Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | Nebraska Sandhiller - 1/2/2018 06:44
I use a remote control made to turn stuff like outdoor christmas lights on/off, to turn auger on / off from inside tractor cab when i get to the bin. Would like to have another control fob in another tractor.
Where could i get one?
I have several around the farm that I have wired in myself. For many situations I wanted more than one control fob and looked for kits that could be ordered with more than one or allowed them to be purchased later. There are several sources online and many of them are very inexpensive. A Google search should bring up lots of choices.
Some kits include a receiver and only one control fob with no option of ordering more. I wonder if the fob from one kit might work with the receiver of another. What I'm suggesting is that possibly buying another identical kit would be a way to get another fob which may work with the first receiver. You would then have an extra receiver that you may may not need at the moment but might be a way to get a second fob. The second receiver could be put on the shelf in case the original has a problem. Some of those kits are so cheap that it might be worth the risk.
Another thought would be to buy a different kit that includes extra fobs with it and replacing the present receiver with the new one. This might be overkill but should have a better chance of success as far as wanting more remotes. I have seen some kits that include a receiver and two to four fobs. If going this route one would need to know the requirements for the situation such as current requirements and relay options such as Normally Close and Normally Open terminals, Momentary or Latched circuits etc. These options vary from kit to kit and might be important for correct operation for your situation.
I tried a project that used one of those Christmas light ON/OFF remotes with a relay so that I could START/STOP an electric portable auger to fill the truck at a bin. The idea was to save steps in going back to the breaker box to START/STOP the auger. The package indicated that this was only to be used with resistive type loads (Christmas lights etc.). I was always able to START the auger with the remote but was not always able to STOP it with the remote. I suspect this was due to the fact that I didn't have a resistive load. Later I thought that if I had wired in an indicator bulb that this might have proven to be reliable. I just abandoned the idea.
I have some other remote systems for working with other doors and my shop air compressor. All in all this has worked out well.
I have also messed with the Garage Mate device that can be used with certain door openers. This receiver communicates with a smartphone via a Bluetooth app on the phone. This allows us to open/close certain doors by using the phone as a remote. Although these were designed to work with home garage door openers, they can be re-purposed for other uses. I believe another AgTalker indicated that he uses them to trigger electric gate openers out in the pasture from his ATV. The gate openers were run by a battery that was charged by a solar panel. This allowed him to control the gates from his ATV while moving cattle from pasture to pasture. He would need to be reasonably close for this to work.
These are really easy to work with. A special module is attached across the terminals on the opener, a free App is installed on the phone (IOS or ANDROID) and the phone is paired with the module. There is a lot of flexibility. One phone can be paired with several (8 max) of the Garage Mate modules (one is required for each opener). Several phones can be paired with a specific door. In my case, my iPhone is paired with four doors, my great nephew's Google phone is paired with three of those doors. Another iPhone is just paired with the car garage since that user has no need to open the other doors. This other user could work with the other doors if desired.
These could be very handy where several people need remote access to several doors. This might be the case with a family, a farm or a small business with a few employees. Each individual would need a smartphone and each door would need a module. This might be cheaper than buying a remote for each door for each person or vehicle.
In looking at the link below, I notice that they are temporarily on back order so I'm guessing they have good demand. For a time they were offered as a kit for a reduced price. I went that route and it is not difficult but hardly worth the $15 savings if you are only going to do only one. They may have discontinued the kit idea as I suspect they had lots of calls when they didn't work due to an assembly error on the user's part.
https://bluemate.com/
Edited by tedbear 1/3/2018 11:14
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Aditional remote control
