Garage door opener to be multi-purpose

[mernst]

I am a ham radio operator. I have an antenna that will not fit under the garage door when the antenna is in a vertical position. I have designed a custom mount with a linear actuator that can lay the antenna down prior to entering the garage. The linear actuator is a simple 12V motor that requires 12v to energize in one direction and then 12v reversed to energize in the opposite direction. It currently uses a simple rocker switch.

I would like to have it be remote controlled with my garage door opener remote, so that when I open th egarage door with the remote, the linear actuator that lays down the antenna is also energized. Is there a simple circuit board available somewhere to do this, or if not is there an easy economical way to do it?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[AmanNVI]

you could use something similar to the Pololu "simple motor controller" and then use a higher power motor - or use the controller to drive relays which run a more powerful motor to drive the antenna.
For the extend / retract you can program the pololu to accept the pulse and run until it hits a limit switch. Then mount two switches, one for extended and one for retracted, that when hit will deactivate the controller. Pololus are really cool and easy to work with - they are just underpowered for large stuff - https://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/94
I have an example of my integration on one here with a video example of it working: https://www.austinblanco.com/blog/nikon-lu4a-fiber-hack/

 

[BradtheRad]

Look on the motor that opens and closes the garage door.

You should find wires that carry the signal from a box mounted on the wall.
Maybe 2 boxes. One box with a push button switch. The second receives rf from the remote.

You should be able to tap in at some connector, in order to detect when the opener is activating.
I'm not sure how to tell whether the door is going up or down. Circuitry inside the mechanism decides that. Might be based on limit switches, etc.