I'm fairly invested in home automation with many of the previously mentioned items, but I thought I'd share a couple of garage-specific automation hacks that have worked well for me:
- wifi garage door opener trigger - allows opening the garage door with my phone, as well as providing other automation capabilities. This is most used when doing yardwork and going from back to front yard to the garage... no keypad or physical remote required, but I almost always have my phone on me.
- zwave (not wifi) switched outlet on the garage door opener - this allows automation based on household members phones/geolocation (i.e. "all away") to turn off the garage door opener. This acts as an additional layer of security to prevent anyone from opening the garage door with the opener when disabled and no one is home.
- zwave tilt sensor on the garage door - this allows multiple automations:
* Automatically turning on the garage lights when the garage door is opened
* Triggering a timed warning light indoors (multi colored led bulb) when the garage door is left open longer than a certain timeframe and/or after a certain time of day. I can also have it send me a text and/or phone notification. (Note: I also have the same type of warning for the garage lights that triggers a different warning color on the indicator bulb).
* Sending a text/notification of garage door opening if no one is home.
- Switched garage and garage bench lights (separately) - As mentioned above, allows automation and notification of lights based on garage door opening, but can also be used for security purposes (automated on/off) to make it appear someone is home.
- zwave water and temperature sensors automatically notify me by text and phone notification if there is a leak in the garage or temperatures exceed defined high/low limits. This was a big one for me as I've had SEVEN(!) separate flooding incidents in this house.
I'll note that I'm using Smartthings as of right now, but these can be used with any of the other home automation ecosystems as well.
I have others, but thought these ideas might be helpful in justifying home automation by extending it to the garage.
