Arduino garage door opener using mobile app, Bluetooth and Relays

Always keeping the garage door opener remote with your self and recharging/changing its batteries are necessary task if you love autonomous car garage car doors. Keeping the garage door opener remote with yourself and changing its batteries consumes a little time. This time becomes important if you have a busy schedule and even 1 minute relief is important for you. So why not to get rid of the extra garage door opener remote and export the door opener functionality to your cell phone.

In this post i am going to present a way through which one can get rid of the extra garage door opener remote, its charging and provides greater flexibility and control in terms of hardware settings. New proposed method not only provides flexibility its a modular system to which one can integrate more peripherals like lights etc.

Arduino garage door opener over Bluetooth using android app

Well the proposed new method is controlling the garage door opener with your cell phone. Every individual carries cell phone with him. So by controlling garage door with cell phone you don’t need to keep an extra load of garage door remote with your self.

For controlling the garage door with cell phone app over Bluetooth you need to develop custom hardware for this logic. Their is only one time investment on developing the new hardware. The hardware for the this custom logic is not difficult to build. Every hardware part is available on online electronics websites. You just need to connect the parts together and off-course i will teach you how to interconnect the individual hardware components.

Arduino garage opener hardware components

Arduino
Our main controller which interprets every logic of our circuit . You can purchase arduino from any online electronics store depending on your location and feasibility.

Bluetooth Module – HC-05
Now since we want our garage to open from an android app. We need interconnection between garage door opener circuit and our cell phone. Bluetooth is best suited for our need. So we need a Bluetooth module at our door control circuitry to talk to our cell phone and accept information from our cell phone. I decided to use popular and cheap Bluetooth HC-05 module. You can also easily get one of this module from any online electronics store.

2-channel relay module
A two channel relay module is mounted with two relays on it with all the necessary passive components to derive relays. This module can easily be found in inventory of online electronics store.

Voltage Shifter(Important)
Arduino works on 5 volts and Hc-05 Bluetooth module works on 3.3 volts. For successful communication between the two modules they must be working on same logic level. So we now need an extra intermediate module between the two which will convert 5 volt logic signal to 3.3 volt and 3.3 volt to 5 volt in either direction. I decided to use the SparkFun www.sparkfun.com/products/12009 logic shifer in between arduino and HC-05 Bluetooth module.

Bluetooth garage door opener with Arduino – Circuit

The communication between arduino and hc-05 Bluetooth module is serial. Baud rate of communication is 9600 bits per seconds. Arduino serial Tx(transmit) line is connected to high side of level converter. Arduino serial communication Rx(receive) line is connected to high side of level converter. The corresponding high side interconnection of low side is connected to hc-05 Bluetooth module.

Two digital pins of arduino are initialized as output to control the garage door and light. Output pins are connected to relays. Garage shutter door and light are activated by user.

At the output of relay you can connect your light and door motor main power line. Connections are not difficult. Just follow the below simple rule.

Arduino Relay board output light and motor connections for garage door control

Circuit diagram of the project is given below. Relay power connections are not shown in the picture. If you purchased a 12 volt relay board than apply +12 volt at vcc and ground the gnd pin. If you are using 5 volt relay module then power it according to it.

Arduino car Garage opening system with android app

Arduino garage Shutter door control over Bluetooth – Working

User switches on his mobile Bluetooth. Pairs his cell phone to the garage control circuitry Bluetooth module. Once the pairing is done its time to send the opening command to door. User types the opening command (I called it Password ) in the app and sends it. If the command is correct the door opens if its not correct then noting happens systems remains idle.

In the code i first defined the garage door and light pins. Then in the setup function i declared the pins as output. In the setup function i also initialized the serial channel of arduino and set the baud rate to 9600 bps.

In the loop function i am checking if the any command is arrived by user. If arrived i save it and then check it against the fixed password. I password matches i open the door and switch on the light.

The statement Password.equals(“1234”) matches the received string against the fixed string which is “1234”. Actually “1234” is our fixed password one can change it according to his desire. If the received string matches the fixed password garage door is opened and light is switched on.

Garage door and light remains open for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes they switches off. One can change the time in above code.

Arduino garage control – Android app

I installed this app Bluetooth Terminal on my cell phone. Its a small app in size and provides most common Bluetooth features. This app works fine on all android mobiles. You first need to switch on your cell phone Bluetooth. Then find the available Bluetooth devices near by. Your garage Bluetooth Hc-05 must also be listed in the available devices. The name under which the Bluetooth will be listed is HC-05 with some extra string possible. The address of Bluetooth device will also be listed beneath it.

Hc05 Bluetooth module in android app

Once you are connected with garage control Bluetooth device. Now can send the password to switch light on and roll the door.

Future Work
One can enhance the project scope by interfacing a GSM module with it. Opening the garage door with a text message. You can also talk with the module. For example if the user inputs a wrong password you can send back a warning message of wrong password input. More lights and other extra peripherals can be controlled by increasing the digital output pins and relays.

Project files