Wifi Smart Switch to control garage door

Raspberry pi zero W and a relay board?

I've flashed a similar switch with Tasmota over wifi - it needed a laptop running Linux but no extra kit or disassembly. I imagine the Sonoff can as well?

The switch was this one, a Maxcio WUK-007S-1P:

The Tasmota repository is a good list of other devices that work with it:

Theo

I have a spare pi 3. Now I just need to figure out a relay.

The newest sonoff basic r3 can, but the older versions cannot (which I have). You need to buy a USB converter and push wires from it into the PCB.

I might buy the USB flashing kit, if choosing a replay for my Pi is too hard for me.

Useful thanks. A lot of the problem finding a device is that I'm only switching about 24v, most devices are for mains power.

I think I'll be ok with that bit. I'm more of a programmer than an electronics guy.

Shelly 1.

Benefits in brief:

- Mains or 12v supply

- Volt-free relay output

- Built-in web server for local access (cloud also available, but can be disabled) through app or web browser

- CE+UL certified

Happy to provide further info if required.

Forgot the link:

Wouldn't you want a Shelley 2.5 for a door opener/closer?

The Quinetic switches from TLC have a WiFi controllable version, and a

With the application being a garage door opener I was assuming the WiFi switch was just going to emulate a physical switch and so wouldn't require the current sensing etc of the 2.5. The Shelly 1 is also the only one with completely isolated outputs which can be preferable.

All that said, you've made me realise we don't fully know the requirement eg what functions are required (open, close etc) and how it is to interface with what's there already. More info required I think, and you may well be right that the 2.5 is more suitable.

Thought there were wired with fwd/rev contacts?

Requirements: inching (turns on for ~1 second then off) switch on ~24v ac circuit.

An alternative is a door bell type push switch, inching = momentary turns on when you press and then off when you release.

Originally I used a 443 MHz remote key fob. These cost about £30 each to replace, ebay clones seem to be s*it.

My sonoff switch cost under £10.

The rPi is a nice solution as it is a transferable skill to other things I want to do. rPi is also standard, i tend to lose the will to live trying to understand bespoke hardware and software.

My preference would be a simple cheap low voltage switch like sonoff (with tasmota) driver, powered off 24v ac (actually slightly higher) or usb if available. But only if it is documented and simple.

Some are just momentary toggle switches - press to open, press again to close.

That's good, and would be the easiest way. You'd want the 'toggle' switch mode in the Shelly for that.

A Shelly 1 is under £10 (just), excl. postage though.

A Raspberry Pi is not what I would regard as standard. There are an infinite ways you can build both the software and hardware. Of course, that's a common benefit but it also means quite a learning curve. Lots of tutorials on the web though so you're not on your own. Configuring a Shelly via the GUI could not - I genuinely think you'd be up-and-running in 30 mins.

The Shelly 1 will work perfectly and ticks all the boxes bar running off 24v AC so you might have to rectify that to 12/24v DC.

Still get a Pi though; but don't stifle it life as a garage door opener - there are plenty of other more exciting things to do with it and learn from!

The Sonoff is an ESP8266 wifi microcontroller, which is exactly what I'd want for this task. Running Tasmota, it does one job and does it acceptably. Once you have Tasmota on there, and the relevant config string for your particular device pasted into its web page, that's it. You can control everything from the webpage, or it provides an API (MQTT) you can then control from something fancier.

You can instead use a Pi, but it doesn't come configured out of the box and there's a million ways you could set it up. It also doesn't come in a convenient physical package, and if it goes wrong (for example loses networking) you have to plug a screen in or pull the SD card and boot it on another Pi.

What I have is Tasmota on the endpoint (the wifi mains plug) and Home Assistant (hass.io) on a Pi on my desk, chatting with MQTT. All the complicated stuff runs on the Pi, and if it breaks I can easily get at it to fix it.

So if it were me I'd bite the bullet and get the USB cable for the Sonoff. You have a hardware solution that does what you want, you just need to reprogram it with the right firmware.

Theo

Not really, all my Pi systems (and some Beaglbone Blacks) run headless, I just use ssh to connect to them and reboot, reconfigure, update, whatever, from the command line.

True but you get exactly what you want. B-)

This is more of a problem, box, PSU, connectors, time to construct, etc cost way more than the Pi.

All my Pi's run headless as well and operated as you say (apart from the initial writing of the OS and addition of the ssh file to /boot on a fresh/new SD card.

How ever if the networking falls over... B-)

I wish they produced a Zero E (for Ethernet), ENC28J60 boards work well enough but is another board to faff about with in the enclosure. Similar with a USB <> Ethernet adapter.

You just add the ssh file after creating the microSD card don't you, on the system where you created the micrSD image.

You're basically totally stuffed aren't you? I don't think I've ever had the networking (at least not the *wired* networking) fail on a system which was otherwise working.

BeagleBone Black (SBC similar to a Pi but with different strengths) boots with 'ssh over USB' working 'out of the box'. It also has a built in emmc memory chip so doesn't require a microSD (but can use one if you want).