There are several pieces to this portion of the project.

1. Get the project running on my breadboard to make sure all of the pieces worked.
2. Design and create a box to hold the protoboard so I can mount it in the garage.
3. Figure out a 5V power supply.
4. Position all of the components on the board.
5. Solder it all up.
6. Debug and replace a blown diode (loads of fun)
7. Test and document.

Here’s the Solidworks model I created. I plan to screw it to the ceiling near to power for the garage door and then run the wires to the sensors and the opener.

Solidworks model of module assembly

I found a 5Volt 1Amp USB charger around the house and opened it up to see the inside.  I removed the USB connector and the hooked up some 18Ga wire to the output.  While I was at it I replaced the input wires as well as they were really small and seemed to be acting up a bit. The result is a nice compact little power supply.  I think I may add some silicone to the opening to seal it up a bit.

Hack a USB charger for IoT

I added a 2 conductor plug so it’s easy to disconnect.

Here’s the layout of the protoboard.  I have not decided if I’m going to bother with an external connector for the sensors and opener wires or not.  I can pull the NODEMCU board out and replace with another one to update software or at some point I may add over the air software update capability.

Board mounted in the case.

Bottom of the board. Not real pretty, but functional.

Tried to use Red for power, Black for ground, Yellow for signals.

I’ve actually been testing this for a while.  I use the Arduino IDE 1.6.5 with the NODEMCU board and then just connect with USB. Works well and I can use the serial port for debugging and learning.
The switch test fixture has made it really easy to test this out. As with the other stuff, I just modeled in Solidworks and then printed the pieces.
In the picture it is powered by a hacked USB powercube. This shouldn’t need much power to operate.
I’m using a 2N2222 to switch a 5V relay. The NODEMCU handles the conversion to the 3.3V the ESP8266 needs and I’m using that logic level to control 5V to the relay through the transistor.
I know it’s pretty simple, but still a lot of parts to get working.

The next step is to connect this up on a proto-board so I can mount it in the garage. I’ve created a box with holes for leads and LEDs to be visible from the outside. I’m starting the positioning of the key components.

The 6 wire header at the bottom is for the 2 sensors and the relay connection to the opener. The power will connect to the connector just above the relay.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to characterize and check for the states and transitions that I want to monitor and control.  It’s making my head hurt since I’ve not done this type of stuff in a while.

Here’s what the state of the door looks like over time.

The information I am gathering is the status of the Open and Closed sensor and time.

Building on this, here’s the chart

So now, I need the code to interpret the sensors so I can respond and control the door.

OK and Notify is when I want to update the spreadsheet that the door has opened or closed. Time Check is when the door will be auto-closed after a period of time (15 minutes?, maybe 5 minutes in winter).