Simpler Tip to Mount a Contact Sensor on Your Garage Door … Anyone Tried This?

Looking for an easy way to install a contact sensor on your garage door? I’ve found a method that might help. Details are below in the comments.

What exactly am I looking at here?

Samuel said:
What exactly am I looking at here?

That’s a contact sensor attached to the sliding part. The video is really badly edited, could’ve just used a photo instead.

Oh nice, I just got one of these and was wondering where to put it. I might give this a shot.

Where’s the sensor in this?

Heath said:
Where’s the sensor in this?

You can see it in the first second of the video, look for the wired black cable.

Took me a while to figure out what was where. The gif would be better if it were reversed.

Here’s what I did: Used a cheap door hinge, attached the magnet part of the sensor to it, and aligned everything so that the sensor breaks contact when the door opens due to the hinge dropping from gravity.

I personally find a tilt sensor easier for the same info. No ladder needed.

Alivia said:
I personally find a tilt sensor easier for the same info. No ladder needed.

I’ve not had good experiences with tilt sensors; they tend to be unreliable from what I’ve read too.

Alivia said:
I personally find a tilt sensor easier for the same info. No ladder needed.

Usually, the garage door opener comes with its own wired sensor, which is what you see in the video.

Alivia said:
I personally find a tilt sensor easier for the same info. No ladder needed.

I made my own tilt sensor using a contact sensor. The magnet is hung on a strap, and the sensor is attached directly below on the door. When the door moves from the vertical position, the magnet stays vertical due to gravity, and the contact opens.

He attached the magnetic part of the sensor to the arm that pulls the garage door. I’m not sure what the aim of this post is. How is this ‘easier’ than other methods? Installing a reed sensor on a garage door can be done in many simple ways. This feels like someone’s first project with an ESP board, the kind newcomers love to share. Well, nice effort on the sensor setup, I suppose.