Automated garage door

[evanjudd22]

Hello,
I know everyone's thinking, why an automated garage door? Well, because i can. I have a box with an AB ML1400 Series B controller and an Automation direct 6" touchscreen w/ numbers 0-9, an open and close button in it. The point behind this project is to give a trusted few people a different 4 digit code to get into my work shop while im not there, like salesmen, mechanics, and other electricians. Would also like to have some temporary codes for other emergency uses. Like i said the door is operational and i have codes made up i'm just curious to see how other PLC guys would go about it because it was actually a fun little side project.

Thanks for reading,
Evan

 

[bernie_carlton]

Work up an algorithm (easy enough for the the microcontroller and you with a calculator) to generate an access code from the current y/m/d to give to someone over the phone - for instance.

 

[Mark-]

Hi,

Many moons ago I did one that was:
(d + m + y) / day of the week
cutting of any decimal.

Then I had a spreadsheet that had all the days for years. Today would be 679.

Fit the bill.

 

[Lancie1]

I know everyone's thinking, why an automated garage door? Well, because I can....I'm just curious to see how other PLC guys would go about it because it was actually a fun little side project.

When I lived on a farm, I had an old dog who decided he was going to live in the garage during the winter, instead of his dog house. The problem was he had to go out a lot at night, and he got this habit of scratching on the garage-to-house door until someone let him out. Many nights I would get up 2 or 3 times to let him out and back in.

I decided neither of us was getting much sleep, so I modified the garage door opener. I mounted a photoswitch on the bottom of the house door, so that when he scratched, the photoswitch would detect his paw. I fed this to a time-delay relay, with a second seal-in relay. The circuit sent two ON signals in parallel to the existing opener pushbutton circuit, starting then after a 2.5-second the time delay, stopping the door just above the height of the dog. When he came back in, he would get cold from the open door and would sratch again, causing the door to close. That dog used the controls every winter night for 4 or 5 years, until he died from old age.

The dogs I had after that never learned to use it - not smart enough I suppose.

 

[Freak]

Lancie1 - that is brilliant!

 

[ndzied1]

The dogs I had after that never learned to use it - not smart enough I suppose.

You made your system AFTER the dog had already learned the habit. New Dogs, new habits.

 

[RussB]

Great example of the pet training the owner.

 

[evanjudd22]

Very cool ideas guys. Thanks for the quick responses and ill take all the suggestions i can get into consideration. There are so many ways to skin this cat and i'm the kind of guy to mix things up. Mark just about described how i wrote the program and it works great. I've only been programming for about 3 years now and i really enjoy it. This forum has helped me out so much since i've joined so thank you all