Reed Switch Install

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Hi all, new to the forum. My question concerns the need for reed switches (mine have a bare plate on one end and a magnet on the other). I can explain for context. These switches interface with the ratgdo32 disco garage opener, which many people are switching to now for those who want smart garage doors integrated into their whole-home setup. Chamberlin has walled off their MyQ app from any HA integration, forcing people to live inside their walled garden to use their hideous app or move to a device that plays nice with integration. The ratgdo is a worthy replacement. I need reed switches for my setup. Reed switches are a partnership between a magnet and a stationary plate. In my case, I got commercial ones because of the harsh climate where I live. So standard garage door, curved track on both sides. The door is segmented versus one piece. When the door rests in the open position, one part of the switch (a steel alloy mounting plate) sits parallel (not less than 2.5 inches of space) to a magnet that is attached to the garage door. It is my understanding that the mounting bracket and the magnet are (either horizontally or vertically) together to magnetize. That tells the smart opener that the door is open—a similar idea when the door is closed. I had no problem finding an installation area for the reed switch in the closed position. As you can visualize, the door rises with a J bracket in the middle, a plastic piece inside the steel-covered track, and comes to rest. The problem is my motor is well over a foot behind the resting point of the door. I cannot find an area where I can mount these so they magnetize. It can’t be at any angle (45 degrees, for example). Center needs to rest across from center.I am stumped, as structural design is not my strong suit. My garage track is held on either side by a two-by-four that extends from my ceiling. I have mounting hardware for any surface, but still can’t picture a solution in

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my head. Help???

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Put the reed switch next to your roller and epoxy glue or bolt a magnet on the moving part. It needs to be quite a strong mounting to resist the bangs and rattles of the moving roller so it doesn’t fall off.

The reed switches are not too fussy - as long as there is enough magnetism about, they will close. Heavy duty ones like you describe are behind a small bracket of aluminium alloy or moulded plastic, a non magnetic material that allows the magnetism to pass through. Ideally the magnet and the reed switch should be close together, but you can cheat by getting a stronger magnet which will pull in the switch from a longer distance.

Get some masking tape that peels off without leaving a mess. Put some on the top of the roller door on the inside of your garage, right next to the slider part. Do the same at the bottom. Put some on the frame next to the sliding part, near the other two bits.

Stand back, open and close the roller door fully. Watch carefully where the tape starts and stops. Do the moving pieces of your door align with the stationary tape? Most likely not at the opposite ends of travel. Where those bits start and stop is where you will have your reed switch mounted on a little bracket, but close enough to the matching magnet on the moving door part so it triggers when they are close by. If you only want one magnet, mount the reed switches where the door stops in the open and the also the closed position, next to the magnet.

The top of your door is actually flush with the ceiling if I understand your pictures. You could put a magnet in the top centre of your roller door, and have the reed switch for the open position right next to the motor for a neat finish, or have it zip tied to the roller guides at the side. The reed switch for the fully closed position can be floor mounted using the supplied parts, or off to the side - and does not have to be at floor level, just that when the door is fully closed, the two are close enough so the magnet activates it.

Your main consideration is the fully open and fully closed positions. For fully closed, you want the door to come all the way to the floor, not a bit higher or a bit lower, so you have maximum protection from the elements. For those, use the supplied switch and magnet as they are a matched pair for distance and sensitivity. For the full opening, where an inch or two difference isn’t so important, a bigger gap with a stronger magnet is fine. If you shuffle the reed switch back and forth, taping it temporarily in place as you experiment, you will find where it starts to trigger. That is where to screw down the bracket and make it permanent.

Often there is a light beam across the opening to detect obstructions. You don’t want the door putting a dent in your limousine roof, or decapitating the neighbours dog. Just follow the instructions on where to mount the reflector and the sender, on opposite sides of the door. Having the sender on the side where your other wiring goes makes sense from a neat wiring aspect.

The voltage needed for the reed switch is tiny. Any reed switch will do the job from a magnetic and electrical aspect. Mounting it solidly so it doesn’t move or get caught on anything should be your only concern.

The rest is the usual wiring and automation.

Yell if you get stuck. Post your finished project.

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Surely that’s all you need to confirm whether your door is closed, no?

Anything other than that switch marked as closed means that your garage door isn’t fully closed and a potential security issue.
Besides, it’s a garage - you don’t need a sensor to tell you that the door is fully open. You’ll be able to see that yourself when you’re in the car.

Note that if you do intend to use 2 separate sensors at both the open & closed position, you will likely need to set up a template cover to determine if the door is open, closed, opening or closing.

EDIT:

If you still wanna use a separate sensor to determine the fully open position, this is the way I would place it.
Get a strong rectangular neodymium magnet off your favourite shopping site and place it in the blue position. Attach your reed switch in the red position:

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I placed a reed switch on one side of the garage door by the track.
The magnet is attached to the door. I found this easier than placing it by the top track.

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In your photos I can see a MyQ Wifi adaptor. Are you sure you need reed switches for the ratgdo to determine open and closed? I have two versions of the Chamberlin openers and both ratgdo devices are able to read the position of the door from just connecting to the opener.

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Yes, that is my MyQ device in the picture. Unfortunately, my door is not a Chamberlain but an Overhead Door. I guess OD is yet another company that has firewalled their devices. So, the idea is going around that and treating the doors as dry contact so wasn’t stuck. Hence the need for Reed Switches. I tried getting this to work with Security 2
0. No luck. The door is blocking the code according to the logs.
0

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Can you provide me more details? I’m a visual person. I tried mounting the plate on the underside of the rail with the magnet right under it which would be centered on the door but outside in a closed position. It did not dawn on me that the track was now blocked. My side railing tracks on either side are bolted into a 2by4 coming out of the ceiling on either side. I would not have an issue running my connection wiring across the ceiling to the motor where the ratgdo32 is. I just couldn’t visualize an area for the plate and magnet. I can’t recall if I put this in my original post, but but the door stop point when opening is a foot in front of some beautiful mounting plate options. Just can’t get the magnet to meet it.

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I see.

And to your original question, I added a Ring contact sensor (I had a few extra) to the side rails of my garage doors. Kind of the classic break in is to insert something to pull on the safety release rope, which would bypass my ratgdo, of course. I added it to the very top of the garage door on the side.

Not a great photo, sorry.

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It is completely irrelevant where exactly the reed switches are located. When the gate is closed, the magnet must trigger one reed switch, and when the gate is open, the other.

I attached one magnet to the gate hinge as low as possible (but not on the floor) and placed one reed switch at the same height as the magnet when the gate is closed, and a second reed switch at the end position of the same magnet when the gate is open.

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I had room under the track to screw the read switch to the 2x4. The magnet is adhered to the side of the door. You can place the read switch and magnet at any convenient location along the door as long as they are lined up when the door is closed.

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I see you also went with the poisonous spider add on option. Excellent choice :grin:

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Layered security is essential these days. If the thieves bypass lock, the ratgdo and the secondary sensors and open the door the spider falls down the back of their neck.

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