Automatic garage doors provide immense convenience and security. Imagine returning home tired from work, frustrated by traffic jams, with rain and chilling wind… You stop in front of the garage, step out of your car, open the garage. You get back in, park inside, step out again to close the garage door. In the morning – rushing, the key is stuck, the lock is frozen, wasting valuable time to manually open the garage doors. Annoying, isn’t it? Maybe you have a system that you control with a remote. It’s convenient… But it can be even more convenient and comfortable for you.
Advantages of Automatic Garage Doors
Remote-controlled automatic garage doors are convenient, but they represent an older solution and definition of comfort. In the era of the internet and smart devices, automatic garage door systems have also evolved. The ability to control them through an online connection has put a variety of advantages in our hands:
- We can access the automatic garage door system from anywhere with an internet connection – directly from our smartphone;
- We have the ability to monitor movement history through the garage door;
- We receive notifications and alerts whether the door is closed or if we have left it open;
- We can remotely share access through the garage door, selecting the period and the person/vehicle that will have access;
- By using a smartphone application, we have taken another step towards comfort by replacing remote control with online communication via mobile device;
- An advantage of automatic garage doors is that they are also very convenient and useful for people with limited physical abilities.
What are the types of activation and communication with automatic garage doors?
To be able to like something, it’s good to have a choice. Two main questions influence the choice of the most suitable automatic garage doors for you. Automatic garage doors as standalone automated systems or as part of a smart home system can be activated and communicated with in several ways:
Communication through active cards
The most budget-friendly and quick solution when it comes to communicating with the automatic garage door system is undoubtedly the use of active cards. Connection happens through a reader that recognizes the card in the car and opens the door in time. If there’s a downside, it’s that the speed must be significantly reduced to allow time for the door to open. After parking the car in the garage, sensors indicate to the system and the door closes automatically.
Activation through a camera that recognizes the car’s license plate
Another option for opening automatic garage doors is installing a camera that recognizes license plates. Positioned at the garage entrance, the camera identifies your car and opens the garage door automatically. After parking the car, sensors indicate to the system to close the door. Thanks to web-based software and online connection with the system’s software, you also have the ability to grant access to more than one vehicle. Simply by entering the registration number into the platform. You can manually control the access period for each vehicle and also set an automatic period during which the license plate recognition camera opens the garage door.
GPS tracking as part of the Smart Home/Smart Office system
For enthusiasts of the latest trends, the automatic garage door system can be built independently as a Smart system. It can also be integrated as part of the overall Smart Home (Smart Home) – a home that “learns” from your behavior. This allows communication with the home both digitally, through the application on your mobile phone, and audibly, by calling. To explain it, imagine the following scenario: You call home and say, “I’m coming home.” At that moment, the system activates GPS tracking, which calculates based on your speed of movement and the distance to home, your estimated arrival time. At a chosen time (e.g., 10 seconds earlier), the garage door starts opening automatically, so when you turn towards the garage, it is already open. After this scenario, the sensors indicate that you have parked, and the system closes the door.
The commonality among the three types of communication with the automatic garage door system is that all three can be part of a larger Smart Home/Smart Office system. This implies automatically triggering scenarios like “I’m home” upon indication of parking your car in the garage. The Smart Home adjusts the lighting to your desired brightness, the coffee machine makes a refreshing espresso after your workday, the boiler starts to heat water for a quick refreshing shower, and the multimedia plays your favorite melody or tunes into your preferred TV channel. The only difference is with the GPS tracking option, where the entire home preparation for your arrival happens while you’re traveling, activated by your call and the command “I’m coming home.”
This could be the end of your workday in a smart home.
Smart Management of Automatic Garage Doors
The next level of automatic garage doors is part of Smart scenarios, for example – “I’m coming home.” By tracking your mobile phone or tablet from which you’ve set the action, the system tracks your GPS movement towards home. Calculating your estimated arrival time, the Smart system deactivates the alarm system 10 seconds before you park your car in the garage. Arriving within 10 meters of your home, the automatic garage doors have already been activated. This saves you from stopping and waiting in front of the door until it opens. Later, sensors signal the system that the car is in the garage, and it closes the door behind you. All that’s left is for you to come home and unwind after your workday.
Automatic garage doors offer high functionality, exceptionally easy and convenient in our busy daily lives. They provide convenient access to the garage, parking, or a production facility. Having automatic garage doors is not a luxury but a balanced and competent choice for daily comfort and ease of operation. Automatic garage doors are completely safe, with maximum functionality and full respect for your personal life on your property.
How to Choose the Most Suitable Type of Automatic Garage Doors?
It can definitely be said that as many clients as we have had, we have encountered just as many different preferences. This is completely normal because people are different. Nevertheless, among all the differences, two key questions emerged that led clients to the most suitable choice for automatic garage doors.
What level of convenience am I looking for?
Different lifestyles entail different dynamics. Therefore, some prefer all the extras available on the market, while others are interested in products with fewer advantages but a more affordable budget. Everyone can choose whether they want a system activated by a remote device (active card or license plate recognition camera) or prefer a system that communicates online and monitors their movements via GPS.
Stand-alone automatic garage door system or part of a smart home?
Everyone will agree that cheap often turns out to be quite expensive. In other words, it is important to assess our purchases not only by price but mainly by the convenience they will bring us and the time and effort they will save us. Practice and experience prove that a higher investment always pays off better over time. In this regard, local stand-alone automatic garage doors are a good solution, but integrating them into a comprehensive smart home system would be more long-term.
A smart home can and will meet all your requirements, even the highest ones. With a smart home, you will be able to realize all your ideas and look at comfort and safety from a different perspective.
If you want to learn about all the advantages, possibilities, and operation of Smart Home systems, the problems they solve, and their applications, read our article – “Smart home system – what is it and what are the benefits?”
