OT.garage entry:

[sal]

I would like to install some type sensor ,indicator that signals when I have entered my garage far enough to close the door.Have any of you guys invented your own system? What do you use?

Sal

[G. Ross]

I have a 1" wooden ball (makes this on topic) hanging from a small screw eye in the ceiling. When it bumps the center of the windshield it is time to stop. Also tells my wife if she is too close to my side where my truck lives. Actually I have two wooden balls....

[Dave]

[Doug Winterburn]

I use golf whiffle balls on a string.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Sorry to hear that. Can you get a transplant?

[Dave in Houston]

Hanging tennis ball so that when your windshield just touches it.

[G. Ross]

I like the way the wooden ones give an audible click as well as the visual bump. But either type of ball would work. If you have kids around you have to watch that they don't make a game of whacking them around.

[Doug Miller]

"sal" wrote in news:P%sHr.15289$ [e-mail]:

I hung a tennis ball from the ceiling on a string. When the windshield touches the tennis ball, the car is in the right place.

[Larry Jaques]

Y'mean "graft"?

-- If you're trying to take a roomful of people by surprise, it's a lot easier to hit your targets if you don't yell going through the door. -- Lois McMaster Bujold

[clare]

lasr pen in the ceiling and a small dot on your windsheild. Laser pen comes on with the garage door opener light. 100% accurate and not affected by breeze blowing the ball around or humidity/temperature affecting the length of the string.

[Larry Jaques]

I like it! Did you do this or just think it up? Didja use a relay and solenoid to kickstart the pen?

BTW, what in the hell are you guys parking in your shop for?

-- If you're trying to take a roomful of people by surprise, it's a lot easier to hit your targets if you don't yell going through the door. -- Lois McMaster Bujold

[tiredofspam]

You don't think that's a little overkill having a laser pointer???? Do you really need another electronic for this. You could easily put a stop block (little lip) to help on the floor.

The breeze should not affect the ball that much unless you have a real problem... I use the tennis ball for my wife's vehicle and it doesn't blow around, while everything else blows into the garage...

If you are worried about the ball be> >

[LdB]

I use an empty beer can with a bit of gravel in it for additional weight. It has a built in ring to tie the string to.

LdB

[RonB]

I had a variation of this in a previous, shallow garage that keeps the ball out of the way but it kind of depends on ceiling height.

I put the screw eyes in the ceiling to line up with the windshield. But instead of permanently fastening the string. I ran the cord from the ball to the ceiling and over to the end of the garage door and installed another screw eye there, where I tied the other end of the cord. I used a tennis ball and when the garage door goes up the ball comes down to windshield height. Door goes up and the ball retracts toward the ceiling. Kinda fiddly getting it set up but it works well.

RonB

[John McGaw]

the tennis ball, the

That is the old-school standard method. If you hang the string and ball accurately you can tell within a fraction of an inch where your vehicle is not only forward and backward but left and right. I always aimed to have the ball hang so it touched right below the rear-view mirror mount. The only real problem is if more than one non-identical vehicle needs to be accommodated in the same garage bay.

[Doug Winterburn]

The other problem is when SWMBO aka OverLord drives in at an angle and the room left is too narrow for the truck.

[Keith Nuttle]

My garage is deep enough that I have no problem in spacing once in the garage, but the space between the door frame and the 2nd car in the garage is limited.

Any good ideas for a system to gauge the clearance between the car coming into the garage and the door frame.

I have though of the hanging object idea but you need to know your fender is going to clear the frame several feet before you get to the door.

[Swingman]

The traditional solution, still available, plus you'll have that "in" "retro" look:

[John McGaw]

I can think of several solutions, first being developing an awareness of your vehicle's size and where it is in space at any given moment. I'll admit that some vehicles are easy to manage in that regard while others are almost impossible. I have a hell of a time switching between by Miata and my Outback after driving either one exclusively for a week or so -- just cannot land the other in the absolute center of a marked parking space on the first go.

As a second solution, how about this: modify a windshield suction cup mount and install a powerful laser pointer on it. Then calibrate the laser beam's aim point so that it shines on a reference target inside the garage when the vehicle is positioned properly. Et voilà -- a laser sight for a vehicle. Given the patent office's penchant for being impressed by the blatantly obvious it wouldn't surprise me if somebody patents the idea.

[FrozenNorth]

How about a mirror in the garage, maybe convex if the attack angle is a bit odd?