The GarageUino is my first Arduino project that has resulted in a product that I actually use. It’s a garage port controller that features a 20 by 4 character LCD display, four LEDs, a button, two connectors for position sensors and an USB connector. Oh! And of course an Ethernet port for Internet access. I’ll get back to that later.
Read on to learn how I created the GarageUino, and how you can make one yourself.
Why?
I get a lot of whys. Why do you have to control your garage door from your phone? Why do you need an 80 character LCD? What’s wrong with the wireless remote that came with the original opener? Why?
And the answers are; I don’t. I don’t. Nothing. Because I can.
Fabrication
I started with the external connectors for the position sensors, the Ethernet connector and the USB port. I used a combination of a drill and a small saw blade for all the cutting, and a glue-gun to make things stick together. Next I made all the cut-outs in the front cover, for the LCD, LEDs and the button.
I soldered the resistors directly to the LED pins to save space and to ease the wiring. I also soldered together the grounds so I only have to ground one wire as opposed to four. A little heat shrink tube later and it all looks pretty good. You can barely see the resistors.
