Wifi Gate Controller is Arduino Compatible

After years of using weak garage door openers and trying to position them just right so my solar powered gate 400′ away would open when needed I decided it was time to make a wireless controller of my own. 802.11 is a ubiquitous choice and with the right antenna range is not a problem. Two wireless modules consistently popped up when searching for low power embedded WiFi, ESP8266 and ATWINC1500. In the end I chose the ATWINC1500 module for it’s compatibility with Arduino and it’s low power modes. This board is fully compatible with the Arduino MRK1000 which includes a SAMD21G18 Arm processor and the ATWINC1500 module. I also chose to use MQTT. Recent projects showed how effective the MQTT client/server model is in this situation. I use Home Assistant for home automation and it directly supports MQTT.

This board is designed for and tested with a US Automation Gate Opener.

This PCB design uses my custom libraries available here Mike’s KiCad Libraries.

This PCB was designed with KiCad 5.1.2.

Note: The LMZ21700 Simple Switcher, SAMD21G18 ARM Processor, and ATWINC1500 WiFi Module have exposed pads on the bottom which requires either a reflow oven or hot air to solder properly.

For Bill of Materials generation, I use my version of KiBoM forked from SchrodingersGat.

The project sources are available on Github.com: https://github.com/mikelawrence/WiFi-Gate-Controller

Please follow and like us: