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

[adoptedbyachicken]

I don't think a chicken could be trained to use a revolving door like the 4 door quarter turn type that was shown, but if it was only 2 sided and opened like a flutter valve in a carburetor, so a chicken could pass on either the right or the left when open, but it spun shut at lock up I think it would work fine. That might be a bit easier to have open as well as close, but the latch to make sure it's not forced by the coon could be a bit more difficult. It would have to be a bit of a raised doorway so that bedding is not blocking the door movement.

 

[Peepthis541]

Quote:
Good points. On the revolving door, I thought it would be easier for them if they were made of plexiglass. But I am not sure if chickens have it in mind to push through things, even if they are see through.

The flutter valve design would still require some kind of closing mechanism, or spring shut system.

Since I am searching for an open AND closing system, it ads a bit more of a challenge, but I think I may be on to something with the low rpm high torque motor.

I do wonder how the rotations are reversed, if manually (by switch on motor) or electrically. If anyone has experience or knowledge, please let me know.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Well how about a door that can keep going the same way so the engine is not having to reverse? Each quarter turn is open, closed, open, closed. But how would it be secured then, unless the motor or gears could hold it tight. Things to ponder for sure as a locking mechanism is important.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

April, your idea of a door like a "flutter valve" is one I hadn't thought of!

Also the thought of having the door constantly rotating, so never having to change polarity / direction, is pretty interesting as well.

A year ago I was experimenting with a windshield wiper motor a friend dropped off. Dang those things are REALLY strong and won't budge at all with no power to it. They rotate completely (not back and forth like you'd expect) and once they go past a 1/4 rotation they keep rotating even if the main power is removed... this is why your wipers reset back to their lower position even if you turn them "off" mid wipe.

I'm sure there is a lot of fun / potential that could be had with that system. The big problem: those suckers take a LOT of power / amperage. I didn't have any wall adapters that put out enough amps to get the thing to move much.

 

[aiwetir]

instead of the flutter valve, you could do something like a fan, blades over the door = closed, rotate the 'fan blade' out of the way and then it's open

 

[Sappy]

Howdy,

I'm still pretty new here, and have a lot to learn about chickens. I know a fair bit about electronics though, so this might actually be one thread I can help with! We'll have chickens after we move to IL/MO next May, and I've been thinking of a very similar idea as part of an automated system for the coop we'll have. (was even thinking of selling it if it works out well).

For a motor - A cheap cordless drill can provide all the power you need. not only that, it's easily reversible,and has a battery you can use if you are making this to work with a solar panel.

I was thinking of using this with a drawbridge style ramp. The end of the ramp could flip a switch when it's fully closed, or I could put an electrical contact on the end of the drawbridge and on the coop such that when the drawbridge is closed, the motor is no longer running. The bonus of that would be... if any coons manage to figure out how to pry the door down somehow (I know they're cunning little monsters), the circuit would just try to close it again. They'd be pulling against the torque of the motor any time the door's electrical contact wasn't touching the coop at night.

As for timing it, there are a couple ways that could be done. If I go with the solar option for my coop, the simplest way would be to let the solar panel act as a sensor... if very little power is being produced, that means it's dark, the door could come up with a 15 minute delay. When the sun is back out and shining, the motor reverses and lets the door drop. If the coop is to be plugged in, it could still be designed with a tiny solar cell as a light sensor to do the same thing.

Another alternative would be some sort of timing circuit a person could set, but at the seasonal changes when days and nights get shorter or longer one would have to fidget with it... so I like the light sensing option better personally.

yet another option would be using an alarm clock or two. Set one alarm for when you want it to let the door down, another for when you want to pull the door up. Just clip the wires to the speaker on each and use them to drive a small relay. One clock+relay would move the drill motor in one direction, the other clock+relay would move the drill motor in reverse. If you had alarm clocks with a battery backup inside, and a drill with a battery, you would even be good to go if the power went out.

When we're in a position to do it, I have the capability to design any control circuitry necessary to manage it, but I also want to add in a few more bells and whistles than you guys have mentioned, so some of the ideas I have above could possibly work out well for you with what you've proposed. I've been thinking of adding on little things like having it electrify the fence around the coop at night. That way I'm not powering an electric fence all day when my chickens are out and about, and my little nephew can't mess with it and get my sister mad as hell at me when they visit.

If he's out there at 10pm, it's her fault though! heh

a person could even run a hot wire around the coop itself with that kind of system, electrified only at night. Placed strategically it could make life hard on coons,rodents, and snakes.

I've got lots of ideas like that for when I finally get moved and get my chickens, I'll be happy to share if you guys want. Hope you get some use out of it.

- Scott

 

[Peepthis541]

Quote:
Hey Scott!
Welcome to BYC and thanks for your contribution to this thread! It's getting very cool with all the input!
You talked about a cheap drill and reversible directions in your post. Do you have experience with using a drill? I wonder exactly how cheap can a drill be? Cheaper than a $4-15 motor? And I know how to reverse a drill when its a drill, but assuming its disassembled, how would you control the rotation? Seems challenging to me. And still something I don't understand about these small reversible motors I am seeing online.

And then, Re: power. I don't quite understand why some might prefer making this system battery powered. Wouldn't you be concerned about that day when the batteries run out and the door doesn't close/open?

I like your idea of using solar, but I just have the feeling it would be too risky as well, similar to using batteries. Like, what if something obscures the sensor, a fallen leaf, or dirt? Or what about cloudy days?

Sorry if this is very "devil's advocate", but its just my method of brainstorming, finding the perfect (in my mind solution.

I really like the use of the electrical contact to close or open the flow of energy or act as a switch. I would love to learn more about this and potentially incorporate it into the design.

 

[aiwetir]

battery power so you don't have to run +100' of cord out to it. a car or motorcycle batt would be fine with cheap solar recharger. although this is probably about the same or similar cost to +100' of cord, i'd have to do some price comparisons. harbor freight has some very cheap solar battery chargers - (you often get what you pay for)

if you are using a car battery or such, it's easier to switch the polarity by just having 2 timers hooked up oppositely to the poles, one that opens with positive flow one that closes with negative flow. the timers must remain on another circuit that doesn't get interrupted as the timed ones do of course.

as far as obscuring your panel with leaves, the larger ones won't get obscured by leaves if tilted steep enough. the setting of the sun is much darker than any cloudy day, but i'm just not sure how reliable that is

right now my chickens go to bed within 15 min of sunset, but my buddies go to bed sometimes (he says) an hour after sunset (but i think he leaves a light on out there or something)

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Scott, you've got some great ideas... not bad for one of your first posts here at BYC!!

A few comments on your ideas:

A cordless drill is a great idea! Perfect speed and torque and already has a battery and a VERY easy way to insert a threaded bold into the chuck!

A switch could easily be mounted at the top of the door (for a drawbridge) or at the bottom of a door (for a guillotine version) to cut power to the motor... I like it!

I definitely agree with Peepthis regarding the light sensor. You'd need to make absolutely sure that the door doesn't close during a very cloudy day, from shade, or eclipse. I've played with a lot of photocells over the years, and the good news is that you can use a circuit and trim potentiometer to dial in how sensitive it is. I'd set it so it only closes when it is almost pitch black. I was working with a super genius friend (he works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on their circuits) and was walking me through a REALLY fancy circuit that could measure light and watch to make sure the amount of light was decreasing steadily so there was no chance the door would close or open accidentally. Sounded fun, but way too complicated for what I need.

I think you could get away with a photocell that is dialed in so it closed the door in total darkness (taking direct moonlight and ambient porch lights, etc. into account) and then opened the door when it got sufficiently light.

You are right on the money with regard to the dual alarm clock / relay idea. I had envisioned two cheapo digital alarm clocks running off a single AA cell, one would power the motor in one direction at night (limit switch cutting power when closed) and one would go the other direction in the morning (limit switch cutting power when open).


We need to be careful so we aren't just re-inventing the wheel. There are existing auto coop door openers and closers on the market that work with sensors and timers and are battery operated, but they are about $200. I'd like to have a reproducible system that is 1/4 the price but works just as well, if not better.

 

[Sappy]

Hiya Peepthis541,
Glad to join in on the discussion. Like I said, I've been tossing around ideas for something like this in my head anyway, so I thought I'd throw out some ideas. Until I'm moved and we're building the coop (at mom and dad's place actually) they're all just ideas. They don't let a guy build chicken coops in apts in Hollyweird, sadly enough. heh

You can get a cordless drill pretty cheap these days. I've seen them at Harbor Freight for 15 bucks before, probably even less. Right now they're a little more expensive. The reasoning behind the cordless drill is that it would have plenty of torque, no problems there. Also, with the electrical contact on the door, you wouldn't necessarily need a latch. Reason is as I said: Even if something were trying to get in the door at night, as soon as the drawbridge door was no longer making electrical contact with the contact on the coop frame, the motor would power on again and try to close it again. Ever put your hand around a cordless drill chuck on the low RPM setting and try to stop it? Plenty of torque there to keep the door closed.

All that reverses those drill motors is a reversal of polarity. The switch in the drill that does that just flips the polarity of power applied to the motor. You could do the same thing with a number of ways... with a relay or two for example. This circuit only needs to actually be turned on twice a day, once for opening, once for closing. Whether you used timers, or alarm clocks, or designed a simple IC timing circuit to do this... when the signal comes saying "hey, it's daytime!" that signal could be applied to one relay, let's call it the Daytime relay. That relay is wired to apply the proper polarity to the motor for it to let out the cable for the drawbridge, and open the coop. So when that relay receives the "daytime" signal it trips and does that. Likewise, when the timer, alarm clock, or IC circuit decided it was night time, that alarm or signal would trip the relay the other way, reversing polarity to the motor so that when the motor turned on it would roll up the cable, closing the drawbridge.

If you need to understand some basic info about how relays and basic electronics work Radio Shack used to put out some simple little booklets for that. I'm not sure if they still do. I'm sure someone must still publish a booklet on simple relays, motors, etc. I'm also not sure how much knowledge folks on this thread have about the subject so I don't want to explain things in too simplistic a form... I also don't have time to teach a semester of Tech School But I will try to help.

Some other thoughts about using a cheap cordless drill: I think most have some sort ofgearing inside, so you're not trying to use a 10,000 RPM motor for a 50 RPM job. It's got a chuck, making it easy to chuck up to whatever shaft or pulley you would want to use. When you take into account the cost, also take into account the cost of gears, pulleys, etc you'd need when using the 4 dollar motor. Also, make sure the $4 dollar motor would have the muscle to do the job you want it to do. A drill motor would see this door opening/closing job as pretty light duty, so it would be reliable. If the $4 motor is working close to the limitsof it's strength, sooner or later it's going to give out on you. It goes without saying that it would do so at an inconvenient time, Murphy's Law. When I go to the trouble to build something, I always try to overbuild it by what I'm certain is a safe margin. That said I haven't checked out the motors you are talking about either.

Regarding the battery issue, you wouldn't just leave it with no power applied, I figured that was clear. You would either have the system plugged in to 120VAC, or be using a solar panel as I'd mentioned. Either way, the battery is getting refreshed. You'd have to solder some wires onto the contacts in the drill that the battery connects to, and use a power supply of the same voltage as the drill. 12V for a 12V drill for example. For 120VAC operation, the power supply the drill came with would probably work fine if it's one of the kind that just has a simple plug that plugs into the drill itself. If you were running a solar setup, an appropriately sized solar panel would be your power supply to the battery... and to the rest of the system. Harbor Freight has 5W solar panels for 39 bucks, pretty cheap. At one time they had a 1.5W battery tender solar panel for 10 bucks, even that would probably work for something like this.

Do you live in a very rural area? The reason the battery would be nice is because sometimes in a rural area, power can go out for a day or two. I remember 24 hour power outages happening a couple times a year when I was growing up. My aunt and uncle's county in IL lost electricity for 4 days on Thanksgiving weekend a couple years back... that made for unhappy folks on turkey day let me tell you. Even St. Louis MO has had 3-7 day power outages a few times in the last few years. The power needs of something like this would be very modest, but there still must be power for it to work. If you live in an area where the power goes out now and then, a setup like I'm proposing... running only on the battery even without the solar power option... would work just fine for a few days.

Regarding the sensor - like the rest of this, it's just ideas I've been mulling around, and anyone else using them would have to put some of their own common sense and creativity into it to make it work. I'd arrange it in such a way that a leaf or something couldn't land on it and obscure enough of it to keep it from working. Maybe mount it in a little box in a corner of the coop's window? That would keep it waterproof and leaf proof. If one went the full solar panel option, you'd have to have your coop away from trees shedding leaves in the fall, or be willing to sweep them off of the panel at feeding time. i doubt enough would fall on it and stick to totally obscure an entire panel though.

The electrical contact could be as simple as a strip of aluminum or tin on the edge of the drawbridge, and another similar strip on the coop that make contact when the drawbridge is up.

Hope that clears some things up. Like I said, it's all just ideas until I move and have the opportunity to actually build something, but I thought some of the ideas might be helpful to the others trying to do something like this now.

- Scott