As others have suggested just use a reed switch security contact. If you can't find a way to mount an normal type you can buy heavy duty versions that can be mounted on the bottom of the door and the fixed part is strong enough to drive over it. This is one example.

Les

 

If you have the manual for your garage door, there is often a couple of externaly available terminals marked Door Open Indicator that lights a LED in the manual open/close P.B. button.
If you don't have this, there is after market devices made by Chamberalin such as http://embed.widencdn.net/pdf/plus/cgi/vscwmyjqmb/114a4228.pdf
Also here is a Utube video of a DIY version

Max.

 

Hi beatsal, You didn't get off to a go start. But are getting there now. Is a cheapo camera 'over the top'?

 

I have a detached garage. Sometimes I forget or the wife forgets to close it. So I built and installed this below:

If the door is open - the timer (which has 20 preset times available) at pre-determined times of the day will energize PS1 for one minute. The timer needs to be programmed to turn on at (oh, lets say) 7:00 AM and off at 7:01 AM. If the door is open at that hour, the door will start to close. As soon as S1 and S2 are no longer pressed upon by the door - the door will continue to close - OR stop and reopen if something is blocking the door. The system will not attempt to close the door again until the next pre-set time. If the door is open then K1 can not be energized, so the door won't open by itself.

The reason for this configuration is that IF something trips the beam the door will reopen (safety feature). However, ALL garage door openers (as I understand it) can be overridden by pressing and HOLDING the wall button depressed. You can force the door to close. In this configuration, once the door starts to close, K2 locks K1 out, and the door can not be forced to close. Of course, at any time you can press the button and open or close the door. Or if you have a wireless remote - you can operate the door as normally would be. The ONLY thing this rig does is close the door if I forget to close it. it closes the door roughly 15 minutes after the wife leaves for work. It checks again at 30 minutes and again at 45 minutes. In the evening, if I forget to close it - it will close at 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM or 9:00 PM, all the way up to 1:00 AM. And if I'm going to be out there with the door open in the summer evening all I have to do is close the door slightly so that it's not in the full open position. However, it is incumbent upon me to remember to close the door in such a circumstance. But the door is never left open all day or all night. It works. It's been working for a while now.

 

Read the entire thread, six TS posts,

As mentioned, sometimes when in the house, I did not close the door, next morning I go out and see it was open all night. Recently, a neighbor emailed me saying it was open when I thought I had closed it; so my question is - can it be done or not?

a - actually, none of that detail was mentioned.
b - you still have not said what "it" is. We still do not know the limiting parameters of possible solutions.

What kind of indication do you want?
What kind or connection do you want (wired/wireless)?
Is the garage attached to the house?
What is the distance from the garage door to wherever you want the indicator?
Is the indicator to be on the same level as the garage, or on the 2nd floor?
Is there a basement available for running the signal wires to wherever the indicator is?
What power sources are available near the garage door?
What is your skill set for assembling a small circuit on perf board?
What is your skill set for running doorbell wire?
What is your skill set for, well, anything?

A standard alarm system bar magnet and reed switch are very low cost and very reliable. The switch closes only when the door is all the way down. With that switch closure you can trigger a wireless remote control xmtr/rcvr pair from ebay ($5) to light a light, ring a bell, etc. Or run a wire pair inside the house to a wall wart and an LED.

ak

 

The simple solution: put a lever switch on the door frame so that a light turns on whenever the door is open.
Just check that the light is off before going to bed.

 

I seem to remember telling the TS that back ~#12 and this thread is still going??? Hire someone to close the door for you if you can't remember to do it yourself!

 

I seem to remember telling the TS that back ~#12 and this thread is still going??? Hire someone to close the door for you if you can't remember to do it yourself!

LOL! I told him that even earlier and was dissed by him. I haven’t replied (purposefully) since then since the TS response to thoughtful response is very rude.

 

Is the garage attached to the house?

Made the assumption the garage IS attached, as the TS mentioned the wife getting locked out of the house because of the door. In that case, ever hear of "Hide-A-Key"? Or maybe a key in the wallet? Though, the wallet idea is not so good an idea. Lose your wallet and someone finds it - they have your address AND a key to get in.

 

Haven't heard from @beatsal since December 9th. Have you gotten frustrated with the answers so far? To be honest, it's really difficult to assist when we don't have all the facts. others have repeatedly asked but you haven't responded for a while now. Are we wasting our time? Should we start "Unwatch"ing this thread?

 

TS needs some lessons in effective communication. He expected us to read his mind. I once did buy a radio device that you taped to the garage door, with an AC powered receiver inside with red and green LEDs. It used a mechanical tilt switch which lasted about 6 months. Now I would build my own using a pair of these nifty nRF24L01 transceivers I've discovered. I have other priorities though.

 

I use an Insteon low voltage controller and a magnetic alarm switch connected to the sensor input.

The low voltage control is connected to the inside opener button for remote opening and closing.
It can be configured to send an email every time the door gets opened.

The door status and remote operation are available using the Insteon app on your mobile phone.
There is also an app for Windows PC.

This does require a control bridge connected to your lan with an ethernet connection.

https://www.smarthome.com/i-o-linc-...age-contact-closure-interface-1-in-1-out.html

 

I actually installed a garage door "open" indicator in a house in PA long time ago.
The reason was the people inside the home could not see the garage door from inside the house and did not want to have to go outside just to check.

I used a magnet switch and magnet and very small DC wall wart and a bright LED.
When the door is open, the LED lights up.
A quick glance at the LED tells if the door is open or not.
It was visible from both the kitchen and livingroom so it was convenient.

 

I built an arduio based system that uses a reed switch and magnet to indicate the door is closed. Not satisfied with just an indicator, I expanded the unit to include a clock, automatic close at near sunset based upon time of day, manual open/close from the indicator panel via push buttons, automatic security set at 11:30 PM daily, security set indicator and door opened/closed indicator. The security feature is one that is included with my Liftmaster brand opener and effectively locks out any wireless remote other than the one mounted just outside the door. The two indicators at the right side of the top row indicate that the security feature is SET and that the door is CLOSED.

 

Install a microswitch with a lever arm and roller so it's closed when the door is open (top if its travel). This is probably the hardest part. Have the switch pass battery or AC adapter power to a 555 timer that's set to trigger in say, 20 minutes. At the end of that time, the timer powers a (fill in the blank with some noisy device here) that you'll hear inside your home, or run wiring to put the "alarm" inside the home. You'll likely want to add a relay or power transistor to run any alarm that draws more than 100 mA, since the timer is a timer device, not a power control device.
Obviously, (lol) if you've left home, you won't hear the alarm (but your neighbor might). But this idea is cheap, quick and easy. If the door is open for X minutes, it triggers the alarm. Fortunately, the pushbutton switch on your garage wall that triggers the door is a simple normally open switch that uses logic inside the head unit to decide to open or close, so you COULD use the 555 to power a relay to trigger the door to close 20 minutes after you open it, but do nothing if it's already closed. To do that, you'll use one timer to count to X minutes, then have it trigger a second timer for a fraction of a second to briefly power the relay and thus mimic the pushbutton and close the door. You and your wife will have to figure out how to get her in when you lock her out.

FWIW, I added a doorbell button switch (doubles as a garage door pushbutton) to the wall right next to the overhead garage door. Wired it in parallel with the original switch near the laundry room door. Now, when we leave home, we can walk through the opened door, then press the new button and close it without having to run to beat the closing door.

I'm also a bit anal about making certain the door finishes closing as I drive away, fearing that any problem would open it until I returned. I'd planned to mount colored LED's in the garage window so I could see from the street whether it finished closing. Planned on using 1 farad supercapacitors for LED power and simple switches to light each LED. The supercaps were chosen because they would charge from the meager power supplied to the wired pushbutton on the wall, yet never require replacement like batteries. I got all the parts and wire together, then lost interest. I just wait until the door closes and drive off.

 

I actually installed a garage door "open" indicator in a house in PA long time ago.
The reason was the people inside the home could not see the garage door from inside the house and did not want to have to go outside just to check.

I used a magnet switch and magnet and very small DC wall wart and a bright LED.
When the door is open, the LED lights up.
A quick glance at the LED tells if the door is open or not.
It was visible from both the kitchen and livingroom so it was convenient.

That is just WAY simpler than my idea. Quicker to read, too. My hat is off to you, sir.

 

@HughJazscheens Did you see my post at post #24? It can check for an open door at up to 20 preset times. Any of those times, if the door is open it will be closed. No need for noise makers or alarms. Just an assurance that if you left it open it WILL be closed. Unless something is blocking the safety beams, then it will remain open. Which is how I keep it open in the evening when I'm out there working on something and I want the door open. Or slightly close the door so the switches think the door is closed. It's a "No-Miss" system. Wife leaves for work and forgets to close the door. She always leaves at a specific time. 15 minutes later if it's open it's closing. If she leaves late, the next time check (another 15 minutes) the door closes. If I forget to close the door at night - it closes at a given time. It checks several times for an open door. I can almost forget about it and it will close. Except I don't want someone rushing in after I leave for work and grab something. Which so far, for those times (before the system) I've left the door open all night and nobody disturbed anything. Yet.

 

I've left the door open all night and nobody disturbed anything. Yet.

What!?!? No rats where you live? Or stray cats, etc.

 

That is just WAY simpler than my idea. Quicker to read, too. My hat is off to you, sir.

Hi,

Oh well that is very nice of you to say.
BTW i see you joined just the end of last month, so welcome to the forum.

 

I have a Chamberlain model 893LM. Can't tell when door is closed or open. Any ideas?

Open is not important but closed (locked) is!
Not locked means open.

Use as stated before, a switch to detect closed /locked door ( contact open when door is open. When wire break or contact fail alarm indicates door open. Human interaction needed)

Connect this switch to a flashing light with a backup battery).

door not locked contact open flash light on. Main power gone battery takes over for n hours.
problem solved.

Options:
connect to (mobile) (smart) phone and send message once a hour or so.
use a 3 pole switch and detect status change. This Allows you to detect a switch defect in each switch position.
The options need a processor. ( As a real Pic buster I have to advice use a PIC . (Smile)

Picbuster