Automatic Chicken Coop Door - Auto Closes Coop - Beta Version 1.0

[HappyHatch'en]

Check out this site...www.solopetdoors.com They will sell their motor for 108.00...... a bit pricey, but looking doesn't cost anything....so far the electric auto antenna seems the best....most motors have a nylon belt rapped inside to push-pull antenna....junkyards are full of these....specially if you don't need the antenna part, just the motor and nylon strap.
Happy Hatch'en

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I bought 3 on ebay cheap (like $25 for 3). I may take one apart and give the strap a try.

The nice part about using the actual antenna is that it makes for a rigid structure (I believe) which will make it a little more difficult for a predator to open.

 

[HappyHatch'en]

I would bend aluminum or sheet metal on a break. to be used as a slide track, screwed to the wall....predator wouldn't push it in as long as the door held up. Or you could really get out of hand and make a window track...using a thicker door - to heavy however I would use a plastic, grease the slides. My friend in the junk yard business told me to use a power window motor...you can use the slide tracks as well.
Happy Hacth'en

 

[Big Chicken Little]

An electric magnet might be simpler... just an idea. I do love your design though Please keep going

 

[CedarLake]

For those of us without a sheet metal brake, drawer slides should work fine and be much smoother.
Wish I had thought of that power antenna method: should work slick.

HappyHatch'en :

I would bend aluminum or sheet metal on a break. to be used as a slide track, screwed to the wall....predator wouldn't push it in as long as the door held up. Or you could really get out of hand and make a window track...using a thicker door - to heavy however I would use a plastic, grease the slides. My friend in the junk yard business told me to use a power window motor...you can use the slide tracks as well.
Happy Hacth'en​

 

[AdamKristin]

Well I finally got my automatic door working after a couple months and some trial and error!

Here are some pictures of the finished system. I go back and forth on using the x10 system because it has been a little tricky and I’m not as confident with it because its computer controlled and it sends the signal over the existing wiring in the house but on the flip side it's really easy to make adjustments to. For example yesterday morning we heard one chicken in particular making a lot of noise, in fact it woke us up around 6:30 on a Saturday when we like to sleep in a little. Anyway I looked down and a small group of chickens were walking up to the patio which is about 100' from the barn and they never venture this way. So I went down to find a couple piles of feathers from our last buffed laced polish, we're guessing that's one reason why the breed is so rare because we lost three to predators and one was a runt. My wife had mentioned that she thought letting them out at the break of dawn was a bad idea because the predators are still out so I went into the activehome (x10) software and delayed the opening of the door by 30 minutes after dawn. I also adjusted the closing time to 1/2 an hour after dusk instead of 45 minutes because it's very dark at that time.

Another nice thing about the x10 is that I installed a light in the coop at the same time and set that to come on 2 hours before dawn and off at 9:00pm and we increased egg production from about 1 egg a day to as many as 13 one day so the light made a huge difference.

The first pilot relay I ordered was a single pole double throw because I thought the linear actuator had one lead for up and one for down - wrong. So I ordered another double pole double throw pilot relay.

The actuator I purchased from www.firgelliauto.com came somewhat unassembled almost like they inadvertently sent one that was to be tossed. They were nice enough to ship another one free of charge which ended up burning up the motor on the second or third operation. Again I contacted the company and they said that I should reduce the fusing from 5amp to 1 or 2amps and recommended that I increase the strength of the actuator from 8lbs of force to 15lbs. I was very surprised they offered to ship the new actuator which was more money free of charge. This being the third actuator and it works great. I believe the only thing different from the 8lb model is the gear ratio is much lower and it takes twice as long to open and close - I really don't care how long it takes as long as it operators! I would recommend checking with www.firgelliauto.com before ordering an actuator just to make sure it fits your application. They were excellent to deal with in my case.

The x10 switches I had were for incandescent lights only and when I tried to operate both the relay and CF light I still had 70v coming out of the switches. After a little research I learned that these switches electronically change the wave form and don't necessary open and close but take the sign wave to zero. I found different x10 switches on eBay for about $7 bucks each - really no hardship there either.

So that's my system, its working great and I hope it does for a long time.

One last thing to mention is the x10 system, and I really don't want you to think I’m hung up on this technology, has a remote control so the kids really get a kick of opening the chicken coop door remotely before the module does automatically.

Prices of material

Actuator 15lb with brackets - $87
Two x10 switches - $20
pilot relay - $20
Plexiglass Door- $15
Door Track - $10
electronic power supply from Hong Kong - $15

Total - $165 - The challenge alone was worth every penny and the actuator cannot be moved once it's in the down position unlike those other door latching mechanisms or the UK's string system.

 

[Im4Eggcellence]

Quote:
Hi all, I'm new to this site, and as an ex-software engineer and electronics hobbyist I'm thrilled to see that there are some other nerds here who share an interest in automating their coups. I'm gonna feel right at home here

On the issue of motors - I'm getting ready to explore using drill motors from 12V drills, you can find them in thrift stores and Ebay for next to nothing. With the chuck, it's easy to attach them to a piece of threaded rod and you even have built-in torque control on most that can simplify your design.

For some more on home-made linear actuator design, Google "Astronomy Barn Door" and look at some of the barn door camera designs.

Finally, CedarLake, I look forward to looking at your direction control solution, I'm currently thinking about building an H-Bridge for direction control via a Basic-Stamp or similar.

Later - Michael

 

[Im4Eggcellence]

Quote:
This is all good stuff - but I'm wondering if anyone has found a "low tech" way to actually reverse the polarity of the circuit based on the toggle condition. I'm still considering an H-bridge circuit for this as I plan to put an old BS-2 Basic Stamp to work in my coup for the "brains". I'd really like to find a simplier mechanical way to reverse the polarity but have been coming up blank on that.

I'm also curious about solutions to the drill speed. If you apply a full 12V seems like you'd wind up with the drill motor doing 3000 rpm - that'll close the door in a real hurry

If you drop the voltage to slow the drill you'll loose torque won't you? With a microprocessor based approach you could do PWM to control speed and keep high torque I think.

Quote:
Ditto the allelectronics and Radio Shack.... funny true story about Radio Shack.... I once went into Radio Shack and they had a digital multi-meter that was a display model heavily marked down. So I asked the clerk, "Do you still have the box... I'd like to see if there are any specs on it". The clerks response, "Yes sir, we still have the box and I can assure you that it's like new with no blemishes on it whatsoever!"

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Quote:
I'm pretty sure you loose torque. If you're going to be using a screw drive (i.e., bolt / nut combo) in theory couldn't you use a smaller / tighter thread that spins just as fast but the linear motion would be slower?

Also, instead of a "drill" I'm thinking one of these 0-500 RPM or even one of these 200 RPM.

... and recharge it with this .

 

[CedarLake]

My "low-tech" solution used relays to control the motor direction and was described along with a schematic diagram several pages ago. This is a long thread - I wrote that back in December

I doubt that slowing down the drill will be a problem. At least in my case, the door doesn't need much torque to move. But in the interest of disclosure, I dropped the automatic door idea since by that time it was too icy to work outside and it's finally thawing here in MN.