I want the garagedoor to open as soon as I get within 5m of it. I was thinking about letting an arduino, connected to a router, ping my phone and when it got a response it would open the garagedoor. Sadly, the iPhone doesn't answer to pings unless the screen is on.
Would it be possible (moderately easy) to get a bluetooth tracker like Tile Mate to connect to an Arduino with a bluetooth shield when the Tile Mate gets within 5m or so?
Any ideas?

 

Depending upon the width and how daylight hits the area you may be able to get by using a garage door safety sensor for your application. I have seen some work just fine in daylight across a double drive and others have problems when sunlight hits them. Another option might be a PIR (Passive Infrared Motion) sensor similar to those which turn on outside flood lights.

Lastly a remote relay board controlled from a key fob.Just from my truck I can open my garage door from halfway down the street.

Ron

 

Maybe I should have been more clear. My garage is one of many stacked side by side. I want my garagedoor to open when I, and only I, are within range of whatever in my garage.

 

Coded IR transmitter mounted behind the front grille (weather issues) or behind the front windshield (cosmetic issues). The coding could be as simple as a constant frequency, like 10 kHz. The receiver is an IR device, amplifier or clipper, missing pulse detector (signal must be greater than 9 kHz and on for 100 continuous cycles), relay driver. 555 transmitter with a 1 to 5 minute turn on delay so it doesn't trigger the sensor when leaving, quad opamp or hex inverter receiver. No processors, no coding.

ak

 

Maybe I should have been more clear. My garage is one of many stacked side by side. I want my garagedoor to open when I, and only I, are within range of whatever in my garage.

Then I would go with the relay type boards I linked to. They use a rotating rolling code making them about as secure as you can get. A Google of Two or Four channel RF remote should bring up a dozen hits. There are also wireless add ons for Arduino if you want to run with an Arduino. Since we do not know your location it is difficult to suggest a vendor.

Ron

 

I want the garagedoor to open as soon as I get within 5m of it. I was thinking about letting an arduino, connected to a router, ping my phone and when it got a response it would open the garagedoor. Sadly, the iPhone doesn't answer to pings unless the screen is on.
Would it be possible (moderately easy) to get a bluetooth tracker like Tile Mate to connect to an Arduino with a bluetooth shield when the Tile Mate gets within 5m or so?
Any ideas?

Yes it should be possible... but to help you further, here's one question. Under what conditions would you like your garage door to close?

 

Then I would go with the relay type boards I linked to. They use a rotating rolling code making them about as secure as you can get. A Google of Two or Four channel RF remote should bring up a dozen hits. There are also wireless add ons for Arduino if you want to run with an Arduino. Since we do not know your location it is difficult to suggest a vendor.

Ron

Yeah, I still haven't been clear enough. I want the garagedoor to open when I am about 10-15m away (to get the car) without clicking anything. The garagedoor opener comes with a clicker. And I want the garagedoor to open when I'm in the car (about to park it in the garage). For the latter, analogkids coded IR would do the trick, but what about when I'm on my way to get the car?

 

While there are many ways to detect your car, there is no reasonable way to detect and discriminate you unless you are carrying something discriminating. Since the garage door comes with a clicker, why not click it?

Carrying something that requires no physical interaction means it must be on all the time. That means batteries, charging, etc. A bluetooth device paired with your phone might work, but 15 m is a long way for what is essentially a near-field system. And a simple in-range / out-of-range detector would need a little circuitry to make one pulse, then wait until you are out of range to reset.

ak

 

Carrying something that requires no physical interaction means it must be on all the time.

Not necessarily. You could use an RF tag, which would only be detected at a maximum distance. The RF tag could be hidden in your wallet, or in your phone's case.

 

Not necessarily. You could use an RF tag, which would only be detected at a maximum distance. The RF tag could be hidden in your wallet, or in your phone's case.

From what I can tell, all long range RF solutions seem tricky. Everything points to a bluetooth tracking tag. Anyone with any experience with those paired with an Arduino?

 

Not necessarily. You could use an RF tag, which would only be detected at a maximum distance. The RF tag could be hidden in your wallet, or in your phone's case.

At 15-20 *yards*? Not if you want to have kids.

ak

 

...Not if you want to have kids.
ak

Sorry, I'm too naivë to undestand that expression... but if what you're saying is that the working distance is too long to be detected by ordinary RF tag systems, I was thinking about placing the detector at the driveway, and not at the door itself. That way you could be as far away from the door as you want. And there are RF tag systems out there that have a range of up to 3-5 meters.

 

Sorry, I'm too naivë to undestand that expression... but if what you're saying is that the working distance is too long to be detected by ordinary RF tag systems, I was thinking about placing the detector at the driveway, and not at the door itself. That way you could be as far away from the door as you want. And there are RF tag systems out there that have a range of up to 3-5 meters.

It is a public driveway, you would have to run wires down there on someone else's land, mount or bury it, etc.

ak

 

At 15-20 *yards*? Not if you want to have kids.

ak

Good, very good.

Ron

 

It is a public driveway, you would have to run wires down there on someone else's land, mount or bury it, etc.

ak

Darn... I forgot about that detail...

Garberg, is that the case? Is your driveway completely paved? Are there no patches of grass/dirt through which cables could be buried?

 

Darn... I forgot about that detail...

Garberg, is that the case? Is your driveway completely paved? Are there no patches of grass/dirt through which cables could be buried?

Yes! And it's not that kind of solution I'm after. If the wifi stayed active on my iPhone I could easily use it to detect when I enter the LAN of a router placed in the garage. That would have been problem solved but sadly, the iPhone isn't pingable when the screen is off. Anyway it's that kind of solution I want.

 

Yes! And it's not that kind of solution I'm after. If the wifi stayed active on my iPhone I could easily use it to detect when I enter the LAN of a router placed in the garage. That would have been problem solved but sadly, the iPhone isn't pingable when the screen is off. Anyway it's that kind of solution I want.

Back to the drawing board for me...

 

I'm still working on, "5m". Miles? Meters? Minutes?
Probably meters.
I'm thinking, put a GPS tracker on your car and run an "always on" computer to see when you're approaching.
Don't even want to run an iPhone continuously?
Geeze. The efforts people are willing to go through to avoid pushing a button!

Try opening the garage door by hand for a week. Maybe then, pushing a button won't seem so much of an inconvenience.

 

Just get any micro that has bluetooth.. Set it to open the door when your phone pairs with it..
You will need to add logic/hysteresis,etc.. so it only works when expected and not accidentally if your bluetooth drops/connects while you are in the house or whatever.. possibly even monitoring the door with micro switches,etc...

Its surely much easier to just press a button though vs having to work out all the "kinks" in a wireless/detection system..

 

Just get any micro that has bluetooth.. Set it to open the door when your phone pairs with it..
You will need to add logic/hysteresis,etc.. so it only works when expected and not accidentally if your bluetooth drops/connects while you are in the house or whatever.. possibly even monitoring the door with micro switches,etc...

Its surely much easier to just press a button though vs having to work out all the "kinks" in a wireless/detection system..

Oh come on guys! I thought we were all geeks here. It's the CHALLENGE I'm after not to get rid of the inconvenience to push a button. Geek the hell up people!

#12: Yes, it's meters. The metric train is a good ride, you should get on it.