Re: Garage Door Opener!

[James Derrick <james@xxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 4 Apr 2000 16:39:58 +0100, you wrote:

>Hi All
>
>Just noticed in this months "Makro Mail" they have a remote
garage door
>opening system for 59.99 + VAT (SSP 149.00).  Comes with two remotes
(RF I
>presume).
>
>Can't be bad value!?
Grr- I spotted that too, which is annoying as I shelled out =A3170 + =A350
for a similar opener from Screwfix before Christmas.

One tip- you need to check if the opener can actually operate your
sort of door. All openers are is a large mains motor driving a loop of
bike chain to form a linear drive. This hooks to the top of your door
and pulls it along the garage celing. This bit cost me =A3250, which
seemed a bargain at the time compared to other vendors.

If you have a canopy door (as most doors in the apparently UK are) you
need an extra linkage that fits to the up and over door and linear
track to cope with the motion of the top of the door. This bit cost me
=A350 and is a complex 5 bar linkages.

I'm afraid that ASCII art just isn't up to the job to describe what a
canopy door is so you'll need to look in a Screwfix catalog or check
with Makro!=20

Screwfix have a picture on their site:
http://www.screwfix.com/group.phtml?406

Fitting the opener was a bit tricky, as it needs lots of support at
the correct height and all the bits exactly at 90degrees to run true.
On the plus side, Chamberlain has an excellent support 0800 number
which was open when I needed some advice and faxed me an installation
information sheet that helped a lot.

After several months of use, I can honestly say that it is the best
bit of automation fitted so far to my new house. The look on the
neighbors kids when the door opens on its own and I drive straight
into the garage is simply priceless!

Automating the door is on the list of projects, however you need to be
a bit cautious in case a stray X-10 signal makes the door decide to
close with your car half way. There is an automatic cut out for
safety, but that won't save the paint work. I'd prefer to have broken
beam detectors, reed limit switches and a PIR garage occupancy sensor
wired in to some form of microprocessor (methinks another use for a
PIC).

James
---
James Derrick    james@xxxxxxx, Cramlington, Near Newcastle, Eng=
land
Forwarding Service: jderrick@xxxxxxx
Beyond the Horizon of the place we lived when we were youn=
g,
In a World of Magnets and Miracles. Pink Floyd.

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