Replacing battery power with hard-wired power...

[beelzerob]

One of the things that annoys me is that you can't find a hard-wired keypad for opening the garage door from outside. All that they give you anymore is those wireless ones. Now that I live in a colder climate, though, I really don't want to have to deal with a battery out in the power-sucking cold during winter. I really don't mind at all drilling a hole through the garage wall to provide power to the keypad.

Most keypads I've dealt with have a 9v battery in a compartment. What I'm wondering is....what if I ran a 2c wire out there, routed it into the outside keypad and soldered it to the battery contacts, and then just provided 9v on the inside of the house (whether a nice warm battery of power supply)? Am I missing something there? For something like 9v, is length of wire an issue? I'd be probably close to 50 ft from power source to keypad, and all I have handy is 22/4 wire.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Just watch the polarity and make sure it's a nine volt "DC" wall wart and you should be able to just wire right to the battery contacts.

I wouldn't worry about wire length. It can't draw that much current and the voltage drop across the line, well, the keypad probably still works when the battery voltage is slightly below nine volts anyway...

 

[judge_l]

Some of the first outside keypads were on the same wire as the inside button, all you had to do was rip the keypad off the wall, touch the wires together and the door would open. I'm guessing companies just got rid of wires all together to get rid of that. My 9 volt battery works for about year, and its plenty cold here. How much the kids play with it seems to be the main factor.

 

[mdesmarais]

You might want to add a capacitor too- sometimes the resistance of the wire can cause problems as opposed to a local battery- current can't be drawn quickly enough. Depends on the circuit demands.

 

[WayneW]

One of the things that annoys me is that you can't find a hard-wired keypad for opening the garage door from outside. All that they give you anymore is those wireless ones.

Look for a Genie KEP-1. I had mine for 15 years with no problems, in a Florida climate.

Universal Keyless Entry
(For All Model Openers and all brands of garage door openers)

Description: Offers convenient, secure garage entry without using a remote control or key.

Model: KEP-1
Product Code: 34962R

http://www.amazon.com/Genie-KEP-1-Keyless-...m/dp/B0002YR9HG

 

[Spanky]

There are several manufacturers that have a wired stainless steel outside keypad that has a 26 bit Weigand output. This can be wired to a M1 Keypad or M1KAM module. You can also get the keypads with a builtin prox reader.

 

[beelzerob]

There are several manufacturers that have a wired stainless steel outside keypad that has a 26 bit Weigand output. This can be wired to a M1 Keypad or M1KAM module. You can also get the keypads with a builtin prox reader.

Well, in our last house, we had a genie garage door opener, and it had the external wireless battery powered opener that you screw to the outside of the door, flip up the cover and punch in a code. That's exactly what we want. I want to be able to open the garage door without the need for a car or anything in my pockets...just punch in the code and up it goes.

I guess at this point, I can at least go a winter with it as is and see how it fares...it's the garage, so I really don't care if I end up stringing a wire across the ceiling to it later (actually, I'll just run the wire now and leave it buried just in case).

That Genie KEP-1 looks interesting, though those amazon reviewers sure didn't like it....

Speaking of inside buttons....I had almost forget (actually, I DID forget until someone at the site mentioned it) that I needed to run my own wire for garage door openers and sensors. Are most inside door buttons just a simple closed contact? Because if so, then if I ran a wire up there from the wiring closet, then I could probably connect my wires to the button also and then I'd have the ability to open and close the garage door from down there as well, right? That seems a little more convenient than the wireless remote method I saw written up.

I figure that way, if I put a CO sensor in the garage, and it senses too much CO, it can just open both garage doors.

 

[Photon]

It is 15 below zero today in my part of the world. My Chamberlain GDO keypad works just fine even with its two-year-old battery. While your idea to pull some wire is OK, I think I'll stick with battery power. I'll make a note to replace the battery when it warms up a bit, though. I meant to replace that battery in the fall when I replaced batteries in the smoke detectors, CO detector, and thermostats. Thanks for the reminder. Now I'll go update my checklist.

 

[gatchel]

There are several manufacturers that have a wired stainless steel outside keypad that has a 26 bit Weigand output. This can be wired to a M1 Keypad or M1KAM module. You can also get the keypads with a builtin prox reader.

I plan on using this one:

http://www.keyless.com/illumspy.htm