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

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It is a great design. Fantastic torque and reliability. The biggest problem is that 95% of people won't want to deal with the soldering, and wiring relays and limit switches.

I'm surprised nobody has come up with a DIY Kit where all the bits are already put together and ready to go. The only things I've consistantly seen on the market are:

1) A battery powered system developed / built in Europe that is around $200
2) Drapery motor systems / plans that require a drapery motor that usually start at $80

We don't mind letting our hens out in the morning and our auto coop door closer has worked like a champ for the past 14 months and absolutely saved quite a few chicken lives.

Of course I love to tinker, so developing an auto open / close system for under $20 would sure be fun.
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Quote:
Yup! Tinkering around and trying to build electro/mechanical/electronic/carpentry stuff is the reason I do this. Just for the fun. And once in a while I actually build something that is worth the effort.
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Two days ago my wife and I got back late from a fun time with some friends. I was remarking to her how wonderful it has been to have the auto closer and how it has probably saved our hen's live 20 times over the past 14 months!

Ironically enough, I went outside this AM to let the girls out and the coop door was still in the up position. Not a chicken to be found! My heart started racing like CRAZY. I opened up the coop and there were no signs of struggle, no feathers strewn about (usually what we see when the coons get to our flock)... nothing! Just then, one chicken popped around the corner... then another, then the rest. PHEW!!!

We got lucky! I did a closer inspection of the closer. I first suspected that the pin got hung up / stuck on the ring again, but ever since I oiled / WD-40'd it, it hasn't been a problem, and sure didn't seem to be the issue this time. I was puzzled... well, until I saw one of my wire leads dangling from my contraption.
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I've been using alligator clips and quick connectors this whole time. They (like the 6 year old coop) were suppose to be temporary until I got the kinks worked out, but like many other things in my busy life, I tend not to fix it if it ain't broke.
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So, on my todo list is to get rid of as many fail points in the wiring as possible with a bit of soldering and permanent connections.

I'm so glad the coons weren't on the hunt in our yard last night... we got really lucky!

Of course, I stick to my previous statements that while there are potential points of failure in a system like this, either mechanical or false sense of security, it is still better than the alternative: my family trying to always be home and always remember to lock up the girls at night without fail.
 
N/C,
Glad to hear that you girls were alright after all.
Solder and shrink tubing, my friend.

Ron
 
Well I know this has been beaten to death, but I wanted to add a slight variant. Like others, I wanted to be able to leave the house in the afternoon without having to chase the chickens all over the vineyard to get them into the house. I wanted an automatic door closer with a programmable feature so the door would automatically close when I knew they were on the roost. My coop has no electric power close by so I needed a battery powered option.

The car lock actuator featured earlier in the post is great, cheap, and is part of the final design. My first attempt at a timer was to use a battery powered alarm clock with a bell ringer. I disconnected the motor in the clock and attached the leads to the actuator. The problem I ran into was that that ringer motor operated at 1.5V and that voltage didn't provide enough power to move the actuator if there was any weight on it. I will dispense with the details of all of the other options I tried (up voltage converter, relay, ringer hitting micro switch, gearing down the motor, levers....) and get to the point.

The solution that was implemented is based on an Orbis programmable sprinkler timer. Here is the Amazon link. This thing has full programmability and a remote wire to trigger up to 4 valves.

http://www.amazon.com/Orbit-62032-Y...7?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1268889718&sr=8-7

At $50 it is a bit pricey, but I now have the timer mounted outside the door (it is weather proof) and the actuator inside. To implement the system I just cut off the cord at one of the water valves and hooked 2 of the 3 wires (play around with it, it is obvious) to the actuator. The timer sends a pulse to the actuator to pull a pin back which allows the door to drop closed. It works like a champ.

There is one issue that could effect some designs and that is that the timer puts out a pulse instead of a constant current. The pulse is strong enough to move the actuator about a quarter inch which is more than enough for the trigger to drop the door. It runs (what it thinks is the irrigation) for 1 minute and then it sends a second pulse to turn off which moves the actuator another quarter inch in the same direction. So in case the door doesn't close with the first pulse, the second pulse is just a minute later and can finish the job.

There is an advantage to the pulse in that there is no need to have switches that cut off power to the system when the door closes as you do with the alarm clock version (to avoid running down the battery). It becomes a very simple system with only the sprinkler timer and the actuator. No extra switches and wiring.

Of course this only closes the door, opening it in the morning is not a big issue for us.
 
This thread was the first one I read regarding automatic chicken coop doors, and I went back to it when I decided to do an automatic door for my coop. However, I was unable to locate the "car lock actuator" device that was used. I called a lock shop and an electronics shop in my area and no one knew about it. The electronics shop did have a $5 solenoid with a pin that could have been used to drop a door (but not raise it up again). Then I continued browsing online and became aware of another method to do the automatic door, using a device called an "Add-A-Motor" by Add A Motor company. The first posting I saw about using one of these for a chicken coop door was at www.buildeazy.com. BUt that posting referred to the Add A Motor model 80 which the company stated was not good to use for a chicken coop door. Apparently the Add A Motor company came out with a new motor SPECIFICALLY for raising/closing a chicken coop or other pet door. It's the Add-A-Motor model D20, sellls for $99.95 at www.addamotor.com. I bought one and then bought a $20 digital timer at my local ACE hardware store, and together with a plexiglass door that slides easily up and down in its wood track, the whole setup was easy and fast and works quite well. The Add A Motor can be adjusted to raise a door various heights, depending on the height of the door and space available above the door to set up the motor. I set the door to open at 5am before I wake, and to close at 9pm after all the chickens have surely gone to bed. It works like a charm, and eventually I think the concerned, questioning soft croaks of the hens will diminish as they get used to hearing the motor suddenly go on while they're in "bed."
 

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