Gate Opener Automation (Solar DC Power)

I just installed a solar-powered gate opener, and I’m trying to figure out how I can integrate it into the rest of my ST system. I automated my garage door a few months ago to automatically open when I came home, and I’d like to do the same with the gate. The problem is the gate runs off of 12VDC, and the Evolve LFM-20 Relay that I used to automate my garage door is 120VAC. I’ve looked for any relays that use DC power as well as have Z-Wave functionality and came up empty. I’ve also thought of wiring some sort of Z-Wave relay to my remote transmitter but am a little clueless on how to do that as well.

Does anyone have any suggestions or can point me in the direction of any tutorials? Thanks for your help.




Here you go sir! Might take some hacking at the device level (not sure if ST supports it-- @ben check it out) but I think this is what you need:

http://elec-solutions.com/products/z-wave/dbmz.html

Check out window treatment controls, as they tend to be battery or DC as well and sort of operate like your gate.

Also, I am crazy jealous that you have this problem and I do not.

@bethsteffel

Fortrezz Mimolite can be powered by 12VDC. SmartThings is supposed to have a new device type for it soon.

http://www.amazon.com/FortrezZ-MIMOliteUS-Z-Wave-Multi-input-Contact/dp/B00B6RZ7MM

It looks like this is the gate opener in question:

http://www.amazon.com/USAutomatic-Sentry-300-Commercial-Automatic/dp/B002YBG2U0

This gate opener doesn’t have obvious connections for your open/close commands. This is what customer support indicates you need to connect:

“Connect one wire to terminal J2, pin 2. Splice the other wire to the green wire leaving the receiver box, using a small wire nut.”

I’ve considered getting this gate opener and am interested in your findings.

Check out this project. You should be able to integrate it right into your system and you’ll be able to open and close your gate, but also be able to view its Open/Closed status.

FWIW -

ST already supports the MIMOlite as a switch/relay, I use these for both garage door and a HW recirculation activator.

There is also a version of the driver that supports the inverse - monitoring a circuit (open/close, or analog power level). I’ve used these to build smoke/co monitor for my Kidde smoke alarms.

I’ve combined the two drivers into one, so you can do both with a single MIMOlite. Let me know if you’re interested…

@storageanarchy

Could you post your combined device type. I could use it.

But BEWARE - I haven’t used / tested this basic version, but I believe it works. Let me know if not.

@storageanarchy

Thanks for contributing. The status displays correctly but tapping the tile does not seem to engage the momentary contact. This is a similar issue with the previous MIMOlite device type contributed by the community that used to work but broke back in May.

In Wednesday’s developer video @wackware indicated he had submitted an update for certification that also includes the MIMOlite power outage sensor.

Update: I had a spare Arduino Leonardo that I wasn’t using, so I decided to try it for this project. (This is largely because I was afraid of connecting directly into the gate opener board and frying it and also because I was afraid of connecting something to the gate power supply and draining the battery since it was only running off a 5 watt solar panel.)

Right now, I have the gate transmitter being powered and triggered by the Arduino in a very simple circuit. I connected it to a simple push-button on the bread board to trigger it. I’m planning to order the SmartThings Shield for Arduino to hopefully use it to connect to the rest of my ST and write/find a very simple code to control whether voltage is flowing or not.

I’ve not played with Arduino in over a year, and obviously never used the SmartShield, so it should be an adventure!

I currently have the gate opener connected to Smart Things via the transmitter, Arduino, and the Arduino Shield. I wrote about five programs and device handlers until I realized that, despite what the Arduino Shield said, it wasn’t compatible with the Leonardo build. As soon as I switched out the Leonardo for an Uno Arduino board, everything worked like magic. It is set up as a switch and auto-opens when I come home.

Right now, I want to set it up the same as my garage door and have it auto-open and close when I come home or leave. The only problem with using the stock set-up for a garage door is I need the open-close sensor to work as an open/close device, not just as an accelerometer since a gate swings horizontally, not up as a garage door.

Does anyone know if there is a place for me to access the stock Smart Things garage door code to edit the open/close sensor to make it open/close v. it just being the accelerometer function? Any other suggestions?

Right now, the gate opens automatically when I come home, but wouldn’t automatically close if I left without closing it. I not only have the Arduino connected with the gate transmitter, but also have a separate open/close sensor.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

1 Like

I have this gate same brand and control board just a different model. I love the gate and currently open and close with supplied remotes AND the relay off of my camera . I was really wanting to integrate something with ST. if someone has figured out something that would be great if they could post some updates or suggestions.

The camera allows me to view and open/close the gate from anywhere.

I have a MIghtyMule DC opener. I tried the Mimo but it ended up toasting itself somehow (Power was well within specs oddly). I ended up going the cheaper route of the 2gig/Linear relay. Powered by 120v, then just ran some direct bury cable out to the gate opener. There are terminals on the control board to open/close with remote so I just tapped into those. On ST, I changed the switch to a virtual momentary, viola.