I have an up-and-over garage door.
It has occurred to me that I can probably add an electrically operated solenoid
bolt - protruding into the track of the door as an extra level of security.
When the bolt was home the door would not lift up as the bolt would block the
movement of the wheel in the track
Rather than going out each night to check if I have locked the garage - I could
have a fused spur switch (with a red-light on) in the hall (common wall to the
garage) - I could just flick the switch to slide the bolt home in case I had
not locked the door.
Light on when I come down in morning - switch off the bolt.

Any recommendations for a suitable solenoid : I don't think I need a purpose
built solenoid door bolt - just something to operate off a transformer.

Jasper wrote:
I have an up-and-over garage door.
It has occurred to me that I can probably add an electrically operated solenoid
bolt - protruding into the track of the door as an extra level of security.
When the bolt was home the door would not lift up as the bolt would block the
movement of the wheel in the track
Rather than going out each night to check if I have locked the garage - I could
have a fused spur switch (with a red-light on) in the hall (common wall to the
garage) - I could just flick the switch to slide the bolt home in case I had
not locked the door.
Light on when I come down in morning - switch off the bolt.

Any recommendations for a suitable solenoid : I don't think I need a purpose
built solenoid door bolt - just something to operate off a transformer.

No specific item recommendation but do make sure you get a continuously
rated one as unless you devise some sort of bistable latch mechanism,
the solenoid will be energised for hours on end and you don't want it to
burn out. Maybe consider some sort of varistor in series to drop the
current to a lower holding figure after a short period. Maybe salvage
the degaussing circuit from an old cathode ray tube tv?

In article ,
Jasper writes:
I have an up-and-over garage door.
It has occurred to me that I can probably add an electrically operated solenoid
bolt - protruding into the track of the door as an extra level of security.
When the bolt was home the door would not lift up as the bolt would block the
movement of the wheel in the track
Rather than going out each night to check if I have locked the garage - I could
have a fused spur switch (with a red-light on) in the hall (common wall to the
garage) - I could just flick the switch to slide the bolt home in case I had
not locked the door.
Light on when I come down in morning - switch off the bolt.

Any recommendations for a suitable solenoid : I don't think I need a purpose
built solenoid door bolt - just something to operate off a transformer.

Here are some examples:
http://cpc.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/st...d=700000009810

If you search for more specialist suppliers, you'll find a better
selection. You can sometimes find these at very good prices when
on special offer, but they aren't cheap otherwise.

The options you may or may not get in different products/models a
Fail safe, or fail locked (what happens when power fails),
Monitored bolt position (can signal back if bolt is locked or open),
Monitored door position (open or closed - might not work in your case),
Full controller built in, or just solenoid and monitoring connections.
Breaking force.

These normally run from 12V or 24V (some can be set after purchase), so
they can run from a battery backed supply if maains fails.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Mon, 9 Jan 2017 18:17:50 -0000 (UTC), (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

snip

Many thanks to you and Bob

On Mon, 09 Jan 2017 16:57:48 +0000, Jasper wrote:


Any recommendations for a suitable solenoid : I don't think I need a purpose
built solenoid door bolt - just something to operate off a transformer.

Something like a car door actuator

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Auto-H...AOSwjDZYZLn a

might be suitable with a steel rod going across the track?

It drives in both directions so only needs power when changing state
so overheating is eliminated. It also minimises the problem with
solenoid bolts where the power on force can be quite significant but
changing to the power off state relies on a spring so the bolt has a
tendency to bind if there is any slight misalignment between the
solenoid and door.

On 1/10/2017 9:23 AM, Peter Parry wrote:
On Mon, 09 Jan 2017 16:57:48 +0000, Jasper wrote:


Any recommendations for a suitable solenoid : I don't think I need a purpose
built solenoid door bolt - just something to operate off a transformer.

Something like a car door actuator

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Auto-H...AOSwjDZYZLn a

might be suitable with a steel rod going across the track?

It drives in both directions so only needs power when changing state
so overheating is eliminated. It also minimises the problem with
solenoid bolts where the power on force can be quite significant but
changing to the power off state relies on a spring so the bolt has a
tendency to bind if there is any slight misalignment between the
solenoid and door.


Looks like a good approach to me too!