Knowing The Garage Status

I've finally got it working the way I want. If you have been following my garage work, for the last 10 years, I have wanted a way to know if I closed the garage door after I left. I tried several ways, using email and other schemes to know. I finally have a way to know, and it seems quite reliable.

I have Google assistant acting as the middle agent, and with the rest of the infrastructure it seems to be very reliable. Node red knows the state, and has all winter. The voice assistant that I brought up last post is connected to node red, and I have MQTT messages going to the Google assistant. I can ask Google assistant on my phone or tabled to know the current state.

The two categories for doors in gBridge are:

gBridge/uNNN/d4149/openclose is for querying the current state. gBridge/uNNN/d4149/openclose/set is for setting the current state. If I can get the garage device to talk to node red (I am trying, stay tuned), then I will have the node-red control the garage. For now, I am still using the garage android app.

I've broken up the garage flow, and added two new functions. I created a combiner, that will mix the state of the two doors into one message. I have the combiner return a payload of open if either door is open, otherwise will retrun a payload of closed. That function looks like:

// if either door is open, return open, otherwise if both // doors are closed return closed.
context.bigDoor = context.bigDoor || 'closed';context.littleDoor = context.littleDoor || 'closed';
if (msg.topic === 'garage/bigDoor') {  context.bigDoor = msg.payload;} else if (msg.topic === 'garage/littleDoor') {  context.littleDoor = msg.payload;} 
if ((context.littleDoor === 'open') || (context.bigDoor === 'open')) {        msg.payload = 'open';} else {    msg.payload = 'closed';}msg.topic = 'garage/door';
return msg;

The alarm function node was simplified, to only check the state of the combined nodes and the time.

// if either door is open, after 11pm and before 6am // sound an alarm.
context.hour = context.global.hour || 12;context.door = context.door || 'closed';
if (msg.topic === 'garage/door') {  context.door = msg.payload;} else if (msg.topic === 'time/ISO-8601') {    context.hour = msg.payload.hour;}
// check the status, to know if alarm should be onif ((context.door === 'open')  &&    (context.hour > 22) || (context.hour < 6)) {    // msg.payload = "on " + context.therm + " " + context.temp;    msg.payload = 'on';} else {    msg.payload = 'off';}return msg;

This should make the alarm more reliable as well.

The new function node converts the payload "open" or "closed" to "100" or "0" that the gBridge door nodes expect. The value can be something between 0 and 100 to indicate partially open or closed. I haven't played with it, so I don't know if there is a threshold, but the voice will say "open" if the value is set to 100.

// Convert a msg payload that says "open" or "closed"// to a msg.payload "100" for open, and "0" flr closed
context.flow.value = context.flow.value || "0";context.flow.newVal = context.flow.newVal || "0";
if (msg.payload === 'open'){    context.flow.newVal = "100";} else {    context.flow.newVal = "0"}
if (context.flow.newVal === context.flow.value) {    //msg.payload = {newVal: context.flow.newVal,    //               value: context.flow.value};    //return msg;} else {    msg.payload = context.flow.newVal;    context.flow.value = context.flow.newVal;    return msg;}

I have the ConvOpenCloseTo100or0 function will only send a message on a change. If the door is closed, the MQTT message will only be sent once if either door is opened. Again, if a door is open, it will only send the MQTT message when both doors are closed.

This is something that may allow Google to invade my privacy a little. It should still keep all the logic inside my house (on the edge).