I want to connect my garage door to a doggie door. Garage door up, doggie door locked and doggies confined to back yard. Garage door down, doggie door unlocked and doggies are free to pass into the garage for shelter.

So...I will need a switch actuated by the garage door and a solenoid(s) controlling the latch on the doggie door.

The question is, what is the best circuit to fire the solenoid(s), one time, and then shut off until the door changes position? I do not want to leave them energized for hours at a time.

Any help appreciated!

TIA
Tpuck

 

This can likely be done a number of ways, it would help considerably seeing a good circuit diagram of the existing garage door opener circuit. Aside from that a few sensors could likely be used to sense where the garage door is (open or closed) and an independent circuit used for the doggie door. The latter is likely how I would go about it. Do you have any plan or anything existing for the doggie door?

Ron

 

After further thought, I am considering a DPDT switch, center off. A "cam" bracket on the door actuates the switch for a short time. It would push the switch in one direction for open, and the other for closed. Wall wart to convert it to DC for simplicity. Welcome to other suggestions!

 

A standard alarm system magnetic door/window switch, the kind with a separate magnet and reed switch, works very well on a garage door and is completely independent of whatever is going on in the motor housing. That gets you a dry circuit to control the latch or strike mechanism. The strikes we use are motorized. After one second of moving the strike in or out, the motor is off and there is no static power dissipation. Made by Southco, not cheap. Or, I wouldn't be surprised if the innergoogle had latching doggie doors.

ak

 

A vehicle electric lock solenoid might work on the doggie door