My DIY automatic chicken POP door opener/closer

[NYcue]

Hello ShellyN... I use my DIY door only during the Winter. Currently, I expanded the run on my coop so I needed to move the "box" from the back to left side. After I finish the expansion of the run, I'll have to re-hookup the fishing line... but i have a couple of months before that becomes critical. I might though change the fluid .... getting old now. I'll post some update pictures when I'm done.

 

[NYcue]

Hello tcstoehr: Thank you for your reply. I'm confused... why would I want to spend twice more money on the ADOR1 ... when my cheaper solution works just fine? And btw... I don't believe the ADOR1 wouldn't fit in my coop. It's way too high... much higher than my opener! What benefit would I get from the ADOR1 that I don't have now with my cheaper homemade solution? You mention additional electric? How so? I only have one electrical line to the coop.

 

[tcstoehr]

Hello tcstoehr: Thank you for your reply. I'm confused... why would I want to spend twice more money on the ADOR1 ... when my cheaper solution works just fine?

I wouldn't suggest replacing your existing solution. I'm just saying what I would have done. The additional time it would take me to build your solution would exceed $100 in value to me, personally.
Quote: My mistake, I wasn't able to take accurate measurements of your door.

Quote: The Ador1 has a self-contained battery, requires no incoming power line and will not suffer from power outages.

 

[NYcue]

"The Ador1 has a self-contained battery, requires no incoming power line and will not suffer from power outages" ... I keep a UPS on the electric line. Power outages wouldn't stop my pop door from opening and closing as I live in a rural area and power outages are frequent... but that's a good point! I didn't know that Ador ran on battery. Do you have a way to know when the battery is low with the ador1? You could change my system on batteries as it consumes very little juice... but I prefer simplicity of electric myself over worrying about batteries.

When I built the coop... i had extra wood and I was already in a building mode... if you build your own coop... it seems quite natural to me that you can build your own automatic pop-door... but your right, it took an extra 2 or 3 hours to build that automatic door.

 

[tcstoehr]

Quote: I'm assuming you meant that a power outage would stop your door, not wouldn't. That's my basic problem with timers in general. In my case, suppose I had a 3-hour outage at 2:00PM. I would be at work and if I came home without noticing, then the door would close three hours late, big problem. The ador1 battery is known to last easily a year without issues as long as you start with a fresh alkaline battery. I plan to just replace it once a year, although I've been told that it is unnecessary so often. It does have a LED and audio beep warning for low battery. I'll just change it every summer. For me, changing the battery once a year is preferable to adjusting a timer for seasonal changes and monitoring it for lost time due to outages. Obviously, batteries are not free.

 

[NYcue]

Actually your assumption is wrong. As I said earlier... I use a cheap re-chargeable UPS (uninterruptible power supply via a battery) that can power the door for about 3 weeks without electric. When electric does resume...it recharges the battery. In essence... I never have to worry about power or batteries with my setup. But also... my timers are digital and have their own internal batteries for power failures. Though they should never be needed with the UPS...

 

[J at Yoti Farms]

Looks good to me, simple, low cost, and it works.

 

[smcgill]

You should enter it in : https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/newestpost/932617
Good luck and great job.

 

[rfeyer]

This is a great idea which I have adopted to our own coop with a couple of minor modifications such as shut off switches and lights, but otherwise pretty original to yours - TY for the idea!

Question - when temps are below 10 degrees, all works fine except the plastic tubing running between containers - the tubing itself looses flexibility which renders the door opening nill.

Did you use special tubing? One thought I had was to replace the 1/2" tubing with 1/4 inch, but then I have to figure out a failsafe way to connect 1/2 to the water pumps

 

[rfeyer]

Found the answer on the tubing:
The door system would not work as the upstate NY cold weather hardened the plastic tubing.
I went to TSC and bought 10' of 3/8" ID EPDM Rubber Spray hose ($9.99) with a temp range -20 to 190. Has been working flawlessly!

Rainer