
IoT Intro: SMS me when I leave my garage door open - cottsak
http://hammerproject.com/post/130804023369/iot-intro-sms-me-when-i-leave-my-garage-door-open
======
lewi
This project is a great little proof of concept. However, if the electronics
still seem a little inaccessible or you don't want the hassle; the NodeMCU[1]
dev board compresses all those components (ESP8266, USB, buttons & GPIO) onto
a easy to use board for ~$12 USD. I'd highly recommend it.

However, you'll need a breadboard and a button to complete the project.

[1]: [http://nodemcu.com/index_en.html](http://nodemcu.com/index_en.html)

~~~
StavrosK
Is this it?

[http://www.ebay.com/itm/201414882109](http://www.ebay.com/itm/201414882109)

Does it really have WiFi and run Lua for less than $7?

~~~
simcop2387
That looks like the older revision that uses the ESP-12 module rather than an
ESP-12E. But yes, it does 802.11b/g (don't think it does n), with a pretty
full IP stack. It'll run both LUA as part of the NodeMCU project, and it'll
also do C/C++ natively with the arduino project also supporting it as a board
directly.

EDIT:

Here's a board with the ESP-12E

[http://www.ebay.com/itm/NodeMcu-Lua-WIFI-Internet-Things-
dev...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/NodeMcu-Lua-WIFI-Internet-Things-development-
board-based-
ESP8266-CP2102-module-/400923947498?hash=item5d58edf1ea:g:U1EAAOSwymxVRzWC)

It has some more flash and more pins broken out compared to the ESP-12

Also once you've got something build you can buy the bare modules for usually
<$3 and they don't need much support hardware to use, just a 3.3 volt
regulator. The ESP-12/E modules however use a 1mm pitch rather than 2.54mm
pitch that you usually find on breadboards, so they are a bit more difficult
to setup initially if you're doing it bare.

~~~
StavrosK
Hmm, I'm sorry, I changed my product after I wrote my comment. On the NodeMCU
site ([http://nodemcu.com/index_en.html](http://nodemcu.com/index_en.html)),
the photo looks like this product:

[http://www.ebay.com/itm/201414882109](http://www.ebay.com/itm/201414882109)

Is this not the latest version? I just bought two but canceled the order after
your comment.

Is the one you posted the very latest version?

------
DigitalSea
You can get into IoT using a cheap tablet off of eBay:
[http://ilikekillnerds.com/2015/10/cheap-ebay-android-
tablets...](http://ilikekillnerds.com/2015/10/cheap-ebay-android-tablets-and-
the-internet-of-things-iot/)

All you need is a device with wifi, preferably running Android as it is more
customisable and easier to hack into. For around $50 you can get a decent
tablet (no-name brand) with everything you'll ever need (including GPS and sim
support).

I created a parking inspector sensor at my old workplace because it was all
street parking, but only for the residents and nowhere to really park. So we
would all park on the street and occasionally the parking inspector would pay
a visit.

What they would do is chalk your tires and then they would come back a little
later and see if you had moved or not. What I did was use a cheap IoT
connected device with a sim card, it would send a cheap SMS to my real phone
when it detected movement (from being chalked). Occasionally it would trigger
false positives, but it worked. I was popular at the office, because they knew
if I got chalked, they did as well.

Then you would go move your car or wipe off the chalk off of the tyre.

~~~
iswim
Around here the bylaw officer (who used to chalk tires) now has a tablet that
takes a picture of the vehicle (including licence plate and I assume includes
GPS coordinate). The pitched battle over parking continues . . .

------
TeMPOraL
I know many here are pretty into electronics - could you recommend any new
interesting boards, chips and devices to check out?

I'm in Shenzhen right now, I've visited the electronics markets and was
totally overwhelmed. I would love to check out what weird cool things they're
pumping out now besides various iterations of ESP8266.

------
timerot
I laid out the schematic to see how the wiring works:
[https://upverter.com/mwismer/4427f6f29aa4300d/ESP-Garage-
Doo...](https://upverter.com/mwismer/4427f6f29aa4300d/ESP-Garage-Door-Sensor/)

Then I realized that there were already links to similar schematics in the
article: [http://www.esp8266.com/wiki/doku.php?id=getting-started-
with...](http://www.esp8266.com/wiki/doku.php?id=getting-started-with-the-
esp8266#basic_wiring)
[https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/blob/esp8266/hardware/esp...](https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/blob/esp8266/hardware/esp8266com/esp8266/doc/boards.md#minimal-
hardware-setup-for-bootloading-and-usage)

------
kevindeasis
Thanks for this, every time I try to get a project started with hardware I'm
usually looking at $80, which is a big reason why I just stick to software.
Since alot of things you can imagine in software can be built cheaply,
initially.

~~~
bigiain
FWIW, that ~$80 worth of "stuff" is pretty much reuseable. Most of my ideas
end up being not-as-useful-as-I-expected, so ratting the previous project for
its now-unused Arduino/RaspberryPi/ZigBee/breadboard/orbital-death-ray is a
really common way to start _new_ ideas/project for insignificant amounts of
money...

(Also, as much as I like to support
Arduino/RasPiFoundation/3DRobotics/whoever-pioneered-thing-de-jour, all those
bits are available much less expensively ex China fro
DealExtreme/GoodLuckBuy/AliExpress/GearBest et al.)

------
StavrosK
By the way, over the weekend I started prototyping and implementing a proof of
concept library for secure communication between IoT devices:

[http://stringphone.readthedocs.org/](http://stringphone.readthedocs.org/)

It allows devices to securely encrypt the messages they send to each other,
and also to verify that the device sending the messages is who it says it is.
That way, your garage door knows unambiguously that it was your phone that
told it to open.

If someone would like to contribute some feedback, I would be grateful.

------
rusbus
A slightly more expensive (~$50) version I made that can also open and close
the door:

[http://rcoh.svbtle.com/how-i-automated-my-garage-
door](http://rcoh.svbtle.com/how-i-automated-my-garage-door)

Since it uses an electric imp, the electronics are significantly simpler (just
a transistor / resistor to trigger the switch), since the imp has integrated
wifi, GPIO, power.

------
mkhpalm
Thats pretty cool, I've been thinking about making something like that myself.
Just haven't decided if it was worth building it or if I should be lazy and
buy a Chamberlain's MyQ.

[http://www.chamberlain.com/smartphone-control-
products/smart...](http://www.chamberlain.com/smartphone-control-
products/smartphone-connectivity)

------
discardorama
Why do you need Twilio? Most carriers will happily accept email; for example,
$NUMBER@vtext.com will happily deliver the email to a Verizon number as SMS.

~~~
cottsak
This was just an easy way of making the tutorial usable by everyone (not just
Verizon US customers for example). Hope you liked it ;)

~~~
discardorama
Verizon is not the only one. Every major carrier (ATT, Sprint, TM, etc.)
operate email-to-SMS gateways.

------
phogster
Anyone have info on what kind of licensing from the FCC (or other governmental
agencies) a company would need to sell wifi/LTE IoT gadgets?

~~~
joezydeco
A lot of these WiFi chips are sold as modules, already soldered to a small PCB
with built-in antenna and covered with an RF shield. These are usually already
FCC certified by the module maker.

------
frik
> "SMS me when I leave my garage door open"

Bad example? How about automatically closing the garage door after I left the
garage with the car (e.g. Bluetooth of smartphone). We get too many alerts
these days. SMS alert make sense (IMHO) for fire/burglary alarms.

I appreciate such projects and built IoT systems for my needs too.

~~~
vacri
What if you leave your garage door open while your car is parked inside, such
as overnight? Depending on your neighbourhood, you might not want to offer the
insides of your garage so easily...

~~~
frik
E.g. Automatically close the garage door with a beep sound after x minutes of
observed inactivity (IR sensor or camera).

~~~
tyrelb
I had the same problem about a year ago, then I just bought this and swapped
out my existing wall switch. Beeps a warning and autocloses after a minute.

[http://www.amazon.com/LiftMaster-888LM-Security-Upgrades-
Pre...](http://www.amazon.com/LiftMaster-888LM-Security-Upgrades-
Previous/dp/B00B8BFG0O)

~~~
cottsak
Problem with IoT devices like LiftMster is that they rely on the same 'rolling
code' technology (see 'Programming'
[https://www.liftmaster.com/CatalogResourcesV3/en-
us/shared/f...](https://www.liftmaster.com/CatalogResourcesV3/en-
us/shared/files/tucmanuals/114A4503.pdf)) to give the connected device
(internet) access to open/close the door. This is long proven to be very
insecure: [http://www.wired.com/2015/08/hackers-tiny-device-unlocks-
car...](http://www.wired.com/2015/08/hackers-tiny-device-unlocks-cars-opens-
garages/)

