Battery driven device for completeting a low voltage circuit?

I’m sure this is a noob question, but is there a zigbee or Z-wave battery driven device for completing a circuit? Is that what you would call a relay?

My garage door opener have a super simple spring loaded NO (normally open) switch to operate the garage door (of course a remote and even a keypad on the outside) that just completes the circuit when pressed. I would like to have such a switch that I can operate via Homey. The intended use is to enable me to operate my garage door remotely so I can let people in if I’m not at home (or close the door if a neighbor tells me it’s open for some reason).

Any suggestions? :slightly_smiling_face:

Fibaro Smart implant should do the job, it should run on a 9V battery, but 9V DC is the minimum; two 9V batteries in series is probably a better idea, then it gets 18V DC with fully loaded batteries.
30V DC is the max voltage it can handle.

It has 2 potential-free outputs, with one of them you can switch your garage door.

Smart implant isn’t a battery device though, it will drain a 9v battery in 2-3 weeks, maybe even less.

@Paxman
There are no battery devices for zigbee or Z-Wave for this purpose because battery devices are 99% of the time are asleep to save on battery life and thus will not respond to anything until they wake-up.
There are FLiRS devices for z-wave, but have yet to see any relay devices with this.

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Why should that be a battery operated relay, you can use the power used by the door-opener, to power a normal z-wave relay and connect the contact to the same points where your pushbutton is connected.

Thank you all for your suggestions. Now that you have mentioned it, a battery driven device wasn’t really a realistic alternative for this application.

The reason I wanted a battery device is that the laws regulating electrical installations in Sweden are ridiculous. We are basically only allowed to replace light bulbs in armatures, so connecting a relay to the mains is a crime. :face_with_raised_eyebrow: This means I will have to hire an electrician for several hundreds € to do this…if I can even find one interested in doing such a small job.

I guess I’ll have to drop this… :laughing:

Perhaps a device like the Switchbot can be used? SwitchBot Bot | Smart Button Pusher, Make Your Light Switch Smarter – SwitchBot EU

It’s BLE so would require that it’s in range of your Homey. Or it could be used to press a button on a spare remote, since those typically have a longer range.

The Swedish regulations will however allow you to cobble together a device that is connected via a mains cable to an outlet. Get a box that offers strain relief for the mains cable, put a suitable relay in the box and connect a cable from the relay output to the terminals on the door opener in parallel with the already existing push button and you’re good to go.
Or if you feel you are capable of doing a neat and safe fixed installation, maybe become an outlaw. Your nick leads me to believe you are active on a Swedish forum where it’s more or less accepted that what is actually important is that an installation is done in a safe manner, not who actually does it. If you have questions on how to do it, there are guys that can provide you with excellent advice.

Another perfectly legal option is to use a relay that for instance run on 12V or 24V and power it from an adapter. If you’re really, really lucky there may be an output on your door opener that can power the relay. I’m not sure if there are any relays like this available for ZigBee or Z-Wave, but Shelly Plus 1 pucks or the older Shelly 1 will happily run on 12V or 24V if WiFi is available and acceptable.

A few gotchas re what constitutes a suitable relay:
The relay MUST have potential free contacts, also called dry contacts.
It’s preferable that it can be programmed to give a short pulse, simulating a short press on the button.

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You are correct Henrik_Johnsson. Both about me being on that Swedish forum you hint about and all that you wrote about the consensus among the forum members (and also the Swedish people in general) that the laws are so ridiculous that many just ignore them and do the installations anyway. That and the fact that no one, NOT ONE, person has ever been prosecuted for unlawful electrical installation…ever. :joy:

One problem with non battery operated devices is that they hog electrical outlets. In my garage there is a real shortage in outlets, even the garage door opener motor is connected to a three way plug at the moment. That’s the reason I first thought of a battery operated relay. However…I haven’t thought about the pinouts on the garage door motor itself. I have a faint memory that there are some low volt outputs there. I’ll check that! :+1:

I assume you will have low voltage connections on your garage door opener because you already have a keypad.
Therefore, I also assume that you can use a Fibaro Smart Implant (Z-Wave) or a Shelly Uni (WiFi).
There are already several threads where it is explained how to connect and configure the FSI.

The keypad is wireless, so it’s basically a remote that requires a code.

Ok, but if you can theoretically connect a wired button to your garage door opener, then it should almost certainly be possible with the devices already mentioned.
What garage door opener do you have (company + type)?

The door motor is an Aperto 868.

I managed to find the manual and as far as I can tell there is a 24V DC 0,1A pin ut on the board.

Terminal 9 and 10 should be constant 24 V, right? 5 and 6 is where the push button is connected now and where I wish I could connect some Homey compatible device in parallel. Fibaro Smart Implant as have been mentioned in the thread seems to be able to do the trick. It’s a bit pricey though…so if there are any cheaper alternatives it would be easier to motivate a buy…this function is absolutely not critical for me, it’s a “want have”, not a “must have”. :blush:

Crossed my mind Shelly has a similar implant 12-36VDC, and probably “budget friendlier” (around €15,‐ in NL).
It’s a wifi device, probably less secure than zwave.

I have stayed away from wifi devices so far. I have focused my system around z-wave, zigbee and 443 MHz.

I’m not that concerned about security since the threat of intrusions/burglary is really low for us and we have really good neighbour watch in our area. But as I wrote above the garage door is part of the house, so if someone would hack the signal they will have full access and a perfect route to haul all our stuff out.

For that reason I’m actually considering using a z-wave or zigbee plug on the mains cable for the garage door motor so when the “No one home”-flow is activated the power is cut to the motor. If anyone have got their hands one of our remotes or manage to guess the code for the key pad outside nothing will happen.

I’m now a little confused. What do you want exactly?
In post #1 you’re talking about an additional device, with which you can operate the garage (open/close).

In you’re last post you’re talking about to “cut” the power supply of the garage door opener for safety reasons.

This

has nothing to to with to “cut” the power supply of the Garage Door Opener. The GDO is always connected to the main power supply.
This is comparable to a smart lamp (not a dumb lamp!!!). The smart lamp is also always connected to the main power supply, even if it is switched off. You can then turn the lamp on and off with a battery-powered remote control.
In the same way, the GDO gets a pulse to open/close the gate.

Or is there something I don’t understand?

I can see the confusion. :slightly_smiling_face:

It’s actually two devices that I want to solve two different “problems” with. The first is that I want to be able to open the GDO ( :+1:) remotely using Homey. That involves a switch that is normally open and when it closes the circuit the door is operated.

The second is that I want the GDO to be without power when the “No one home”-flow is active.

The first problem have been solved in this thread by using something like the Fibaro Smart Implant.

The second “problem” can be solved easily with a smart plug for the GDO’s power cord.

As for flows I’m thinking that when the “No one home”-flow is active and I need to let someone in (like a plumber or electrician or whatever) I have another flow that overrides that flow telling the smart plug to give the GDO power and then sends a signal to the Implant-device to close the circuit opening the GDO. When the person is finished with whatever he/her had to do in our home I can remotely make sure the garage door is closed and the GDO is without power again.

I hope that made sense. :blush:

Right. Here are some threads where is explained how to install and configure the FSI:

:+1:t3:

:+1:t3:

Right. I guess this is the easiest way and no electrician is needed.
But please be aware that the FSI will also be disconnected from the power supply and will no longer work as a Z-Wave repeater.
When the power is turned on again, via the Smart Plug, it should happen that it takes some time until the FSI is controllable again. If the Z-Wave mesh is generally bad, the FSI may not be able to reconnect at all.

The FSI does not give the status of the garage door (open/closed) by default. The FSI only acts as a pushbutton. If you want to know if the garage door is open or closed, then you have to connect 2 additional contact sensors (reed contacts) to the FSI. But this should also be described in the linked threads.

For the flows I can recommend the IcalCalender app.
Example: If the last person has left the house and there is no craftsman event in the calendar, then switch off the Smart Plug.
With this app, you can also switch on the Smart Plug 15 (or 30, or whatever) minutes before the craftsman event, for example. Etc, etc…

Good point! :+1: I’ll have to take that under consideration.

For this I already have a magnet sensor that show the status of the garage door. It works really good and have saved me a few times when I have forgotten to close the GD. I have a flow that checks the status of the GD at 23:00 each day, and if it’s open I get a notification.

Nah…if there is someone that needs access to the house when we are away they will have to contact us when they are outside so we can open up the GD manually.

Thank you for the tip though…I didn’t know about the iCal-app…I can already think of at least one thing I will use that for! :+1:

And thank you (and the others in this thread) for all your help and suggestions! :blush: