Power for garage door opener remote

I'm trying to see if there is any way of ridding me the problem of changing batteries in my garage door opener remote. I bought a spare remote and hard wired it to my LV Relay as hard wiring to the unit is not an option. The LV Relay is not mounted in the friendliest of places and it seems like the batteries are going out every 2 to 3 months.

I'd like to tap the bus to get the 6v necessary for the remote. Found this thing on ebay for a whopping 1.65...but not sure how close it is to the circuitry inside the clipsal din module. I suppose I could always open one up and take a peek.

I'm sure this is not clipsal/schneider approved/endorsed and I'd be doomed to all hell for doing so, but will it actually break anything?

 

Hi Poldim
No one is going to endorse that idea.

I'm sure there are plenty of other options.

I would look at using a CBus key to operate a CBus relay for a new powered wireless transmitter mounted in or around a switchboard or data cabinet.

That way you also get some remote control.

I once set up a garage door using the digital output on a wifi webcam.
Colour Touch screen sending the required HTML to operate.
It was a bit of a task to debug it since it pulsed on power cycle but I managed to get around that with some tiny reed relays.
Then you could verify the status of the door with the cam.
It still works well but was more an experiment than something I would do again.

 

That converter would pretty much kill all communication on the C-Bus network. C-Bus units must present a high impedance to the bus at communication frequencies (500Hz to 20kHz approx).

 

That's what I've got now. I desoldered the button off of the remote control and replaced it with flying leads that are connected to the LV relay. So activating the relay is like pushing the button. The problem is the batteries not lasting very long. It may just be a faulty remote, because nothing I've done should be causing the excessive battery drain.

 

another source?

Hi, what else are you controlling with the LV relay?
Is there another plug pack nearby? you could take the LV output from that and then install this device (assume it is simply voltage matching) for the remote control.
I made some similar looking "battery eliminator" voltage matching device from a jaycar kit some years ago for the same purpose.

 

There is no plug nearby. I've though about just getting a 6v wall wart and running it the ~20 feet from the nearest outlet, but don't really want to deal with the wires everywhere. For now, the relay is only controlling outdoor lighting and the garage door opener. But this is only a temporary installation as I will be gutting the house and adding more features to the house.


While on the subject of the LV Relay, has anyone noticed some odd behavior when using the physical buttons on the unit to activate the relay? Sometimes they tend to require that I hold the button for a second to work, other times they just don't react at all.

 

Hi Poldim,

Firstly regarding battery life of the handheld remote control, you are just doing a 1 second (or less if possible) switch of the relay? Anything longer and most button push style transmitters will keep transmitting whilst the button is held and so drawing power.

Secondly, a few options I would have thought might work in your case:

1. Put the unit into a Jiffy Box etc with 2-3 x 9V Duracell batteries strapped together in parallel. Use either an inline resistor voltage reduction mechanism or a low drain regulator (I would use the resistor, measure the current draw at 6v and work backwards to get resistance/wattage of resistor for needed voltage drop) to bring it down to 6V and solder that to the board. Alternatively, if miniature system size is not a requirement, you could buy a 4 way C or D battery holder giving 6V out so no need for voltage adjustment.
Voila, battery replacement probably once every two years so no big deal. Ensure resistor doesn't heat up if 'button' left pushed in ie the ELV C-Bus relay stays on for some reason.

2. If it is in a spot that gets some sunlight, use a NiMh 6 volt rechargeable battery in the unit and a small solar cell (from Radio Shack etc) to keep it charged. There was once a cheap unit from RS that had 3v/6v/9v regulated output, was about 4" x 6" and cost about $10.

Of course in both cases (but particularly the battery charger/NiMh battery), it is your responsibility to read the specs of everything involved and ensure that you are not exceeding voltage / current limits / voltages for charging / applying appropriate circuit protections, that appropriate fusing etc is in place to prevent overload / overheating of any components (yada yada - standard legal disclaimer etc).

Good Luck,

Brad