Best way to start small

[Sagz]

Just moved into a new house and I'm wanting to start real small.  In fact I'd like to just open the garage door from my Blackberry 8830 (seller only had one and Wife called Dibs).  I've loaded mh on my server at home and I can get to it just fine.  My first question:  What is the cheapest way to get a contact closure from MH.  What hardware is the cheapest and easiest get going?

Thanks!

Sagz

[Joel Davidson]

If you're going to be controlling your garage door via mh, I'd suggest
you not focus on cheapest but rather reliable and safe.  Weeder
Technologies makes some nice i/o boards that mh works with very well.

Their solid state relay module would likely provide the simple contact
closure you need for a garage door, but their digital i/o board would
give you some inputs you could use to tie into the door sensors to make
sure you don't close it on the hood of your new car.  A cheap relay
hanging off one of the outputs could then give you the contact closure
for the door itself.  HTH.

Joel
--
Joel Davidson
Austin, TX


On Thu, 12 Jun 2008, it would appear that Sagz wrote:

> Just moved into a new house and I'm wanting to start real small.  In fact I'd
> like to just open the garage door from my Blackberry 8830 (seller only had
> one and Wife called Dibs).  I've loaded mh on my server at home and I can
> get to it just fine.  My first question:  What is the cheapest way to get a
> contact closure from MH.  What hardware is the cheapest and easiest get
> going?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sagz
>

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[Sagz]

Thanks Joel,  The garage door opener doesn't have the safety sensors of current models produced today.  It should probably be in a museum.  I'll check Weeder Tech.  I plan on replacing the door opener with something newer but its been one expense after another and I'm trying to pick my battles.

Joel Davidson wrote:

If you're going to be controlling your garage door via mh, I'd suggest
you not focus on cheapest but rather reliable and safe.  Weeder
Technologies makes some nice i/o boards that mh works with very well.

Their solid state relay module would likely provide the simple contact
closure you need for a garage door, but their digital i/o board would
give you some inputs you could use to tie into the door sensors to make
sure you don't close it on the hood of your new car.  A cheap relay
hanging off one of the outputs could then give you the contact closure
for the door itself.  HTH.

Joel
--
Joel Davidson
Austin, TX


On Thu, 12 Jun 2008, it would appear that Sagz wrote:

> Just moved into a new house and I'm wanting to start real small.  In fact I'd
> like to just open the garage door from my Blackberry 8830 (seller only had
> one and Wife called Dibs).  I've loaded mh on my server at home and I can
> get to it just fine.  My first question:  What is the cheapest way to get a
> contact closure from MH.  What hardware is the cheapest and easiest get
> going?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sagz
>


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[Jim Serack]

You might want to check if your opener is secure while you are at it - if
it's old enough not to have sensors it probably will just have DIP switches
for the opener code - only 64 or 128 codes = easy cracking for someone
wanting in ...

I'd start on some other project to start small - like turning on lights to
welcome you home. Something that if you get it wrong or MrHouse hangs the
impact will just be light or lack of it rather than opening the door on a
reboot or something else strange. I have a lot of X10 stuff controlled by
MrHouse but anything critical (like my irrigation) has some secondary safety
mechanism to shut it off should MrHouse fail to ...

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: misterhouse-users-bounces@...
[mailto:misterhouse-users-bounces@...] On Behalf Of Sagz
Sent: June 13, 2008 8:21 AM
To: misterhouse-users@...
Subject: Re: [mh] Best way to start small



Thanks Joel,  The garage door opener doesn't have the safety sensors of
current models produced today.  It should probably be in a museum.  I'll
check Weeder Tech.  I plan on replacing the door opener with something newer
but its been one expense after another and I'm trying to pick my battles.



Joel Davidson wrote:

>
> If you're going to be controlling your garage door via mh, I'd suggest
> you not focus on cheapest but rather reliable and safe.  Weeder
> Technologies makes some nice i/o boards that mh works with very well.
>
> Their solid state relay module would likely provide the simple contact
> closure you need for a garage door, but their digital i/o board would
> give you some inputs you could use to tie into the door sensors to
> make sure you don't close it on the hood of your new car.  A cheap
> relay hanging off one of the outputs could then give you the contact
> closure for the door itself.  HTH.
>
> Joel
> --
> Joel Davidson
> Austin, TX
>
>
> On Thu, 12 Jun 2008, it would appear that Sagz wrote:
>
>> Just moved into a new house and I'm wanting to start real small.  In
>> fact I'd like to just open the garage door from my Blackberry 8830
>> (seller only had
>> one and Wife called Dibs).  I've loaded mh on my server at home and I can
>> get to it just fine.  My first question:  What is the cheapest way to get
>> a
>> contact closure from MH.  What hardware is the cheapest and easiest get
>> going?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Sagz
>>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
> Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace.
> It's the best place to buy or sell services for
> just about anything Open Source.
> http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php
> ________________________________________________________
> To unsubscribe from this list, go to:
> http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=1365
>
>
>

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[Bazyle]

Simples I/O for starters

If you check the details of 'serial item' it allows for setting and reading the RS232 handshake lines. I've never tried it though. Then a simple relay driver is adequate.
The Weeder general i/o board is great. Make sure you use 5v or >7v if using the on board regulator or it won't talk to you. You still need relay drivers eg ULN2801. There is a Velleman relay board.
Or if you are into simple programing and assembly a Kronos Athena is extremely versatile and could build in some of the door protection too.