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Member's Forum How to control a remote using a smart phone
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  • Replies 23 replies
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  • remote monitoring and control
  • Smart Phone
Related

How to control a remote using a smart phone

colporteur
colporteur over 2 years ago

image

I am looking for suggestions from E14 community members on how to control a remote using a smart phone.

I'm confident someone here has attempted this and actually got it working. I want to use that knowledge. I've combed the internet and found a number of solutions. I want to avoid the rabbit warrens of getting them to work. I'm looking to leverage the community knowledge because you have done it.

The project premise is to connect a smart phone to a controller that actions a remote. My starting point is: how to turn the remote on and off using the smart phone. I use smart phone because I want to keep it broad. It might be an Android or an iphone. I have the latter but my wife has the other. The controller technology is open. I am hoping to use an Arduino of some sort but a single board computer is not out of the solution. The remote in this example is an on/off but maybe it can provide feedback.

This project is for personal use and not to develop a commercial product. There is a limited budget. I'm looking for a cost effective solution not necessarily the cheapest solution. My knowledge level in phone communication is limited. In my project more than one person will be connecting. I've never create a phone app and really don't want to go there. What is simple way of accomplishing that with a phone. I'm not a programmer by training. I've have some skills but would never label myself a programmer.

I'm looking to build a simple solution on the workbench and maybe learn some stuff along the way. I'm looking for suggestions that you know works. Either you have done it yourself or have seen it done and know it works. 

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  • shabaz
    shabaz over 2 years ago

    Hi Sean,

    A few more questions:

    (1) Is your garage within coverage of your home WiFi?

    (2) Is the smartphone expected to be within coverage of your home WiFi when controlling the garage door?

    (3) Is the smartphone expected to be a short distance (say 10 meters or less) when controlling the garage door? If longer than 10 meters, what is the maximum expected distance?

    (4) Will the smartphone user be inside their vehicle when controlling the garage door, or does the user expect to be able to control from the smarrphone regardless of whether they are in their vehicle or not?

    The reason for questions 1-3 is that if a long operational distance is required, then that may need either a cloud service, or (worse) messing about with the home router to open up ports (never recommended).

    The reason for question 4 is to see if additional hardware (e.g. transmitter) within the car could be an option (controlled by smartphone).

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  • colporteur
    colporteur over 2 years ago in reply to shabaz

    1) Yes.

    2) Yes

    3) Yes

    4) Yes

    I have a garage door that provides access to a number of farm vehicles. Vehicles are in and out of the garage daily, Many times with different drivers. The garage/office has wifi. I was thinking maybe an app on drivers phones would give them access to the garage door opener.

    If the solution worked in one garage their are others that would benefit.

    I have little experience outside a computer networks. I was thinking bluetooth to an Arduino that supports it would give me the conductivity from the driver. Just not sure of the phone end. I started to look at iRobbie and thought I don't want to spend a whole lot of time developing. Thumb the phone app and trigger the door through a bluetooth connection seemed a simple idea. How difficult is the phone part?

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  • SensoredHacker0
    SensoredHacker0 over 2 years ago in reply to colporteur

    As a side thought, would a prox sensor make the whole system simpler?
    as in, if a registered device is nearby the door, open the door.

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  • SensoredHacker0
    SensoredHacker0 over 2 years ago in reply to colporteur

    As a side thought, would a prox sensor make the whole system simpler?
    as in, if a registered device is nearby the door, open the door.

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  • anniel747
    anniel747 over 2 years ago in reply to SensoredHacker0

    Using the MAC address of authorized devices. A NFC dongle or a QR code directly on the vehicles would also work. 

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