Garage Door Opener

One of my weekend projects a few months ago was making it so I could open the garage door on my house with my iPhone. Here’s how I got it working.

First, a quick demo of the final product. Once I got everything working, using this thing is pretty simply. I launch X10 Commander on my iPhone:

…springs open! (or closes).

“Who cares?” you ask… well, having my iPhone to control my garage means:

I can be in a car that doesn’t have my garage code programmed into it and open/close my garage (e.g. a friend’s car)
I can go out for a walk or a run, close the garage door behind me and open it again when I get back home
Generally speaking, it’s one less box to worry about when I go out
I can open and close my garage door from my iPhone… just for the sheer pleasure of the act
And of course, I have a cool thing to show friends when they come over.

So how does this all work? Pay attention because it’s a somewhat long-winded chain of events that makes X10 Commander control my garage door (almost a Rube Goldberg machine!):