So we’ve got some old electric gates made by BFT and they appear to be triggered by a remote which they quote as running “433Mhz rolling code”.
I’ve had a search but I can’t find anything that might be able to act as a remote replacement. Is there anything that could connect to SmartThings which I could use to trigger the remote on/off (like I can with infrared on harmony).
You can lock the gates open by pressing the button again before they close, so I guess with a sensor to monitor what position they are in, I could instructed it to do this from SmartThings if I wanted too (and be able to see if they were open or closed.
Ideally i’d very much like them to open automatically when I arrive home wearing my Apple Watch (or with my phone in my pocket) and for other people with a presence sensor, but i guess the reliability of this would be too difficult to orchestrate properly and pressing the button to open then would be just as easy.
Still being able to operate them from inside the house and to lock them open at times would be ideal as the remotes are so weak you have to walk right up to the gate to trigger them (they might as well be manual!!)
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
2
It’s relatively easy to attach a small relay to the remote and activate it using an Arduino with SmartThings Developer Shield ($35 from SmartThings Shop).
Total cost around $50. The code is trivial and I built such a thing to run the remote on my motorized home theater screen.
In place of a the relay component, you can get 433Mhz transmitters for Arduino too … $10 or less; but the “rolling security code” is harder to figure out. As long as you don’t mind soldering a couple wires to the remote (“zombifying it”), then that’s much more reliable in this circumstance.
There are safety issues you MUST consider, though: Running the gate without being in line of sight means you’d better be sure the gate is unable to do any harm to a child, pet, or property.
So thats a fixed 315mhz it seems. Would you recommend the same process? Two probs spring to mind, the gate is about 50 foot from the house, the current remote has no decent distance so i think it should go near the box outside, unless a more powerful transmitter could be used. The problem i foresee is getting power for the ardunio, and getting strong enough wifi to reach it (i might put up an outdoor wifi network though as i’ve been considering it for a while) but then i guess any precesense sensor will be zigbee? And need to be triggered from a further distance…
Still controlling the gates from ST is the first hurdle, triggering them automatically is something else (no worries about safety by the way, they’re very slow and auto stop if they touch anything)
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
4
If indeed it is a typical 315Mhz, then it is cleaner to use a 315Mhz transmitter module … and you can put a pretty strong antenna on them, and with full power (usually just a USB 5v adaptor, though perhaps one of those emergency phone recharge packs might run for a long time… I got a 10,000 mAh version from Amazon … amazing.
For the 315Mhz, you buy a $10 pack which has transmitter and receiver. You just use the receiver in order to “sniff” the code sent by your remote. Much, much easier than I thought it would be. Arduino libraries are amazing … even if some are sloppy, they take care of the hard stuff.
The advantage of the “SmartThings Development Shield” is that it is ZigBee based and will take advantage of any repeater signals from other powered ZigBee devices (like outlets) in your home. That may be better range than WiFi. I actually don’t know if the shield’s ZigBee chip has repeating enabled itself … that would help with the presence sensor, maybe!
Just realised it was you helping me with this original haha…
…I’m already stuck at the first hurdle of this. The 315mhz module won’t pick up my remote. I borrowed a HackRF from a friend which scans all radio frequencies and it shows the remote is actually sending at 314mhz! Its supposed to be a 315mhz remote thats what its being sold as. It is fixed code at least, with dip switches.
It could be a case of hacking and soldering into the original chip, the thing is the range on them is awful and it doesn’t’ look like soldering an SMA or something to give better range will be very helpful on these boards they come on.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
6
I think you can put pretty big antennas on them and that helps.
But you’re limited by the power rating of the chip.
If you’re tired of wasting time, there are really good products out there (even hobbyist products) that are designed for long distance line of sight.
But what can I get that’ll record the 314mhz this remote is spitting out and then repeat it to open the gate triggered by an arduino?
I think I might try and put an RP-SMA connector on this remote control board and see what that does. I suppose range isn’t “quite” as important now if I could get an arduino to “push” the button for me and then link that up to the SmartThings shield id be winning, I can put it fairly close to the gate and have the module connect via zigbee. I think even the standard remote would work from the position id be able to mount it. Though having 5v running to the Arduino and then a separate 12v in whats left in the remote is a bit messy.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
8
You can find a dual-voltage power regulator really easily.
Separate the problem into pieces … the long range hop vs the power issues vs SmartThings integration … at least 3 distinct pieces that don’t have to “obviously” integrate at first.
hello. i have a BFT sliding gate as well. Wouldnt it be easier if there is some sort of device to connect directly to the motor , in order to “trigger” it to open or close? much thanks!
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
11
“Dry Contact Relays” (Z-Wave or other…) are sometimes a more efficient solution, but it really depends on the guts of your gate control system. You “can’t” just replace the main relay on the motor as it probably has safety features, security, etc…
So talking via the 433Mhz radio signal is the least intrusive option and thus, probably the safest.
In the end yes - it was very easy to do, you can connect a dry relay to contacts 20 and 23 on the BFT Rigel 5 board.
I have two devices on there now - A Z-Wave plus device which does the home automation and a new generic home link device which i’ve replaced the old remote receiver with that now supports my car too.
My contractor connected an electric button, similar to the picture below, and mounted it on the wall, so that my kids can just press it to open the gate (instead of looking for the remote inside the cars). Can a “dry contactor” be attached to this button somehow via wire looping? Also , would you know of a zigbee-based dry contactor? thanks!
Yeah that’ll be the same thing any sort of door bell type thing. The contacts are laid out in the Rigel 5 - only problem with home automation stuff is it doesn’t tend to run on the 48v that the Rigel 5 can supply so you need to wire up the AC/DC adapter for it in the box too (all the 12v supplies are only activated when the gate is turned on so they’re of no use to us)
Didn’t look for zigbee I didn’t find it good enough for long distances and have gone exclusives for Z-Wave Plus now and everything works perfectly.
Btw, i’ve gone Zigbee because Zwave doesnt mesh as well (at least for me). I’m experiencing longer range/faster response time with zigbee, and much much easier/instant network meshing. For some reason, with zwave plus i always had to repair/rebuild the network, etc…
Yes - I’ve no idea why someone would do the above, I assumed it was a joke.
I told you the contacts on the board, they’re in the manual.
Rigel5 is the board BFT use in most of their gates. Open your box and see what model yours is. They’ll all have the same contacts on the board, just get a dry contact relay and connect it - can’t say I say any zigbee ones though but then I don’t really look for zigbee anymore
