ADOR1 automatic chicken door, 1 year later - loving it

[phryan]

I didn't notice much of a draft they do allow some air in, more than once there was a fine spread on snow. That said the winters where I am are cold and snowy. The snow was over the door at times.

It did freeze closed a couple times, the snow/poo at the bottom would turn into ice. At that point though the door wasn't much use for chickens, except maybe a barred rock that thought it was part penguin.

 

[PhilipNat4]

Ador issues.... I've had the ador for about 3 months now and have not been able to rely on it. It failed to open one hot summer morning and the result was one dead pullet. I replaced the circuit board at my cost and it still continues to be erratic. I've got about $250 invested in the door and can't say that it was worth it. It's failed about once a month for no reason. Customer support is not great either. Owner is very defensive and did not offer to replace the board after the first failure.
Can't reccomend this product.

 

[supchicks]

My door has worked really well so far, but I found the customer service to be a little lacking too. When I asked about shipping (I live in Ontario) I was told that it would be "really expensive" and when they shipped would all depend on when they could convince someone to go to the post office. That was a bit off-putting, but so far the door has worked well. I'm interested to see how we do in winter!

 

[lynnehd]

That's got to be very frustrating, PhilipNat4.

I've had mine about 3 months, and it has worked flawlessly. Time will tell.

 

[supchicks]

My door started malfunctioning recently but I got in touch with Rod from AdorStore and they're shipping me a new circuit board. I appreciated that quick service!

 

[MattWeatherford]

(Note: I am the original poster of this thread)

Im enjoying all the conversation around this ADOR product, thanks for the comments!

My climate is seattle, WA - so havent had a door freeze yet.

My 2 and 5 yr old kids like to press the button and open and close the door over and over again, it seems to handle this just fine


I have had the ADOR "lose its mind" 2 times since I owned it -- it stopped opening and acted like the battery was dead.

Opening the unit and undoing the aligator clip from the battery for 1 minute then plugging it back in seemed to reset it
properly.... I guess that is a "Reboot" for the motherboard in there

Since Im an IT guy by trade, this seems reasonable - any electronic gadget sometimes needs to be rebooted to clear out
wackyness.... only having to do this once a year seems a small price to pay for the convenience of the door.

Rod has all kinds of special embedded system modes you can turn on for the door - I went around in an email thread with him
about how to make the chicken door "Close Only" so I would have to manually open it in the morning - that was possible, but the logic for the embedded system is a little complicated to understand, and the programming for it is via a single button, so you need to be pretty patient to be able to step thru all the beep codes and settings -not for the faint of heart.

But as an embedded system goes, its reliable and a scrooge on battery use, so i still give it full honors/5 stars

 

[supchicks]

In the end, I'll be selling mine. It's nice, but with our sun setting at 4:45 p.m. now, and the way my chickens act, the door is closing too early for them, even with the delayed close feature.

Anyone in Ontario interested?

 

[lynnehd]

In the end, I'll be selling mine. It's nice, but with our sun setting at 4:45 p.m. now, and the way my chickens act, the door is closing too early for them, even with the delayed close feature.

Anyone in Ontario interested?

Have you considered adding the external light sensor and running it to a location with a bit more light? (not sure of your set up).

As mentioned, mine is installed in the run, but low down, facing inside. Still, it is the run, and open.
Due to early closure, late opening, I added the external sensor and set it up on the SW corner on the outside of the run corner. Probably really only about 2-3' from the built in sensor, but just a better position to catch the light.

The difference is amazing; it opens about an hour earlier, and closes about an hour earlier. It doesn't close until it is almost pitch black. The first couple of days I actually worried that it wouldn't close!

Not sure if this helps at all, thought I would mention it.

 

[supchicks]

Thanks for the tip! I just don't want to invest any more in the door and it ended up that the service from the company was pretty poor. I have a brinsea chicksafe now and love it!

 

[lynnehd]

Thanks for the tip! I just don't want to invest any more in the door and it ended up that the service from the company was pretty poor. I have a brinsea chicksafe now and love it!

I know what you mean about throwing good money away.
I went ahead and did it, because the external sensor was only $15, but it sounds as if you have a good door now.