Garage door open alarm

[Frank Warner]

I need a way to tell if my swing-up garage door is open or closed without going outside to look at it. An indicator light or something inside the house that tells me if the door is up or down.

Reason: Too many instances of me or one of the kids opening the door and leaving it open all night, with thousands of dollars worth of tools and other stuff inside. Garage faces the street. Anybody walking by could snatch something off my workbench and be gone before we could do anything about it.

Can't see the door from inside the house, so I want a way to tell at a glance from inside the house if I need to go outside and close it for the night.

-Frank

[Oren]

I had one given to me, but I have not tried it yet.

Oren "My doctor says I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."

[NJTrout]

I have a Sears Craftsman device that was included with the garage door opener. Doesn't look like more than a mercury switch and transmitter. Receiver sits in the kitchen.

Check out Sears.

NJTrout

[Frank Warner]

Amazing. I must not be the only person with this problem.

Thanks for the link.

-Frank

[Frank Warner]

I will check there, too. Looks like the device Oren posted might do the trick for not a lot of $$$.

-Frank

[Joseph Meehan]

I believe these folk have one.

[Walter R.]

I bought a garage door indicator from Sears, about $ 40, consisting of a small transmitter that attaches to the door and a receiving unit that plugs in the wall.

Worked for about half a year. Range was less than anticipated: about 35'. I junked mine because the velcro sticker kept coming lose from the (vibrating) garage door.

You can buy them on E-bay for about $ 20; new

[NJTrout]

I've had the Sears Garage Door reminder device for about 3 years, I screwed it onto the door. Still on original batteries. This was included with my garage door opener. Not sure about the range issue mentioned below. We have a standard 48 foot bi-level and it works fine between the door and kitchen.

NJTrout

Walter R. wrote:

[mm]

It's hard to give the best advice from a text description.

Please email me your address and I'll stop by to look at the premises up close and in detail.

[Brian]

If you have existing alarm system those would be my choice

Some, could be programed to show text messages:

Garage door is open.... Etc

[Frank Warner]

Here ya go:

601 4th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20535-0002

-Frank

[JD]

I bought a really nice remote unit from Sears for about $35. There is a small sending unit that velcros to the door and when the door is up it flashes red, when down, steady green. We have it in our bedroom and it has saved many trips to check the door at night. We also have a remote next to the unit and all we have to do is press it if the door is up, saving another trip. It has worked very well in the three years we have had it. JD

[NJTrout]

JD,

Can you see the garage door from your bedroom? If I cannot see the door clearly, I will not operate the remote. Just trying to keep safety in mind when using garage door openers.

NJTrout

JD wrote:

[Sam E]

[snip]

"Light" doesn't exist. What you see is an illusion caused by the absorption of darkness. That bright light is sucking up too much of your darkness. You need to install a powerful dark bulb. Darkness is produced more efficiently than "light", so a 1000W dark bulb gives off as much darkness as a 2200W "light" bulb absorbs. Some leakage is inevitable. Use a dark bulb with a wattage that's 130% or the light bulb with a directional reflector to obtain 99% complete darkness.

[Sam E]

Sorry for the intrusion. This post was meant for someplace else.

[Frank K.]

But it goes along with a lot of the answers on this group.