Garage door key switch

Shorting is a term for an overload...you are making a low-voltage "connection". Not sure what you're asking though?

Rubbish!

I would beware of burglars. Those key switches, when they work, are easy prey.

Why do you need it? Don't you have a remote for each car?

After my father died, my mother had an extra remote. She has it in the breakfast area and can now close the garage from the floor above.

Don.

I have a remote in each vehicle, but I still have a keypad near the door.

Why would I want to use the remote that's in a vehicle when I am not in the vehicle?

If an electrician tells me otherwise, I will accept it...not coming from a limey.

How about a good old US of A Electrical Engineer, you sap?

I use a wireless keypad. It runs on a 9v battery and, as I have 2 doors, can be programmed for both doors (different codes). It uses rolling codes, which makes it more secure. The battery, so far, has lasted over 7 years and still works fine. In my previous house I had a wired keypad. This one was ok, because there was a ribbon cable between the keypad and the inside part. The inside part with electronics, could not easily be accessed. If someone pried off the keypad, they would still have the know the code and would have to use it in a row/column fashion. With the OP's key switch, one could simply pry out the lock and short (notice I said short) the wires together in order to gain access. The good part is, you don't have to carry a key.

Too lazy to use google again, I see. A short circuit doesn't mean there is an overload. It just means there is some direct, typically unintended connection or fault in a circuit. You could have a short on the wiring going to a low voltage, low current sensor, where it will not work, but there is no overload, for example. It's also common to say that to reset this device, you short pins 1 and 3 together while applying power, etc.

Same here. I'd get rid of the key switch and replace it with a keypad too. With a keypad, you don't need to have the key. It's also more secure, though I doubt many thieves eager on burlarizing a house are going to waste time working that key switch out, assuming it's a decent one. Plenty of other ways in.

exactly right. keypads are way more conveient and just as secure

more secure than a key switch

If you were...you wouldn't say "rubbish". UK stuff like, "spot-on"...keep that s*it over there!

...I agree, unintended...and not usually done!

Are you daft, man?

You don't indicate how the current switch is retained. Perhaps a solution is to get a key switch with a long threaded barrel (body) and mount it in the wall of the garage (not the door frame) and secure it with a large washer (and nut). This will keep it from being pulled out of the garage. See, e.g.,

It looks like an invisible beam style sensor?

Diesel explained on 9/5/2016 :

Yep, one side emits a beam and the other detects it. Usually infrared.

Yes! And if you walk through the "U" while the door is in operation it reverses the door or stops it! ;)