What the???
 

They guy who owned this house was an electrician, plumber, and HVAC contractor, so there are all kinds of interesting things here - some cool and some bizarre. Today, while putting in a new garage door opener I came across this. Sorry for the bad picture, I cut out one of the nails.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1520044458.jpg

So what you are seeing is a 20 penny nail driven from outside in, through the framing around the garage door with a piece of lamp cord soldered to it and wrapped in electrical tape. There are two of them (sorry I took such a crappy photo) about 3 inches apart. The lamp cord runs up into a wall and goes who knows where.
I'm thinking maybe he wants to open the garage door from outside but he doesn't want an obvious switch for a burglar to use, so he did this so he could short across the nails and open the door? I dunno. It was done so long ago there are multiple coats of paint on the nail heads outside.
Any guesses?

I bet you nailed it. (ha - unintended pun!) The other end of the cord is/was connected to the "switch" contacts on the opener. Previous owner could probably hold his fully loaded key chain up on the previously exposed nail heads and that would short the circuit - effectively acting as a switch.

wouldn't that hurt?

No, low voltage, and as long as he's wearing rubber soled shoes no issue.

What the???
 

Not positive, but I believe the opener is just looking for a closed contact. The voltage would be a low DC, just creating a path of current. You would never feel it, think a AA battery in your hand.

That’s a VERY cool idea. The lamp core wire is deceiving as to what voltage is there.


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It's definitely low voltage and all it needs is a contact - a normally open switch like a doorbell button.

How high off the floor was this apparatus?

untill there is a short in the garage door opener motor box from a mouse that chewed through the wiring or something like that.

About 2 feet.

If it is a secret exterior switch for the garage door opener why would it be so low I wonder.

It could be a mechanism to which a low-voltage battery charger could be connected with alligator clips for charging a battery also hidden somewhere that runs a radio signal scrambler to keep the commies from eavesdropping.

Look for a secret door under a staircase that leads to a storage vault filled with gold bars. Can't have one without the other.

Garage door switch. My father had one exactly like this using screws in the 70’s and 80’s. Car key to open


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