Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

The old folks here in Florida are very frequently forgetting to close
their overhead garage doors and some of them (like me) have been
wondering how hard it might be to build an add-on circuit or whatever
so that an indicator light that we would install in their house would
remain on.

(I called the local distributor of 'Overhead Door' openers in Sarasota,
but off the top of their heads, they did NOT know of any such way
to add-on such an extra to THEIR models of door openers. But,
there are many other makers of openers, such as Sears and Genie, etc, etc
and you might think that one of them might have come up with externalizing
their 'upper-limit-switch' circuit to send that information along in the
form of two extra screw-terminals or something to signal this condition.)

Anybody know of such?

TIA...

Dave

http://www.smarthome.com/solution53.html

David Cook wrote:
Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

The old folks here in Florida are very frequently forgetting to close
their overhead garage doors and some of them (like me) have been
wondering how hard it might be to build an add-on circuit or whatever
so that an indicator light that we would install in their house would
remain on.

(I called the local distributor of 'Overhead Door' openers in Sarasota,
but off the top of their heads, they did NOT know of any such way
to add-on such an extra to THEIR models of door openers. But,
there are many other makers of openers, such as Sears and Genie, etc, etc
and you might think that one of them might have come up with externalizing
their 'upper-limit-switch' circuit to send that information along in the
form of two extra screw-terminals or something to signal this condition.)

Anybody know of such?

TIA...

Dave

Greetings,

In addition to the tools meant for the job you might also consider a
low cost b/w security camera because of the extra benefits it provides.
I saw one, with monitor, at Wal*Mart?(I think) for $50 recently.

Hope this helps,
William

Andy suggests:

If you tie a short piece of rope to the bottom of the garage door,
and
the other end around the tail of a cat, there should be a pretty loud
audible indication whenever the garage door is in the up position......

Sometimes a low-tech solution is best.

Andy

Google: garage door open indicator. You will find remote indicators and also
DIY indicators.


"David Cook" wrote in message
...
Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

The old folks here in Florida are very frequently forgetting to close
their overhead garage doors and some of them (like me) have been
wondering how hard it might be to build an add-on circuit or whatever
so that an indicator light that we would install in their house would
remain on.

(I called the local distributor of 'Overhead Door' openers in Sarasota,
but off the top of their heads, they did NOT know of any such way
to add-on such an extra to THEIR models of door openers. But,
there are many other makers of openers, such as Sears and Genie, etc, etc
and you might think that one of them might have come up with externalizing
their 'upper-limit-switch' circuit to send that information along in the
form of two extra screw-terminals or something to signal this condition.)

Anybody know of such?

TIA...

Dave

David Cook wrote:
Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

I put a set of magnetic contacts on my garage door and wired it to my
alarm system. When the garage door is open the alarm panel tells me so.

You could easily mount a pair of magnetic reed switches either on the
door or on the opener track.

"David Cook" wrote in message
...

Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

The old folks here in Florida are very frequently forgetting to close
their overhead garage doors and some of them (like me) have been
wondering how hard it might be to build an add-on circuit or whatever
so that an indicator light that we would install in their house would
remain on.

An electric indicator would suit people who
cannot put in the front yard a mirror that
reflects the front of the garage to the living
room window.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

http://www.liftmaster.com/cw/product...id-118,00.html

I got one of these on e-bay pretty cheap. I forget what it cost.
Anyway the thing works great and takes just a few minutes to hook up.

mort



On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:49:22 -0400, "David Cook"
wrote:

Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

The old folks here in Florida are very frequently forgetting to close
their overhead garage doors and some of them (like me) have been
wondering how hard it might be to build an add-on circuit or whatever
so that an indicator light that we would install in their house would
remain on.

(I called the local distributor of 'Overhead Door' openers in Sarasota,
but off the top of their heads, they did NOT know of any such way
to add-on such an extra to THEIR models of door openers. But,
there are many other makers of openers, such as Sears and Genie, etc, etc
and you might think that one of them might have come up with externalizing
their 'upper-limit-switch' circuit to send that information along in the
form of two extra screw-terminals or something to signal this condition.)

Anybody know of such?

TIA...

Dave

Get a cat with a five year warranty.

--

Christopher A. Young
Do good work.
It's longer in the short run
but shorter in the long run.
..
..


"Andy" wrote in message
ups.com...
Andy suggests:

If you tie a short piece of rope to the bottom of the garage door,
and
the other end around the tail of a cat, there should be a pretty loud
audible indication whenever the garage door is in the up position......

Sometimes a low-tech solution is best.

Andy

My Dad solved that problem on his. Wired a 120 volt line in parallel with
the lamp that comes on. Ran it over, through the wall, and put an indicator
bulb.

If you want to do it on the cheap, screw the bulb out, put in one of those
things with the two sockets on the side. Run some lamp cord, into the house.
Put another lamp inside the house.

--

Christopher A. Young
Do good work.
It's longer in the short run
but shorter in the long run.
..
..


"David Cook" wrote in message
...
Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

The old folks here in Florida are very frequently forgetting to close
their overhead garage doors and some of them (like me) have been
wondering how hard it might be to build an add-on circuit or whatever
so that an indicator light that we would install in their house would
remain on.

(I called the local distributor of 'Overhead Door' openers in Sarasota,
but off the top of their heads, they did NOT know of any such way
to add-on such an extra to THEIR models of door openers. But,
there are many other makers of openers, such as Sears and Genie, etc, etc
and you might think that one of them might have come up with externalizing
their 'upper-limit-switch' circuit to send that information along in the
form of two extra screw-terminals or something to signal this condition.)

Anybody know of such?

TIA...

Dave

On 8/26/2005 6:26 PM US(ET), Mort Guffman took fingers to keys, and
typed the following:

http://www.liftmaster.com/cw/product...id-118,00.html

I got one of these on e-bay pretty cheap. I forget what it cost.
Anyway the thing works great and takes just a few minutes to hook up.

mort



http://search.ebay.com/liftmaster-mo...fkrZ1QQfromZR8



On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:49:22 -0400, "David Cook"
wrote:



Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

The old folks here in Florida are very frequently forgetting to close
their overhead garage doors and some of them (like me) have been
wondering how hard it might be to build an add-on circuit or whatever
so that an indicator light that we would install in their house would
remain on.

(I called the local distributor of 'Overhead Door' openers in Sarasota,
but off the top of their heads, they did NOT know of any such way
to add-on such an extra to THEIR models of door openers. But,
there are many other makers of openers, such as Sears and Genie, etc, etc
and you might think that one of them might have come up with externalizing
their 'upper-limit-switch' circuit to send that information along in the
form of two extra screw-terminals or something to signal this condition.)

Anybody know of such?

TIA...

Dave



--
Bill

On 8/26/2005 6:57 PM US(ET), Stormin Mormon took fingers to keys, and
typed the following:

My Dad solved that problem on his. Wired a 120 volt line in parallel with
the lamp that comes on. Ran it over, through the wall, and put an indicator
bulb.

If you want to do it on the cheap, screw the bulb out, put in one of those
things with the two sockets on the side. Run some lamp cord, into the house.
Put another lamp inside the house.




My garage door opener's light goes off within a few minutes after I open
or close the door, whether the door is in the open position or not.

--
Bill

My very old (Sear I think, came with the house) opener has a low voltage
source, active when the door is open. I was able to light an LED with
it, so I ran leads for the LED and for a momentary contact switch to the
wall inside the house, so I can easily open/close the door and see the
status light.

Let me know if you are interested, and I will run outside and review
what I did. It's a few years ago, so I can't quite remember.

- Jerry


David Cook wrote:
Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

On 26 Aug 2005 11:07:08 -0700, Andy wrote in alt.home.repair:

Andy suggests:

If you tie a short piece of rope to the bottom of the garage door,
and
the other end around the tail of a cat, there should be a pretty loud
audible indication whenever the garage door is in the up position......

Sometimes a low-tech solution is best.

Sounds good. Would you mind dropping by my place and trying to tie
something around Ernie's tail?

Bring a tourniquet...

--

Why put fault tolerance in the OS, when it's already built into the
User?

"Jerry Albro" wrote in message
news:gm%Pe.1194$Re1.222@trndny04...
My very old (Sear I think, came with the house) opener has a low voltage
source, active when the door is open. I was able to light an LED with
it, so I ran leads for the LED and for a momentary contact switch to the
wall inside the house, so I can easily open/close the door and see the
status light.

Let me know if you are interested, and I will run outside and review
what I did. It's a few years ago, so I can't quite remember.

- Jerry


David Cook wrote:
Anyone ever seen any of the garage-door-opener makers that
provide terminals so that one could attach an external indicator
light that would then light up any time the garage door was
open?

It's not very wise to operate an overhead door based only on the status of a
light. You should be able to see the door, anything or anyone that may be
under it before pressing that button...

Rich
http://www.garagedoorsupply.com

Garage Door Parts, LLC ) said...

It's not very wise to operate an overhead door based only on the status of a
light. You should be able to see the door, anything or anyone that may be
under it before pressing that button...

Aren't garage door openers supposed to (and for a few years now) have a
sensor that stops and reverses the closing operation if anything gets in
the way?

Ours is just under two years now, and our cat (not the one used for an
audible indicator! ;-) ) knows well that she can stop the closing door.

That aside, railroads often use remote-controlled locomotives to shunt
cars in and near yards. If I shouldn't close my garage door remotely
when I can't see it, even though it will stop if someone or something
gets in the way, why should a railroad permit an operator operate a 2000 HP
locomotive from a quarter mile away? Of course, there are signs and strobe
lights on one of these locomotives warning you, while your garage door
posts no such disclaimer.

--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
"Never ascribe to malice what can equally be explained by incompetence."
- Napoleon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: if replying by email, remove "remove." and ".invalid"

Sure the openers are mandated to have safety reverse mechanisms installed.
But I wouldn't rely solely on them to stop and reverse the door. As we all
know these reverse mechanisms aren't foolproof.

Compare apples to apples. A railroad is not controlled with cheap reversing
systems as would be found in an electric opener,. Their safety measures are
a bit more elaborate then an electric door opener's.

If you want to compare apples to oranges then we can also say the space
shuttle is also controlled by remote control and could be piloted
automatically. But we won't find cheap reverse mechanisms there either.


"Calvin Henry-Cotnam" wrote in message
news:c13Qe.122$hW.73@tor-nn1...
Garage Door Parts, LLC ) said...

It's not very wise to operate an overhead door based only on the status of
a
light. You should be able to see the door, anything or anyone that may
be
under it before pressing that button...

Aren't garage door openers supposed to (and for a few years now) have a
sensor that stops and reverses the closing operation if anything gets in
the way?

Ours is just under two years now, and our cat (not the one used for an
audible indicator! ;-) ) knows well that she can stop the closing door.

That aside, railroads often use remote-controlled locomotives to shunt
cars in and near yards. If I shouldn't close my garage door remotely
when I can't see it, even though it will stop if someone or something
gets in the way, why should a railroad permit an operator operate a 2000
HP
locomotive from a quarter mile away? Of course, there are signs and strobe
lights on one of these locomotives warning you, while your garage door
posts no such disclaimer.

--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
"Never ascribe to malice what can equally be explained by incompetence."
- Napoleon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: if replying by email, remove "remove." and ".invalid"

Sounds good. Would you mind dropping by my place and trying to tie
something around Ernie's tail?


Andy replies:

Sorry Dick... I'm an idea man..... (grin)

Andy