The Raspberry Pi Pico W projects are finally rolling in and this one, created by Core Electronics, adds to the plethora of DIY home automation projects. Using the new Raspberry Pi Pico W microcontroller, the team are able to control a garage door over Wi-Fi with the help of a custom web server running on the Pico W.
The Pico W is wired to the garage door controller via an interface circuit with an N-Channel MOSFET capable of working with the 12V controller. This interface is capable of opening, closing, and stopping the door on command. The Raspberry Pi Pico W is responsible for hosting a web server and a simple web page with three buttons, one to initiate each of these commands. This makes it possible to control the garage door from any device on the network including PCs, tablets and even from a smartphone.
Core Electronics has tons of cool projects on the Core Electronics website using not only the Raspberry Pi projects but also various microelectronics like Arduino and more. Some past examples we appreciate include this Pi-powered system that can identify birds via audio input as well as this impressive weather display that also doubles as a rain radar.
In the project breakdown, Michael explains that the Pico W is the primary driver behind the project which is connected to a Makerverse Protoboard with a Pico breakout. A few additional components are required like resistors, transistors and a 5V DC-DC converter—the full list of parts is available on the project build guide. The Pico is powered by the DC-DC converter and uses three open-drain outputs to operate the garage door motor inputs.
Software-wise, it’s programmed using a custom MicroPython script which is open-source and available for anyone who wants to check it out in full. It creates the web server that handles all of the button input, sending the appropriate signal to the garage door to respond as desired. It’s also worth noting that this project is somewhat of a security concern as anyone on the network can access the control panel.
This project would work well in tandem with Jeff Geerling’s Pico W-powered garage door sensor which is designed to detect whether or not his garage door is open and automatically notify the user if the door is mistakenly left open. You find find the project details for this development over at GitHub.
If you want to recreate this Raspberry Pi project, check out the full build guide shared to the Core Electronics website and check out the demo video over at YouTube. Be sure to follow Core Electronics for more cool Pi projects and future microelectronics creations.
