Advice The Home Improvement/Automation Thread

gee said:
So this gadget has two buttons and a switch, what do they all do?

Also, does the switch face up or down when it's installed on the wall?
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One controls the light, one controls the opener, and the switch is just a lockout.

edit: And I really only care about controlling the button on the right with the LED above it. Controlling the light would be cool, but not necessary. <3
 
fly said:
One controls the light, one controls the opener, and the switch is just a lockout.

edit: And I really only care about controlling the button on the right with the LED above it. Controlling the light would be cool, but not necessary. <3
Click to expand...
Shorting the B and W terminals together is the same as pushing the opener button. Just make your wifi gadget close the relay across those terminals, wait 1/2 second or whatever (you might have to play with this), then open the relay again.
 
As an aside, it might be possible to power the WiFi thingy off the opener, off the same phantom current that's used to keep the LED lit. If you're looking for features for a new product.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
gee said:
Shorting the B and W terminals together is the same as pushing the opener button. Just make your wifi gadget close the relay across those terminals, wait 1/2 second or whatever (you might have to play with this), then open the relay again.
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Yay, I got it working. Turns out it would have worked before, but I'm a total fucking moron. I took the wires off the opener and plugged them into the relay. Instead of connecting the relay to the opener, that obviously just disconnected everything. Sometimes I wonder how I survive.
 
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gee said:
As an aside, it might be possible to power the WiFi thingy off the opener, off the same phantom current that's used to keep the LED lit. If you're looking for features for a new product.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
The LED is powered by the exact same wires, so how does that work?
 
fly said:
The LED is powered by the exact same wires, so how does that work?
Click to expand...
The opener drives a "sensing current" into the remote panel, and measures the resulting voltage across it. That voltage changes depending on the state of the buttons/switches, so the opener can figure out what's going on at the panel.

With no buttons pushed, the sensing current goes through the LED, lighting it up. When you push buttons the LED goes out, but that's fine.

Anyhow to phantom power your thing, you'd use a diode/capacitor to make a little energy reservoir, and power the wifi module off that. It'll run off the capacitor when it shorts the terminals.
 
gee said:
The opener drives a "sensing current" into the remote panel, and measures the resulting voltage across it. That voltage changes depending on the state of the buttons/switches, so the opener can figure out what's going on at the panel.

With no buttons pushed, the sensing current goes through the LED, lighting it up. When you push buttons the LED goes out, but that's fine.

Anyhow to phantom power your thing, you'd use a diode/capacitor to make a little energy reservoir, and power the wifi module off that. It'll run off the capacitor when it shorts the terminals.
Click to expand...
Okay, that's neat. I might try that after I get the door contact sensor looped into this thing.
 
fly said:
Yay, I got it working. Turns out it would have worked before, but I'm a total fucking moron. I took the wires off the opener and plugged them into the relay. Instead of connecting the relay to the opener, that obviously just disconnected everything. Sometimes I wonder how I survive.
Click to expand...
This is so fucking cool that I actually got it working! Thanks @gee
 
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