Three inches would be nice. I have that much split front to back.
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Those do work, but when you want a clear floor to work on your car, those are in the way. Try rolling a mechanics creeper over those blocks! They also are a trip hazard, if you use the garage for entertainment space or for something other than storing a car at all times, those blocks are just in the way.
I also have 6 different cars I rotate through the garage, so a fixed block wouldn't work. In addition, I have a plastic tile "Racedeck" floor, and I didn't want to cut it or screw anything through it.
Good for some situations, but was far from ideal in my case.
That looks familiar! Same situation here. Either use the toolbox as a bump stop, or scrape the rear bumper on the garage door.
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Nope. I have 3 cars, two minivans, and a SUV. The minivans are the problem. They might have been mini when they came out in 1984, but they are very truck-like in proportions nowadays.
I found short rubber parking blocks. They are about 1/4 length of a normal parking stop. The ones by the right wheel are glued (originally as an experiment - but liquid nails appears to be good stuff). The ones on the left are taped so I can remove when needed. They are heavy enough they do not need the tape to not move. But, I trust the glued one a little better. (Sharpie marks show that neither appear to move and I check them routinely). I usually pull all cars out and just park in the middle when I need to get under the car. Plus, I can use the taped ones as wheel chocks when I pull them up.
I may be looking at the more high tech approach here.....
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Love this project. Thank you for documenting your parts list. I will probably do this, but replace the lights with an RGB strip light that's GREEN until you get clear of the beam and then turns RED. Thanks for this!
@neonturbo thank you very much for posting this! I got into mountain biking last year and purchased a QuikrStuff Mach2 hitch based bike rack and I was constantly worried I didn't pull into the garage far enough when I had it on the back of my SUV. I just finished the final touches on this project and wanted to share my results.
Parts:
- Seco-Larm E-931-S35RRQ Enforcer Indoor/Outdoor Wall Mounted Photoelectric Beam Sensor
- Striveday 22 AWG 5 conductor wire
- Zooz Zen17 Universal Relay
- GIDERWEL Smart ZigBee USB LED Strip Light RGBWW Kit
Zooz Zen17 Universal Relay:
While I own the Ecolink tilt sensors you used, I have the worst luck with Ecolink products in general (including their contact sensor) and I couldn't get it to sense anything with the external contacts connected to the beam sensor. I had a spare Zen17 that I bought on sale years ago and decided to try it instead. It worked out great for many reasons as I was able to combine multiple automations with this one relay.
- Beam Sensor's Sensor: Using the S1 and C inputs I am able to detect the beam sensor's status. I am using the NO wire and "motion sensor" in the Zen17 driver because I added this "motion" sensor to my existing Garage Room Lighting app so the overhead lights will come on if someone walks into the garage before the ceiling motion sensors fault.
- Beam Sensor's Power: When the garage door is closed I decided it makes no sense to have the beam sensor powered so I am using Relay 1 to control the power of the beam sensor.
- Garage Door Dry Contact Relay: I was already using a MHCOZY Zigbee Relay for my garage door opener but have read @aaiyar's warning that these failed on him so was a bit concerned about continued use of it and am now using Relay 2 to control my garage door opener.
I installed the beam sensor 24" off the floor so it will detect bumpers of our SUVs or my bike rack. I used a piece of 2x4 wood block to install it against the garage door rail above the GDO sensor. I often store things in the corners of my garage so screwing the beam sensor into the walls wouldn't work.
Given my multiple uses of the Zen17, I wanted to install it above my GDO. I bought some 22 AWG 5 Conductor wire off Amazon (same gauge as the beam sensor) and extended the 6 foot wire that came with the beam sensor so it would reach my GDO. I bought a sandwich container from my local Container Store and placed the Zen17 relay in it along with the GDO button that automates my garage door. Living in NC we get tons of pollen so the container protects the relay from pollen and dust.
Years ago I installed Gladiator cabinets on the back wall of my garage (highly recommend Gladiator products, expensive but well worth it!) which limits where I could install a light to indicate whether the beam sensor is tripped or not. I chose to go with Zigbee LED strip lighting that I taped down the side of one of the cabinets in the middle of the garage.
Originally I was using RM to control the light but ran into issues with multiple rules instances firing at the same time. I created a custom app to manage the indicator light to set it to red when tripped and green when not and then turn off the LED after 3 minutes of no activity. You can download this app on Github.
Again thank you for posting your project and giving me the idea and motivation to solve my challenge!
3 Likes
Hi,
I have the similar set up that I have been running. Do you have any suggestions for the rule when the garage remains open? I have mine turn green when open, but can’t figure out the best way to turn it off if the door is open all day. Just thought I would touch base and ask.
It’s in my last post just above yours. You will need to click the green + by
To see it. FWIW I actually stopped using rule machine to manage this because of warnings about multiple rules firing at the same time due to quick updates from the beam sensor as I am at the rear of my car. I created a custom app to manage this.
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Sorry, for some reason I overlooked the plus buttons to expand. I have this running below but do not want the light on when the garage is open all the time. Originally this started as a notification device to alert me of anyone coming in and out of the door was open. Has always worked great and was fun to expand. 16’ of green LEDs really tell you if you’re clear or not.
Thank you.
@deserthillsdrive As mentioned above I had issues using Rule Machine to manage the indicator light. I kept getting errors/warnings about multiple rules firing at the same time especially when I was pulling things out of the back of my vehicles. I created a custom app to manage it where I am running it "single threaded" so it won't run multiple instances. I cleaned up my app for sharing and posted it to Github if you care to try it.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mlritchie/Hubitat/master/Apps/Garage%20Door%20Blockage%20Sensor%20Handler/garage_door_blockage_sensor_handler.groovy
Adjust the settings accordingly where you will choose to use a contact sensor (vs my motion) and then set the state of your contact when the beam is blocked. It will then set the color to red or green according to the settings.
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Wow! This is an awesome application! With your assistance, I had to adjust my hue settings for red, but other than that, this is working perfectly.
Thank you,
Jake
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So I have implemented this using the GIDERWEL Smart ZigBee USB LED Strip Light RGBWW Kit. My issue is that it takes a good second to transition from green to red and red to green. Anyone have a faster transitioning LED controller? I think I have all preferences set to change as fast as possible. A parking car can travel a lot in a second.
What about on vs off instead of a color? Mine is a bit slow but I am just patient with it.
With this controller I see about a fraction of a second transition. I did have to adjust the HUE settings in the apps code so that it would register red correctly for my application. Other than that it is quick enough to inch into the garage and then turn green when clear and be right on the mark where I need it.
GLEDOPTO Smart Home ZigBee LED... Amazon.com
As a substitute for the "hanging tennis ball' parking assistant I bought 2 of these laser pointers with a flexible gooseneck. It's powered by a USB adapter.
I mounted the laser on the ceiling and point it to shine the red dot somewhere on the car dashboard.
I turn it on by plugging it into an extension cord which is wired into the garge door opener light. So when the garage door opens the light comes on and the laser comes on.
Unfortunately the laser pointer is no longer available on Amazon.
Funny you should mention this. About 20 years ago, I made a similar system with a red laser pointer, replacing the battery compartment with a 3vdc regulated power supply controlled by my garage door opener light. Only problem was that the light showed up well against a dark surface (one of my cars) but not as well on another dashboard.
Why is this funny? Just in the last day, I replaced my red laser lights with more powerful green dot “pen” lasers. I purchased them from Temu for only $2.67 each (no shipping costs at time of purchase). I cut out the part of the barrel where the two AAA batteries normally go to shorten the length of the barrel) as seen in the attached photo of one of them mounted on the garage ceiling. Whole thing is only about 3 inches long (please, no snide comments, lol). I used the wiring that I had originally placed 20 years ago connecting the laser to the garage door opening light socket via a socket adaptor and a switched 3vdc power supply wall wart so the laser comes on anytime the garage door opener light comes on.
The green laser is definitely more visible in ALL lighting conditions compared to a red laser no matter how bright it is in the garage. I use green laser sights on my weapons for this reason. As with ALL lasers, not a good idea to stare directly into the laser beam, especially the more powerful green ones. I used an old gimble mount from a no longer used camera mount and attached the laser pen body with a rubberized “C” clamp from Home Depot. So whole project was done for about $5 per laser.
I did get a little fancy, or went somewhat overboard (went down the proverbial rabbit hole, lol) and designed a circuit board with a 555 timer IC chip in it to cause the laser light to flash on and off to make it more noticeable. This was more important 20 years ago when I was using the red laser which was considerably dimmer than the green one.
As a side note, I also purchased two small red lasers from Temu (they were only $2.11 each) that project a cross pattern. I thought this would make it easier to precisely align the cars when pulling in to park. After a thorough search, no one seems to make a similar cross pattern line laser in green. Unfortunately, the small form factor, inexpensive red laser, particularly the ones that project a line or a cross, are very dim compared to the ambient light in my garage and so were not useful.
Photo of newly redone laser guidance parking system:
Why did I “upgrade” my system after 20 years of use? Like many of us who play with home automation, because I could, lol! Also, green lasers were very very expensive compared to readily available red ones and I wanted to design something on the cheap. Now, despite my reluctance to send my money to China, components are so unbelievably inexpensive that it makes it affordable to carry out these “experimental” projects (WAF is also high allowing me to play with this stuff). Now, this can be done for less than “. . .One Million Dollars”.
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You will have problems with that specific IR sensor as it is sensitive to the reflection from the car paint.
I know because i had that one too.
I ended up getting this particular one:
It’s an IR BEAM model that has to have a receiver (and as such no reflections from painted shiny surfaces can trigger/trick the device from thinking the beam is “complete”)
The receiver is tied to a regular door sensor (z-wave) that automates a sengled light strip (or any other color bulb for that matter).
Here’s how my rule is:
Here’s a better look at those IR Beam sensor pair:
I don’t mind the occasional color change when i take something out of the trunk.
I have a “pre” garage door open trigger that does this:
Id say the only “inconvenience” about this approach is that one needs 2 separate power supplies instead of the one needed with the sensor you used.
I initially started with the same sensor and i got so many false positives that i was not sure if the car is all the way in or it reflects back in the sensor.
I went the sengled route for the color light because i don’t want my bulbs to route …
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Nicely done @moh!
WAF?
You just can't beat the price.... but when a home automation guy needs to be in control no price is too high or solution too techy. 
