Possible to use ESP32-WROOM-32D DevKit as garage door opener?

ESPHome
1

Hello everyone,

I purchase some ESP32-WROOM-32D DevKit C and I was wondering if it is possible to use one of them to open my garage door or rather trigger the garage door motor? That is, without buying additional hardware.

The garage door motor is a Variolux VTA 702 K ( VTA 702 K Jörg Knakrügge Elektrotechnik ).

There is a switch connected right now that allows opening manually.

pasted-from-clipboard

Legend unfortunately only in German, but 14 is the connection for the switch

Legende
1 - Lampenfassung 24V 10W E14
2 - 24 V Leitung schwarz
3 - 24 V Leitung schwarz
5 - Motorleitung rot
6 - Motorleitung grün
7 - Feinsicherung T 4A
8 - LED rot
9 - Endschalter ZU
10 - Endschalter AUF
11 - Lichtschranke
12 - 24 V ~ Lichtschranke
13 - Lerntaster
14 - Tasteranschluss

Anybody have any experience with this or knows if the ESP32 can take care of this for me?

Thank you very much!
Alex

2

I don’t know this device, but usually the switch is momentary and shorts the terminals for a short time. This usually operates to open/stop/close in a cycle.

So yes an esp32 plus a relay can easily do this. You can also use a Reed switch to detect door position, or a tilt sensor.

I recommend you to look at esphome and in particular the cover components. Also take a look at opengarage.

3

Ah, so I need to add a relay? The ESP32 itself cannot perform the task?

Yes, the switch does nothing more than essentially short the two cables for a second.

4

You possibly could just use the esp, but I would isolate it by using a relay, or a transistor, or an opto isolator.

5

Okay, I will setup my first DevKit and then order a relay.
Is there a noobie guide to starting with the ESP32? It seems the module does not have a WebUI to connect the device to my wifi. I can connect to the ESP32 wifi but cannot access any WebUI or anything.

I’m guessing I need to build an environment on my notebook just to hook up the ESP to my wifi so ESPHome can find it?

6

Connect your esp32 via serial (usb) and flash it that way. Then future flashing can be done over the air (OTA).

7

By the way, according to google translate

1 - lamp holder 24V 10W E14
2 - 24 V cable black
3 - 24 V cable black
5 - red motor cable
6 - motor cable green
7 - Fine fuse T 4A
8 - red LED
9 - CLOSED limit switch
10 - limit switch OPEN
11 - photocell
12 - 24 V ~ photocell
13 - learn button
14 - push button connection

1 Like
8

hello @AleXSR7001

Use Esphome Add-on : https://esphome.io/guides/getting_started_hassio.html

its very simple and work great! i have more than 50 esp32 and WemosD1mini with Esphome, and work like a charm.

1-Install Add-on
2-go to the Add-on and check “Show in sidebar”
3-Go in side left bar of HA and click on EspHome
4-create a node and choose ESP32 wrover kit
5-Paste the sample config and change accordingly to your config :

sample config for your gate :

esphome:
  name: gate
  platform: ESP32
  board: esp-wrover-kit

wifi:
  ssid: "SetToYourWifiNetworkName"
  password: "Settoyourwificredentials"
  manual_ip:
    static_ip: 192.168.1.29
    gateway: 192.168.1.1
    subnet: 255.255.255.0
    dns1: 192.168.1.1

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

ota:
  password: "ChangeMe"

binary_sensor:
  - platform: status
    name: "Status Wifi Gate ESP32"
    id: etatWportail

sensor:
  - platform: wifi_signal
    name: "WiFi Signal Gate ESP32"
    update_interval: 60s
    id: signalWportail

switch:
  - platform: restart
    name: "Restart Gate ESP32"
  - platform: gpio
    name: "Relay"
    pin: <PIN_RELAY_IS_CONNECTED_TO>

Then validate to check if you make some syntax errors, then “install” and “manual download” only the first time, after you can made “OTA update”, no need to plug the ESP32 to your PC or RPI

you have to download ESPhome flasher : https://github.com/esphome/esphome-flasher/releases

you have several version, i use the windows version.

Check the USB port when you plug your ESP32 in the peripheral manager in windows,
then select the port in EspHome flasher and the file you just download.

Then after flashing your node will be ready and you will have a new node discovered in HA, just accept and you will have a switch sensor to open you gate remotely.

I add the status wifi, to check in HA if your node is online or not, and another “switch” to restart your node if something wrong happen.

Enjoy

9

Perfect, thank you very much for the step by step! :slight_smile:

Now if only I could connect via https.
Firefox gives me “SSL_ERROR_RX_RECORD_TOO_LONG”.
Chrome gives me “ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR”.

I’ followed some instructions that said I needed DuckDNS (even though I do not need, want or can even use a DNS service behing DS-Lite) and after installing I have lost access to my HA setup so had to manually remove the entries in the configuration.yaml -.-
Now I just need to find out how to enable https access.

10

you do not need https access. Just connect the esphome device to the computer running esphome. Or download the binary and use esphomeflasher.

12

Okay, so now all three of my ESP32 devkits are online and connected to HA.
I will open a dedicated thread to getting it setup properly first (currently MQTT is not showing in HA and I would like to be able to send commands via Bluetooth as well).

Once they are setup properly, I would come back here and try to figure the garage door opener out. I would like to try without adding a relay module first. If that fails, I would opt for an additional module.