Tired of having to scramble out of the garage before the garage door closes on you? Run no more! Introducing SafeClose! Simply hold the button down for more than two seconds, and the garage door opener will go into a mode where it will start closing once the beam across the opening is cut. If whatever cuts the beam stays in the beam, then the closing is aborted. Coming to a new garage door opener near YOU!-- sjruckle, Jul 12 2004 how would this system account for more than one person exiting the garage?
i had thought of using something similar for an energy saving device in the home. pass thru a beam lights go on, a counter on the beam knows how many people went in and only shuts the lights after that many people leave the room. some kinks but (+).-- xclamp, Jul 12 2004 I don't think it would be able to tell without adding additional ssnsors. Everyone else would need to step over the beam. It sure is an improvement though!-- sjruckle, Jul 12 2004 Nice idea. +
The biggest problem I see is that the feature may go unused because most peope won't know it exists. It might be better to add a second small button to activate this feature. That way you don't have to wait 2 seconds to use it.
More than one person exiting? Well the simplest solution would be to have the first person exit the garage before the second person presses the button. The other option is to have the people walk out side by side. The system will have to accomodate multiple breaks anyway since a person walking out will generally break the beam with each leg. A good solution might be to have the garage wait for the beam to be broken, then wait until the beam has been clear for one continuous second before starting to lower the door. Then as long as the two people exit within a second of each other, the door will start to close one second after the last person exits.
Other features: make the light flash when this mode is activated. Deactivate the feature if the beam isn't broken within 20 seconds.
And most importantly, make sure that the beam is high enough so that if you back the car out slowly it doesn't start lowering the door when the beam is between the front and back set of wheels.
Verdict: a great feature that I'd love to have, but it will never be widely adopted because of safety and/or usability issues.-- scad mientist, Jul 12 2004 Similar products like these exist, where the garage door will immediately stop closing if something crosses the infared beam, which happens to be located about three inches above the ground. It would be nice, however, to have an apparatus that wouldn't open the door if the beam was disrupted for only a split second. (I.E. it would allow you to walk across, but if you tripped and fell, you wouldn't be crushed.)-- WordUp, Jul 12 2004 Yeah, a second button is probably a good idea. That way when you move into a new house, you will try and figure out what the second button does.
Have it start closing about three seconds after the beam is no longer cut. You don't have to worry about getting crushed, all garage door openers automatically reverse if the motor has to work too hard to close. The feature would be deactivated after a while if nothing crosses the beam.
I only wonder if my dog would follow me if he didn't see the garage door closing because SafeClose hasn't started closing yet..-- sjruckle, Jul 13 2004 Map out the beams. Push the regular button, and dive through a narrow gap, shoulder rolling to your feet on the other side.
Oh, I see. Your door has no beams at all?? If you let it , it would just crush you? I assumed this was to prevent the paradox of the garage door not closing because you walked through the beam after pushing the button located inside the garage. Which has been a problem for me, and which paradox this idea would solve.
+ for what I thought you were trying to do, combined with - for your deathtrap of a garage, =... oh, heck. = bun.-- GutPunchLullabies, Jul 14 2004 No, the thing has beams. But in the unlikely case that the beam fails and some stupid person too slow to get out of the way of a slowly closing garage door gets crushed, all doors are designed to reverse. It is a way to solve that paradox.-- sjruckle, Jul 14 2004 Automatic reversal systems to keep the door from crushing children or pets is required by Federal law in the US. Most manufacturers implement this with a photosensor, because it also keeps the door from touching/scratching the car.
//make sure that the beam is high enough so that if you back the car out slowly// If your installer is smart, the height of the sensor is matched to the bumper of your car. That way if your car is even slightly overlapping the door, it won't come down. (WTAGIPBAN)-- krelnik, Jul 16 2004 Why use an infrared trip sensor in the first place? The type for automatic sliding doors in malls would work.-- mailtosalonga, Jul 16 2004 The trip sensor is already there to stop the door... as a safe close option, in order to keep the door from crushing anyone foolish enough to walk under.
Once key-fob sized garage door openers become commonplace, as they should be, this will not be an issue.
Until then, you might simplify the system down a bit by having a timer incorporated into the system. Push the special button, and once the trip sensor is activated, you have X number of seconds before the door starts to close.
As usual, should anyone cross the trip sensor again, the door stops closing, you have to go inside, push the button to get the door raised all the way, and then push the special button again.-- ye_river_xiv, Aug 21 2006 random, halfbakery