How to ensure your garage door is closed when you go to sleep.

Darren M. · Feb 28, 2006

So, long story short I was given a Craftsman Garage door monitor. I thought "How frivolous is this???" Then I began using it, sensor on the door, monitor in the bedroom. I now go to sleep and look at the monitor one last time to ensure my better half, or I, didn't "forget" to close the garage door. I can't tell you how many times I got BACK up out of just getting into bed to check the door because my wife couldn't answer the question "Did you close the garage door when you came home tonight?" I MEAN COME ON!!!! It's not like I have anything in there!!!

It's not the best solution but for $35 +/- you can't beat the peace of mind. (Electro-geeks..... go nuts. I know of at least 3 major sirens I can trigger off this little LED....

)

Here's how it works. A gravity sensor is mounted to your garage door via double sided tape and velcro. When closed the sensor is "open", when the door is open the sensor is "closed" thus sending a signal to the monitor that flashes an LED. SUPER simple and a great idea. Worth $35?? No, but sure is easy to install!!!

Click here to go to where I found it on sears.com. If you need more info let me know I can provide part numbers, etc.

THIS IS NOT GARAGE DOOR OPENER SPECIFIC!!

bmwpower · Feb 28, 2006

Looks like a good solution. I plan on wiring my doors into my alarm system, so if my doors are open, I won't be able to arm the alarm before bed.

Darren M. · Feb 28, 2006

An image of the "Monitor".

NOTE: The transmitter is about the size of a pager, white, and DOES use a battery. However, you don't really notice it on the inside of the garage door.

So far??? I'm stoked!

Darren M. · Feb 28, 2006

I thought about going that route. Then I received this and ya know..... I'd just as soon take the easy route.

(Obviously, your solution is MUCH better.) Call me lazy.

wythors · Feb 28, 2006

I used to live near Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and my garage door would go up and then come down again randomly, usually in the middle of the night. It was one of the "rolling code" variety, so I can't imagine one of my neighbors had the same frequency. The only thing I could think of was the Navy must have broadcast on that band, maybe to screw with the locals. :lol:

Quite disconcerting at 2 in the morning.

nova65ss · Feb 28, 2006

Only thing I would like better about the monitor is if you could actually let the door down with it. Just because if it's up you still need to go all the way back down to close it. Oh well beggers can't be choosers.

Yup the govt uses the 390 freq. that Liftmaster and alot of other manufactureres use. It has been a huge problem in the midwest, lots of garage doors going up and down because of planes and other millitary. Liftmaster just changed over to the 312mhz w/in the last year. Bad thing is they used the old 390 for at least 20 years, so there will be problems for a long time.

http://www.dasma.com/articles/feature/feature166.asp

Jimmy

logical · Feb 28, 2006

nova65ss said:
Only thing I would like better about the monitor is if you could actually let the door down with it. Just because if it's up you still need to go all the way back down to close it. Oh well beggers can't be choosers.

http://www.dasma.com/articles/feature/feature166.asp

Jimmy

I've had one of the monitors for years...sits in a bookshelf we can see from bed....which is where you normally are when you start to wonder if the door is closed. As for the other part of your wish....I just keep one of the extra remotes by the alarm clock. My latest opener came with 2 plus a mini and both our cars have the built in ones so i have one in the bedroom, one with the motorcycle and my son has one in his car....which he parks outside...but it lets him enter the house thru the garage without a key.

maa139 · Feb 28, 2006

This kind of thing doesn't bother me. I'm compulsive enough that I check at least 4 times before I go up to bed. Then my wife never remembers if she blew out the candle/turned off the stove/turned out the light on the fish tank/etc/etc/etc. I'm downstairs at least 2 or three times after going to bed, so I'll just continue to check while I'm checking all the other junk...

coolair · Mar 1, 2006

Perfect timing for this post......I can't get my 17 yo daughter to remember to hit the button at the same time she walks in the house!!! Got after her bad a month ago and she has been good lately about it so we haven't been double checking like we had......opened the door this morning to the garage and it was WIDE open. Lucky to live in a decent neiborhood and haven't lost anything yet. I go by a Sears everyday on the way home - stopping tonight to pick one up! Thanks again for the post.

Darren M. · Mar 1, 2006

Coolair. Be advised I THINK this is special order/internet purchase only. I don't know for sure if it's even at a local store. If you find it there let us know.

nova65ss · Mar 1, 2006

If you want to go all out just get the door butler. It will close the door for you should you forget.

http://www.garagebutler.com/

Jimmy

logical · Mar 1, 2006

Darren M. said:
Coolair. Be advised I THINK this is special order/internet purchase only. I don't know for sure if it's even at a local store. If you find it there let us know.

They are all over ebay branded as chaimberlan or Liftmaster....mine's one of those...forget which.

coolair · Mar 2, 2006

Stopped @ Sears - they had it on the shelf and had it installed before 6. I'm not going to miss getting up @ 2am and checking on the door or getting pi**ed off in the morning when I find it open.

batmbl · Mar 3, 2006

maa139 said:
This kind of thing doesn't bother me. I'm compulsive enough that I check at least 4 times before I go up to bed. Then my wife never remembers if she blew out the candle/turned off the stove/turned out the light on the fish tank/etc/etc/etc. I'm downstairs at least 2 or three times after going to bed, so I'll just continue to check while I'm checking all the other junk...

You are a very patient man.

...dave · Mar 8, 2006

Not a bad idea, but i wonder what the range is... my problem isn't getting out of bed, it's getting halfway to work and not being able to remember if i closed the door :willy_nil

...dave

malibu101 · Mar 8, 2006

...dave said:
Not a bad idea, but i wonder what the range is... my problem isn't getting out of bed, it's getting halfway to work and not being able to remember if i closed the door

...dave

After we got a new van I allowed the wife to park in the garage. I had to drill in her head not to drive away until she saw the door close and stay closed, as I do.

Hooligan · Mar 8, 2006

wythors said:
I used to live near Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and my garage door would go up and then come down again randomly, usually in the middle of the night. It was one of the "rolling code" variety, so I can't imagine one of my neighbors had the same frequency. The only thing I could think of was the Navy must have broadcast on that band, maybe to screw with the locals. Quite disconcerting at 2 in the morning.

Some of the military communications equipment uses the frequencies that garage door openers have been squatting on for years. Just think every time you use your garage door opener some poor pilots canopy goes up :wtf:

6t7gto · Mar 10, 2006

this morning's TV news had a segment about a police officer that forgot to close his garage door.
he went to bed and his house was burglarized.
they took his gun, cuffs, misc. other things and his pickup trick.
he slept thru the whole ordeal.

david

mrl05 · Mar 10, 2006

Darren - great idea and timing on this post. Going to Sears this weekend to check.

logical said:
and my son has one in his car....which he parks outside...but it lets him enter the house thru the garage without a key.

Hopefully no one knows that he keeps one in his car. Unless you lock the opener at the main pad each night, someone could break in to his car and enter your garage and/or house. Even if your house is on alarm, they could wipe out your garage of all the valuables and damage the cars in there.

I'm in the same boat as I have an extra remote and a third vehicle - a pick-up truck that stays outside. Often I grab the extra remote when I take the truck so that I can re-enter the house throught the garage when I return. However, I'm constantly worrying if I left the extra remote in the visor of the truck. There have been some nights that it spent the night in the truck outside, fortunately there were no incidents. We don't lock the main pad from the remotes each night.

Mike

thorin · Mar 11, 2006

Hi Guys, I have a bit of a different problem. Craftsman opener, every time the power comes on, after a power outage, the garage door goes up. Any way to keep the opener from opening the door when the power comes on?

Has anybody actually used the Garage Butler?

Thanks

thorin

nova65ss · Mar 11, 2006

If your garage door opener runs when the power is turned on there is something wrong with it. Unplug it and plug it back in and see if it moves,

Jimmy

thorin · Mar 11, 2006

Jimmy,

You are o so correct. I had put in another remote operator that worked from the cig lighter. That is what was opening the door when the power came back on. I unplugged the transformer, attached to the receiver in the garage and the door would open when I plugged the transformer back in.

Interesting thing is that while I was in the garage unplugging and plugging back in; opening and closing the door, noticed smoke coming from the opener! Unplugged it and will replace in the morning.

Thanks for your help.

David

nova65ss · Mar 11, 2006

That smoke was the capacitor overheating. It will probably be ok after the motor cools down. Or if you want the capacitor can be replaced, sometimes with what new ones cost nowadays it's better just to replace the whole thing. Have fun :lol:

Jimmy

Defyant · Mar 13, 2006

Interesting thread.

As a patrol cop, I would cruise neighborhoods late at night and notice some people who left their garages wide open. At first I started to let homeowners know. But after the 3rd or 4th "What are ya bothering me for?" attitude, I figured people did that on purpose.

Darren M. · Mar 14, 2006

Defyant. First of all, thanks for your service. Secondly, those idiots that didn't learn from, or appreciate, your advisement wouldn't need this "do-hicky" anyway. They're just asking to get robbed.

(Nice Marauder too!

There's a special place in my heart for those cars.)

the_wife · Jan 6, 2013

I can't get my 17 yo daughter to remember to hit the button at the same time she walks in the house!!!

You didn't have a 17 yo daughter, I did!

JimVonBaden · Jan 6, 2013

I have both the garage door, and the man door hooked to my alarm system. If the door is up when I set for the night, it let's me know. If anyone opens either when I am sleeping or gone, I know.

Jim

XS29L9B · Jan 6, 2013

JimVonBaden said:
I have both the garage door, and the man door hooked to my alarm system. If the door is up when I set for the night, it let's me know. If anyone opens either when I am sleeping or gone, I know.

Jim

That's how mine works, and I see it on he alarm panel, too

kbs2244 · Jan 6, 2013

I don't have the garage door up or down problem.
But I can start to see other uses for something that simple and cheap.

Ironhorse · Jan 6, 2013

err...like my grandfather did...a c-clamp on the rail right behind one of the track wheels...works great for vaca..

zulu226 · Jan 6, 2013

Where I live in MN we had a guy who left his garage door open. In the middle of the night the police drove by, saw the door open and the service door to the house open. THe police cautiously went in, found a basement full of girls sleeping. Woke Dad up in the upstairs bedroom and he was pissed they trespassed after checking on them.

bww_mnm · Jan 6, 2013

Darren M. said:
So, long story short I was given a Craftsman Garage door monitor. I thought "How frivolous is this???" Then I began using it, sensor on the door, monitor in the bedroom. I now go to sleep and look at the monitor one last time to ensure my better half, or I, didn't "forget" to close the garage door. I can't tell you how many times I got BACK up out of just getting into bed to check the door because my wife couldn't answer the question "Did you close the garage door when you came home tonight?" I MEAN COME ON!!!! It's not like I have anything in there!!!

It's not the best solution but for $35 +/- you can't beat the peace of mind. (Electro-geeks..... go nuts. I know of at least 3 major sirens I can trigger off this little LED.... )

Here's how it works. A gravity sensor is mounted to your garage door via double sided tape and velcro. When closed the sensor is "open", when the door is open the sensor is "closed" thus sending a signal to the monitor that flashes an LED. SUPER simple and a great idea. Worth $35?? No, but sure is easy to install!!!

Click here to go to where I found it on sears.com. If you need more info let me know I can provide part numbers, etc.

THIS IS NOT GARAGE DOOR OPENER SPECIFIC!!

Is the receiver (bedroom unit) battery or AC? Battery has to be more efficient than a AC/DC converter running 24/7.

Tucko · Jan 7, 2013

6t7gto said:
this morning's TV news had a segment about a police officer that forgot to close his garage door.
he went to bed and his house was burglarized.
they took his gun, cuffs, misc. other things and his pickup trick.
he slept thru the whole ordeal.

david

Good thing he had his gun to protect his family.....er wait. Nevermind..

Dick in Wisconsin · Jan 7, 2013

wythors said:
I used to live near Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and my garage door would go up and then come down again randomly, usually in the middle of the night. It was one of the "rolling code" variety, so I can't imagine one of my neighbors had the same frequency. The only thing I could think of was the Navy must have broadcast on that band, maybe to screw with the locals. Quite disconcerting at 2 in the morning.

I got my private pilots license in 1971 at a small, uncontrolled airport with some residential around the airport. During the initial part of the training I did a ton of touch and goes in the pattern with the instructor in the right seat; round and round and round.

For the first few hours he took care of the radio; reporting downwind, then left base, then final and again when we took off. After a while I noticed him keying the mike and looking out the window down below the airplane. He explained that when he keyed the mike the garage door of a certain house would close or open.

So the first time by he would open the garage door, next time by he would close it. He always took care to make sure he closed the door at the end of our session.

I never tried it.

RVDan · Jan 7, 2013

Looks like a great item, but I'd think you should instal it on the top panel to be effective? Lower down and the door could still be partially open but indicated as closed.

Maybe irrelevant as most openers will open all the way up again if something stops them part way, but something to think about.

theaton · Jan 7, 2013

the_wife said:
I can't get my 17 yo daughter to remember to hit the button at the same time she walks in the house!!!

You didn't have a 17 yo daughter, I did!

That must have really hurt!!!

theaton · Jan 7, 2013

mrl05 said:
Darren - great idea and timing on this post. Going to Sears this weekend to check.

Hopefully no one knows that he keeps one in his car. Unless you lock the opener at the main pad each night, someone could break in to his car and enter your garage and/or house. Even if your house is on alarm, they could wipe out your garage of all the valuables and damage the cars in there.

I'm in the same boat as I have an extra remote and a third vehicle - a pick-up truck that stays outside. Often I grab the extra remote when I take the truck so that I can re-enter the house throught the garage when I return. However, I'm constantly worrying if I left the extra remote in the visor of the truck. There have been some nights that it spent the night in the truck outside, fortunately there were no incidents. We don't lock the main pad from the remotes each night.

Mike

I solved both of these with the key fob garage door remotes. Amazon has them for like $8 a piece.

Stuart in MN · Jan 7, 2013

Zombie thread...six years old and brought back to life.

y5e06 · Jan 7, 2013

I actually have had one of these craftsman deals for 3-4 years. for me it works great. before, I'd left my door open many times and only realized it when leaving for work the next day. never did anything disappear but it certainly could have been bad.
Anyway, the sender part is mounted to the very top of my garage door by way of velcro and is battery powered.
the receiver part is on my night stand and is plugged in to an outlet. when the door is up, even a foot, a red led indicator is lit on the reciever. when it is down the green indicator is lit. when the signal is weak or battery needs to be changed the red and green alternate flashing. in somewhere around 4 years I've only had to replace the transmitter battery once. I'm quite happy with the bat life so far.

It has notified me that the door was open on multiple occasions when I was about to call it a night.

Dakota00 · Jan 7, 2013

I've built my own setup using low voltage wires, a 12v light and a alarm ball style contact. Runs off a ac/dc converter, works great!! Garage door goes up the light comes on, very simple system.

How to ensure your garage door is closed when you go to sleep.

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