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Step 4Install the red LED indicator
After thinking about this for a bit, I figured that the absolute best location for the "door open" indicator was in the master bedroom.
It could have gone in the kitchen, or mud room (whose door connects to the garage) but my logic was "if I could remember to look at an indicator in one of those rooms, I could just as easily remember to open the mud room door and check the garage door."
To be absolutely foolproof, I thought it had to be in the master bedroom. Looking around the room, I thought of getting at the ceiling light fixture via the attic, and perhaps placing the LED inside the light's frosted globe.
In the end, I decided to drill a small hole in the decorative trim on the light, oriented so it faces the head of our bed. That way, if the LED was illuminated, you couldn't help but notice it when you went to bed.
I was able to route the wire from the garage all the way through the attic to the location of the master's ceiling light. (NOTE: this was the most time consuming step in this project.) Working from the bedroom, I drilled a small hole next to the light's electrical box, within the diameter of the light itself. I then fished the wire through from the attic, and made the connections to the LED. (As with the resistor, the wires were soldered to the LED's leads, and everything secured with heat shrink tubing. You could use electrical tape for this; just make certain everything is sealed really well.)
And that's it. As mentioned earlier, I put the system on a lamp timer so it's operational only in the evening.
It works perfectly, and we're now assured that if we forget to close the garage door before retiring, the LED will bring us back to our senses.
Total cost of this project was around $40, and that included 120 feet of bell wire. YMMV; bell wire costs about $ .20 per foot.
If you've read this far and enjoyed this project, please consider visiting my blog - Practical Hacks - at www.practicalhacks.com
It could have gone in the kitchen, or mud room (whose door connects to the garage) but my logic was "if I could remember to look at an indicator in one of those rooms, I could just as easily remember to open the mud room door and check the garage door."
To be absolutely foolproof, I thought it had to be in the master bedroom. Looking around the room, I thought of getting at the ceiling light fixture via the attic, and perhaps placing the LED inside the light's frosted globe.
In the end, I decided to drill a small hole in the decorative trim on the light, oriented so it faces the head of our bed. That way, if the LED was illuminated, you couldn't help but notice it when you went to bed.
I was able to route the wire from the garage all the way through the attic to the location of the master's ceiling light. (NOTE: this was the most time consuming step in this project.) Working from the bedroom, I drilled a small hole next to the light's electrical box, within the diameter of the light itself. I then fished the wire through from the attic, and made the connections to the LED. (As with the resistor, the wires were soldered to the LED's leads, and everything secured with heat shrink tubing. You could use electrical tape for this; just make certain everything is sealed really well.)
And that's it. As mentioned earlier, I put the system on a lamp timer so it's operational only in the evening.
It works perfectly, and we're now assured that if we forget to close the garage door before retiring, the LED will bring us back to our senses.
Total cost of this project was around $40, and that included 120 feet of bell wire. YMMV; bell wire costs about $ .20 per foot.
If you've read this far and enjoyed this project, please consider visiting my blog - Practical Hacks - at www.practicalhacks.com
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