Add a connected garage door to your smart home without buying a new door opener. Hungary-based Nold Technologies has developed a conversion device that connects to your existing garage door opener. The Nold Open, currently part of an Indiegogo campaign, also adds cloud support, and an Apple HomeKit compatible version will be available.
The Nold Open device connects to your existing remote-controlled garage door opener with two wires. You can still use your regular remotes, but you can also activate the door to open or close with an iOS or Android app, connecting with the door opener controller via wireless Bluetooth. The smartphone-controlled Nold Open is scheduled to ship in December. The Apple HomeKit version is expected to ship in February 2017.
You can use the Nold Open to control more than garage doors. For example, the same device can be used for driveway gates or other electrically controlled gate openers. The converter can be set to operate in either on/off or pulse mode, which means it can be set to work with sliding doors, keypad locks, and magnetic door locks.
The Nold Open device currently does not support Amazon Echo or IFTTT recipes. Nold Technologies told Digital Trends the company is working a gateway device to work with the smartphone Nold Open version that will enable other services such as IFTTT or Zapier. A currently available application program interface (API) allows developers to manage guest access, which could work for vacation or Airbnb rental properties.
Beyond replacing your regular garage door opener remote, Nold Open’s Cloud connection lets you grant access to family and friends, all managed by the smartphone app. An unlimited number of phones can be connected to one Hold Open device plus you can set up shared keys that will automatically expire on a specific date. The latter feature could allow you to granted limited-time access for deliveries or contractors.
According to Nold Technologies, you can manage an unlimited number of Nold Open devices with the smartphone app. For example, if you had four garage doors, each with its own opener plus a driveway gate, you could hook up five Nold Open devices and control them from the app.
