ADOR1 Automatic Coop Door?

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That does sound promising! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you too! I'm on my 8th successful night of closing properly. This door is really nice when it works well...
 
Sunday morning, 6:21 am. Just started to get some light. I'm watching the door, waiting for it to open.
fl.gif
 
So Moon...the way you mounted it was causing the interference?...the wood of your coop was pressing against the ADOR control box and misaligning something inside the box?

Glad you found a solution!
 
aart said:
So Moon...the way you mounted it was causing the interference?...the wood of your coop was pressing against the ADOR control box and misaligning something inside the box?

Glad you found a solution!
Click to expand...

At least it looks like that....the change in temps seems to have added to it.
 
Last edited:
Okay so I finally stopped procrastinating this weekend and went to see what I could do to make the door open/close more easily. It has still been opening and closing fully on time every day, but the stuttering on the way down and the straining on the way up was worrying.

I took the mounted door/plywood combination out of the coop and used clamps and a level to hold it completely plumb and level. (Note: I noticed that when the top of the frame is level, the top of the door panel is not level and vice versa, so I decided to make the door panel level in case one side of it was dragging on the frame on the way up/down.)

The first thing I noticed was that the top of the battery box was shimmed away from the frame a bit with a washer, but that the right side was screwed down tighter than the left, squishing the washer by 50%. I used a small adjustable wrench to loosen the nut so that the right side was even with the left. That took care of the stuttering on the way down, hurrah!

Going on the theory that it had to do with the battery box pinching the frame somehow, I tested it first with the cover off and holding the battery in my hand (no weight on the box), then with the cover off and the battery inside, and lastly with the cover on and battery inside. It ran the smoothest with the cover off and holding the battery by far. With the battery inside and cover on it doesn't stutter on the way down but it does seem to take longer for the door to open fully.

I suspect I might have be able to add a washer to the bottom posts to shim the box away from the frame at the bottom, BUT I couldn't get my torque wrench in that small space. So I decided to re-mount the door, and keep an eye on it to see if the problem reoccurs. I might just be my imagination that it's taking too long to open. It's definitely smoother than before, so maybe it's okay now.
 
TheGeekySheep said:
Okay so I finally stopped procrastinating this weekend and went to see what I could do to make the door open/close more easily. It has still been opening and closing fully on time every day, but the stuttering on the way down and the straining on the way up was worrying.

I took the mounted door/plywood combination out of the coop and used clamps and a level to hold it completely plumb and level. (Note: I noticed that when the top of the frame is level, the top of the door panel is not level and vice versa, so I decided to make the door panel level in case one side of it was dragging on the frame on the way up/down.)

The first thing I noticed was that the top of the battery box was shimmed away from the frame a bit with a washer, but that the right side was screwed down tighter than the left, squishing the washer by 50%. I used a small adjustable wrench to loosen the nut so that the right side was even with the left. That took care of the stuttering on the way down, hurrah!

Going on the theory that it had to do with the battery box pinching the frame somehow, I tested it first with the cover off and holding the battery in my hand (no weight on the box), then with the cover off and the battery inside, and lastly with the cover on and battery inside. It ran the smoothest with the cover off and holding the battery by far. With the battery inside and cover on it doesn't stutter on the way down but it does seem to take longer for the door to open fully.

I suspect I might have be able to add a washer to the bottom posts to shim the box away from the frame at the bottom, BUT I couldn't get my torque wrench in that small space. So I decided to re-mount the door, and keep an eye on it to see if the problem reoccurs. I might just be my imagination that it's taking too long to open. It's definitely smoother than before, so maybe it's okay now.
Click to expand...

I talked to Rod about my issue and he recommended loosening the washers, I too couldn't get at the bottom two though. I did loosen the tops. He also recommended replacing the battery since he said there has been a recurring issue with new batteries being weak/not fully charged. His last recommendation was to lubricate the sides in case there was drag. It didn't seem like it was working any better after I did all of the above. I still can't figure out how to loosen those last two nuts since there is so little space in there. Maybe that is the problem....I haven't had an issue with it opening since Friday, but I am nervous and suspect that it will happen again.
 
My door didn't open again this morning - but we did get a wintery mix last night and I think it was iced shut. Does this happen with anyone else's doors? Not super happy about the possibility of the door not working most of the winter.... Seems like it definitely needs a stronger motor.
 

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