forum and you will find it. It might, or might not, be a limitation for you.

Ingo

 

i don't know if you've worked out how to indicate the doors position but i used a bus coupler and rocker micro switch as an indicator at my place. you could use 2 micro switches to ensure its either 100% up, 100% down or in between by placing them at the top/bottom movement paths.