Automation and remote control

A combination of affordable prices along with a desire for increased security have seen motorised and automated garage doors with hand held or wall mounted remote control units become the norm.

Virtually every kind of garage door can be modified with a simple conversion kit to enable powered opening and closing of the garage door. Lighting and security features can also be linked in with the doors remote operation.

The garage door types most suitable for remote automation are those based on the following operation mechanisms, roller (drum), sectional, up-and-over (retractable) and sliding garage doors. A pair of side hinged garage doors can be operated remotely, but they use a very different system to the roller, sliding and sectional garaged doors. Even a canopy style up-and-over garage door can be modified for motorised operation - although this is a more complex conversion.

Motorization – important features

Most garage doors are available with a manufacturer's or supplier's option for automation and remote control. When this is the case, the manufacturers recommended product will usually be the most suitable. However, if you wish to do some research of your own, here are some tips.

All modern garage door power units use electric motors and the majority will work from a DC current that needs to be hard wired from a mains power supply. Any other option should be discounted.

When it comes to energy costs, it is important to check the motors power usage during "standby mode" as this will be the case for well over 99.9 percent of the motors life. Some motors may have low running costs when in full operation, but higher residual standby consumptions that will, over time, incur a higher energy charge.

Available drive systems for use with garage doors (i.e. the means of transferring the motor's energy into a pushing or pulling force) are chain, belt and screw (shaft) drive. Chain drive is widely regarded as the most efficient, the most reliable and robust, and the quietest of the alternatives. Most garage door motors will use a chain drive.

Other important automation features to look out for are "soft start and soft stop" operation. This feature ensures that the movement of the door in opening and closing starts and finishes in a slow and controlled way. The main door transition (middle) phase will however take place more rapidly. This ensures a smooth, quiet and low-stress operation of the garage door which extends the life of both the motor and the door gear.

Safety issues are very important with motorized garage doors. For this reason it is important to buy an automation system that uses some kind of learning or detection system to interrupt the doors transit if an obstacle is encountered. Options available include "self learning" protection where the system learns to recognise its normal transition between an open and closed state and cuts-off power if there is an obstruction to its movement. Sensory detectors that use light or lasers are the other main alternative. Most automation kits will include the "self learning" feature.

A manual override facility is an important feature in the event of a power failure. However, it is important that this feature is available in a secure way that does not allow unauthorised override for the purpose of a "break-in".

Remote control (portable)

The remote control of a garage door can be achieved with either a portable handheld unit, or a small wall mounted unit.

Nearly all automated garage door kits include two coded radio control remotes with rolling code to prevent unauthorised access to the systems security codes. These remotes are very small and many are designed to be used a key fobs. This way they are always with the car keys.

Most remotes have a simple open and close twin button arrangement although some models may include additional controls for garage lighting. Garage remote control units run off regular or miniature "button (watch style) batteries.

Remote control (wall mounted)

Wall mounted remote control units are rarely included in motorized garage door conversion kits. The main reason for this is the inclusion of the more convenient handheld remotes. However, a fixed remote unit can be very useful inside a garage, particularly when pedestrian access out of an integral garage is required and the mobile remote is left in the main house.

Wall mounted remote control units can only be located inside the garage (for security reasons) and they are hard-wired to the main electricity supply circuit. A numeric keypad can be used externally allowing only authorised access.

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