New Project - Secret Bookshelf Door

[thrash99er (Morgan)]

I’m helping a friend who has a panic room, and it is at the end of the hall. I’m looking to use SmartThings to use it to move a book and then slide open the door.

The book triggering a switch in ST is easy, i can either use a contact sensor or multi w/ the movement, but i’m looking for people who have experience with motorized hinges. It can either be a bookshelf, or if that is too heavy to move we can do a wall and just have the door open up.

Does anyone have any hardware ideas for me to use?

Thanks,

[JDRoberts]

V Several community members of done this. See the following topics (these are clickable links):

A classic, including a spinning globe:

Smart & Secret Bookcase

So I decided to create a secret bookcase door in my house… I always wanted to build a room with floor to ceiling bookcases despite the decline of the physical book. When you have floor to ceiling bookcases however, you really want to then have a secret door, obviously. So my friend Scott and I set out to make this happen. Not just any secret door, mind you, but one that uses the SmartThings service to enable a lot of fun and follies. I’ll chronicle some of the work here in the coming weeks.

One using a keypad:

Secret Door Setup

I’ve got a secret door I’m trying to wire up to my smart things. Here’s the vision: I punch in a code on the payphone I have mounted on the wall, and the bookcase swings open. Here’s what I’ve got so far: The bookcase door is being held close by a pretty strong electromagnetic latch (running on 12V power), connected to a regular Z-Wave outlet that I can turn on and off from my phone. I used IFTTT to make sure the switch always stays on, which basically makes it act like a momentary switch so I can toggle it, and then shut the door and have it latch. The payphone is mounted on the wall. It does nothing (but look awesome) so far. Here’s the parts I’m looking for input on: I need to connect the latch to a UPS, so if the power cuts out the door doesn’t swing open. I have a UPS for 12V …

Just remember to include a manual back up as well.

[diehllane (Brian Diehl)]

I’ll add one more to JD’s list. This is a bit different, but might give you some ideas on what else you can do/use.

Monster TV lift

I’ve a few posts here and there about this bad boy. Anyway, what to do with the arduino and SmartThings shield… How about powering this: TV lift testing, with actual TV weight. Some build pictures This whole contraption bolts to the back of the TV. Currently it’s an outlet in my harmony hub for the TV activity. It’ll get a work out over the next few days as the TV goes on and off… The wife has suggested this be completed for the Thanksgiving party we’re having, so it needs a good workout before I hang an 84" 4K LG off the thing…

[JDRoberts]

Also check out @johnr 's CoopBoss (for a chicken coop door) and the various pet door solutions for more hardware discussions.

ZigBee based Chicken Coop Door

Just thought I would share a project I have been working on. I have automated my wife’s chicken coop door and created a custom device type to control it. You can see more information here: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/161007-Coop-update-Caught-the-Mink-and-ZigBee-enabled-door-control-works-great

Just be very very careful with safety issues if you intend to have the door close as well as open. This is discussed in some of the pet door solution topics. An automatically closing door can cause significant injury. At the very least, you want to include the kind of obstruction detection system that garage doors use.

[AutomateEverything (Kyle)]

Wouldnt use smartthings to control anythig security based especially a panic room - imagine been broken into by armed robbers and ST cloud was playing up . . . Could be a situation where SmartThings assists a murder this