Roll-up Garage door sensor

Hello all, what is a recommended sensor for the Garage door? Motion? modified window sensor? Thanks!

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Official Solution

davey_d

Community Admin

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2.9K Messages

3 m ago

Hi all,

As of right now, the best solution for garage doors would still be the regular Entry Sensor. You can install the main sensor piece on the frame, and the magnet on the moving parts of the door. So long as the two pieces can be at least 2" from each other, the sensor will be marked as "open".

There are a couple of things to think about when installing on a garage door:

Since the Entry Sensor works by detecting a magnet, you don't want to install it directly on top of metal - particularly iron or steel. We recommend putting padding (wood, plastic, even just another layer of adhesive) under both pieces.
The Entry Sensor performs best between 32ºF and 120ºF. That doesn't mean that it will stop working immediately beyond that range - but you might see some decreased performance, especially of battery life.
As soon as the door starts rolling open, the countdown on your security system will start. You may just want to disarm before you open the garage door to avoid accidental alarms!

EDIT: @Freeman8704 brings up a great point. If you only want to know if the garage door is open or closed, you can set that Entry Sensor to Secret Alert. You'll get notifications when that sensor is ever opened, but it can never trigger an actual alarm.

(edited)

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Freeman8704

2 Messages

@davey_d Great to see an official response! You may also want to add into the official solution that you CAN disable the alarm countdown on the garage door with entry sensors installed, if you only want to monitor whether they are open or closed. You can find this feature for any sensor in the keypad settings. And that way you don't have to run inside and remember to disarm before the siren goes off.

(edited)

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3 m ago

whoaru99

1.3K Messages

2 y ago

I'd think an entry sensor if all you're looking for is an alert or alarm if the door is rolled up. How/where that'd mount up I'm not sure off hand. Been a long time since I looked at a roll up door.

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captain11

Captain

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4.6K Messages

2 y ago

@johncclarkiii what you are looking for has already been invented, made and used by an existing customer...and it looks great.

I will try and find it using a google search.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here are the links; one is the old video from 2017 but found a new one and, while using non Simplisafe product, should work fine. Of course, I now have to try it. Brilliant!
Will report back on results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuUSd7_BPh8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1cWL8OxzFY

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whispercrafts

1 Message

I tried installing an entry sensor like in the video with a hinge... I'm wondering if the hinge I used might be too big... Whenever it opens, it goes up like it's supposed to, but the hinge doesn't open back up like the magnet is being attracted to the hinge... Any ideas?

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2 y ago

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Vinff7

1 Message

@captain11 This seems doable, but how do you keep the alarm from going off while you’re getting out of the car and going into the house?

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3 m ago

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captain11

Captain

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4.6K Messages

@Vinff7 Great question but not a great answer. As of now, SS does not have a garage door sensor, so there is no software accommodation to support this process in away mode, at least easily. When my system is in home mode, its easy. Both entry sensors on the garage doors are set to instant trigger, alarm. This works as our entry/exit settings for home mode are set to 0/0. No issue.

For away mode, both garage doors are set to secret alert only, so its up to me to recognize the push alerts. Sorry for the bad news. BTW, marked improvement on Etsy where someone came up with 3D printing a plastic hinge setup for the entry sensors. They were perfectly, better than the hinges.

In the meantime, I do hope SS dev is working on garage door sensors that will be fully integrated into the system.

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3 m ago

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captain11

Captain

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4.6K Messages

2 y ago

I am happy to report that the YouTube video was spot on. One of my two garage doors is now protected with a Simplisafe entry sensor and a door hinge!. Simple but works. Simplisafe, it looks like it would take little effort to formerly add this to your sensor catalog!

@johncclarkiii I now have a SS3 motion sensor and an entry sensor on one door, the 2nd this weekend. Layers of protection.

Now for the disclaimer:

Living in Chicagoland, having SS3 sensors in my unheated garage voids my warranty as temps have gone down to single digits. (Two years ago the wind chill hit -55! Brrrr. Despite this, my motion sensor works perfectly after going through two winters so far.

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whoaru99

1.3K Messages

It doesn't flat out void your warranty. It just means if doesn't work at temps outside the spec. range SS isn't obliged to help you make it work in that non-standard operating condition. Not working and broken aren't inherently the same in a warranty context.

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2 y ago

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coltmaster1

Advocate

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2.8K Messages

2 y ago

^ I'll add to that - I too live in a brutal winter state, and my garage exit door sensor has worked fine all these years - I did have to rig it slightly adding a tiny piece of cardboard between the magnet and door to build it up so it was flush with the sensor, but otherwise, it's worked perfectly fine.

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captain11

Captain

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4.6K Messages

2 y ago

@whoaru99 while in reality its a moot point, at least to me as my motion and entry sensors have worked fine outside for years, SS does have, in writing, a temperature range that their products are designed to operate it. Manufacturer specifications are common in warranties, and temperature operating range is one of them. Would really only be a factor if you wanted SS to replace it under the 3 year period. Again, don't care as they work when its 8 degrees out.

Do wonder what the specs will be for the outdoor cameras?

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whoaru99

1.3K Messages

That's why I said what I said about warranty. I worked for several years as Warranty Administrator for a product line within a global conglomerate. Pretty familiar with what companies can and can't do with terms of warranty. Still work same place, just different business function these days. Warranty gets old, never cover enough for the dealer/customer, always covering too much for the company. ;)

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2 y ago

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captain11

Captain

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4.6K Messages

2 y ago

@whoaru99 You made me laugh and brought back "fond memories" of my work life a whole 2 1/2 years ago. I worked in IT and Sales Admin, including call centers and negotiating contracts with pompous attorneys on the other end of the phone or table. Don't miss any of it a bit. Wish you well for your remaining work time and a long, prosperous and healthy retirement.

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lucid

1 Message

3 m ago

Assuming you have to disable the alarm to leave the garage door open. Can just the garage door be easily disabled and not effect the entire alarm system? How many steps does it take at the control panel to disable garage door sensor?

William

(edited)

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captain11

Captain

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4.6K Messages

@lucid The garage door sensors work great, unfortunately, Simplisafe does not have any software configurations that will make it work perfectly. In my situation, the two garage door entry sensors are set to instant trigger and alarm in home mode. When my wife and I go to bed (all bedrooms on 2nd floor) the entry/exit delays are 0/0 so in this scenario it works perfectly; we don't expect anyone to enter our home or garage. As you can easily imagine, the issue is away mode. If we are leaving for vacation, and gone for a week or greater, I do go in and manually set the garage door sensors from "secret alert" to alarm on the phone app. Yes, I will be the first to say not ideal but until SS officially comes out with a garage door sensor, this is the best I have figured out.

(edited)

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3 m ago

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General Questions

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Roll-up Garage door sensor

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