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Comment by Domenic_S | Hacker News Reader

> so when this happens his car is stuck there until the navy finishes testing.

Huh.. he should be able to manually release the door from the inside (that's what the hanging handle [0] is for) and open/close it manually. Or hook up a wired keypad [1]

An interesting story regardless!

[0] http://precisiondoor.net/uploads/content/garage-door-opener-...

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Domino-Engineering-KEYLESS-ENTRY-SYST...

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He can release the door from the inside, but when I said his garage only has one door I meant it only has the big door for the car that is controlled by the garage door opener. It does not have a separate human door.

He will probably install a keypad at some point, although since he is a drummer I suggested he do something that listens for knocking on the door in some complex rhythm that would be easy for him but hard for a non-drummer.

I think he hasn't done anything yet because he's got some longer term plans for some home sensor and automation projects, if I recall correctly, and it could make more sense to do the alternate garage door opening interface as part of that instead of as an isolated project.

That seems like a recipe for disaster. He could just as easily have his vehicle stuck inside the garage. I can't imagine that is up to code.

I assume you mean that his car could be in the garage and he would be on the outside. If he were on the inside, he could use the emergency release that should be on every automated garage door.

But a child might not be able to, which is why a separate human door is always a good idea on garages.

How is the child driving the car?

A child walks in closes the door and the testing starts. Now they are stuck in the garage.

Or parent sees garage door open and decides to close it. Child is inside playing. Testing starts child is stuck.

Take your pick of scenarios. Neither require a car to be inside.

Garages have internal buttons that trigger the door that are wired. If the child is so young that they can't use that, then they can't climb into the drivers seat and press the remote anyway.

Yes, I meant he would be unable to access his vehicle not that he would be stuck in his garage.

What if it was a detached garage?

There should still be a side door.

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