Coop Door Opener / Automatic - Recommendations

[BakkDad]

Looking for recommendations for auto coop door opener. Hoping to hear feedback from folks that have used a specific type.. i.e. pros / cons. I have a coop door installed to slide open and closed and currently using a rope accessible from the outside. So I don't need the entire door mechanism, just something to open the door based on a timer and/or a dusk/dawn sensor (battery or electric). A solar solution sounded appealing at first but, based on the research I've done, seems a bit complicated with lots of components inside the coop. Input would be appreciated.

 

[Mr. Barred Rock]

Looking for recommendations for auto coop door opener. Hoping to hear feedback from folks that have used a specific type.. i.e. pros / cons. I have a coop door installed to slide open and closed and currently using a rope accessible from the outside. So I don't need the entire door mechanism, just something to open the door based on a timer and/or a dusk/dawn sensor (battery or electric). A solar solution sounded appealing at first but, based on the research I've done, seems a bit complicated with lots of components inside the coop. Input would be appreciated.

Mr. BakkDad have you thought about using a Raspberry Pi3 if your a little handy it would work well and be fairly cheap. Well under a hundred dollars and if you enjoy messing with things you can keep expanding the program and accessories to do much more. Texting or email notification, dimmable lights ect. There is alot of info on the net and also here. Most are very good, but some are very complex I have one I have been working on that is pretty simple. Does not have a lot of bells and whistles, but you can add to it as you get the time. If interested I would be glad to share.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I've been using the ardor1 for 3 years now. It is battery operated with a solar sensor to detect the amount of light. Easy to install. Easy to replace the batteries when needed. The only time I've had to replace them is when the temps are consistently below zero and the colder it is - it drains batteries. Usually it happens in negative temps.
It has different settings if you want it to open or close later.
The only issue I would label as a con is that when the battery drains you have to jog the switch and pull up on the door to let the chickens out if you didn't replace it soon enough.
Other than that, it has worked consistently for the past 3 yrs.

 

[BakkDad]

Mr. BakkDad have you thought about using a Raspberry Pi3 if your a little handy it would work well and be fairly cheap. Well under a hundred dollars and if you enjoy messing with things you can keep expanding the program and accessories to do much more. Texting or email notification, dimmable lights ect. There is alot of info on the net and also here. Most are very good, but some are very complex I have one I have been working on that is pretty simple. Does not have a lot of bells and whistles, but you can add to it as you get the time. If interested I would be glad to share.

Mr. Barred Rock.. Thanks for your information. I looked at the Raspberry Pi3 briefly. Is it for coop doors? Can you help me disipher this information? Maybe share you specific setup? Thank you

 

[BakkDad]

I've been using the ardor1 for 3 years now. It is battery operated with a solar sensor to detect the amount of light. Easy to install. Easy to replace the batteries when needed. The only time I've had to replace them is when the temps are consistently below zero and the colder it is - it drains batteries. Usually it happens in negative temps.
It has different settings if you want it to open or close later.
The only issue I would label as a con is that when the battery drains you have to jog the switch and pull up on the door to let the chickens out if you didn't replace it soon enough.
Other than that, it has worked consistently for the past 3 yrs.

Thanks for your reply .. I was hoping to find just the opener motor, not the entire door assembly. This one looks cool though!

 

[Mr. Barred Rock]

Mr. Barred Rock.. Thanks for your information. I looked at the Raspberry Pi3 briefly. Is it for coop doors? Can you help me disipher this information? Maybe share you specific setup? Thank you

Mr. Barred Rock.. Thanks for your information. I looked at the Raspberry Pi3 briefly. Is it for coop doors? Can you help me disipher this information? Maybe share you specific setup? Thank you

Yes will be glad two share, the Pi3 is just a small PC with lots of bells and whistles. The man thing is it has inputs and outputs so with some coding you can run motors, lights, home automation, an much more. Fun to play with and learn and tons of info on the net to help. JT has a post in this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/raspberry-pi3-chicken-coop-door.1402438/
that will help you get the Pi3 up and running he says he prefers the lite version I have the desktop. By far I am still learning a lot of this been working on a reliable door for a couple of years off and on.(keep running out of time) I am very happy with what I have running now I like something that works, but not over thought. I call it my KISS coop door. I will start up loading the info as soon as possible. If you can get the Pi3 loaded from there its pretty simple. If you get into it and have problems I will try to help all I can.

 

[Big Doggie]

Looking for recommendations for auto coop door opener. Hoping to hear feedback from folks that have used a specific type.. i.e. pros / cons. I have a coop door installed to slide open and closed and currently using a rope accessible from the outside. So I don't need the entire door mechanism, just something to open the door based on a timer and/or a dusk/dawn sensor (battery or electric). A solar solution sounded appealing at first but, based on the research I've done, seems a bit complicated with lots of components inside the coop. Input would be appreciated.

I’m using the Omlet door system. Have been using it for only 2 months ( I’m a newbie) but it has worked flawlessly.

 

[Mr. Barred Rock]

Yes will be glad two share, the Pi3 is just a small PC with lots of bells and whistles. The man thing is it has inputs and outputs so with some coding you can run motors, lights, home automation, an much more. Fun to play with and learn and tons of info on the net to help. JT has a post in this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/raspberry-pi3-chicken-coop-door.1402438/
that will help you get the Pi3 up and running he says he prefers the lite version I have the desktop. By far I am still learning a lot of this been working on a reliable door for a couple of years off and on.(keep running out of time) I am very happy with what I have running now I like something that works, but not over thought. I call it my KISS coop door. I will start up loading the info as soon as possible. If you can get the Pi3 loaded from there its pretty simple. If you get into it and have problems I will try to help all I can.

Kiss Chicken Coop Door

(Keep it simple stupid)

I have seen a lot of automatic chicken coop doors on the net, most take a lot of knowledge to make happen. I have tried a few different ones most are great, but just not simple. You need an engineer degree or a programing degree to make it happen. That why I decided to keep it simple, my door is very simple and you can design into it what every you want as time goes, but in the mean time you have a working door. So on with the door.

What we will need.

• 2 x 4 x 8
• 12 volt motor ( I used a window motor form a car door slow speed lots of torque and have of a pulley more on that later)
• Piece of thin aluminum size of door I used an aluminum commercial baking sheet
• Some fishing line I used Spider wire
• Pi3 (and the norms keyboard, mouse, monitor)
• Motor Controller L298N
• Some braided wire and some male to male and female to female jumpers
• Power supply for Pi3 and a 12 DC power supply for door motor
• Pi3 (is what I have) and a micro SD card ( I used a 32GB card)

Step 1
Okay to start we need to make the door I bought this used commercial baking sheet from a scrap metal supplier for a buck used what every you can find my door is a little taller I have some turkeys in my run also. I just sawed the edges off to make a flat light weight door. Then I drilled a hole in the top center about a ½ inch down to tie my fishing line into to lift door. Picture 1

Step 2
Next we need a set of tracks for the door to run. I ran my 2 x 4 x 8 thru a table saw, you can use a skill saw, router whatever you have just be careful and know what you are doing or get someone to do it for you. I started the slot about ½ in from the edge ran it the length of 2 x 4 then cut the 2 x 4 in half. This will give you a track for both sides of the door. Make the slot a little wider than the thickness of your door so it will slide easily and not bind. Now install your tracks inside your coop. Slide your door inside them and screw them to the wall of your coop keeping the slot side towards the wall. Also keep your screws back from the edges on the slot side so that you don’t stick a screw thru the slot. Space your 2 x 4 with slots about ¼ inch wider than your door to allow a little space to keep door from binding when going up and down. Picture 2

Step 3
Now install your motor so that the center of your pulley is center of the door. Keeping it high enough for your door to open all the way and some extra space for your string. (Mine is about 20 inches higher than my opened door) I used a car window motor it has a small gear boxed attached so it runs very slow up and down.

Step 4
Setting up the Pi. There are tons of info on the net on getting the Pi up and running. This is the official site if you click on link then read thru the info this should get you going goes in steps you can click on from the left side of the page.
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up
I have a Pi3 like I said in the beginning I not much on programming, learning as I go that’s why I love the Pi. So for all the experts out there I’m sure I have a lot of coding mistakes and may be an easier way of doing this, but everything I looked at and tried had pages of code. So that’s why I came up with this, basically you have a python script that tells door to open and another one to tell it to close. Then I use a crontab to tell which script when to run. Pretty simple. You will need your Pi, your L298N motor controller and I used
1 yellow female to female
1 blue female to female
1 orange female to female
1 black female to male
1 red female to male jumper wire like you use with Pi and breadboards (you can use any color you like)
A couple of lengths of wire pairs one to go from 12 VDC power supply to the motor controller and then one to go from controller to DC motor.

On the L298N for this we are going to pull all the jumpers off the board.
Out1 and out2 goes to the DC motor
Plus 12VDC goes to the positive side of your 12 VDC power supply
GND goes to the ground side of your power supply and to Pin 39 of the Pi
ENA goes to Pi pin 22
In 1 goes to Pi pin 16
In2 goes to Pi pin 18

Now, I did add some code that will text me when the door opens and again when it shuts. For this you would have to set up a Twilio account and have internet Wi-Fi available. I did not include the texting part of the code, this is basic and simple. If you look down thru the code you will see the sleep 1.5 this will set the amount of time your motor will run. You will need to have door open, run the closed code manually and figure out how much longer you need to run it to close all the way. For example to get your door to close if you have to run the close 4 times to shut door than you would take 4 x 1.5 equals 6 that would be what you change the sleep time on open and close from 1.5 to 6 then run open if it does not open all the way then adjust accordingly both open and close should be set the same. On my setup my sleep is set at 7.5, depending on your motor speed and height of door and height it needs to raise door yours will vary. When you are working on this be prepared to unplug one of the wire if you need to stop motor till code times out (I have alligator clips so I can disconnect in a hurry if something goes wrong making adjustments) Here are the open and close scripts, if you are using a windows computer you can download Kate a text editor open up a new window copy and paste the Open code in it and save it as Open.py and same for close. Then transfer it to the desktop of the Pi.

# This is the Door Open Code

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from time import sleep
import time
from datetime import datetime
from twilio.rest import Client


GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
 
Motor1A = 16
Motor1B = 18
Motor1E = 22



GPIO.setup(Motor1A,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1B,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1E,GPIO.OUT)

               print ("Turning motor on")
GPIO.output(Motor1A,GPIO.HIGH)
GPIO.output(Motor1B,GPIO.LOW)
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.HIGH)
 
# Edit sleep(1.5) controls the length of time motor runs
#.5 is short 1.5 runs longer

sleep(1.5)
 
print ("Stopping motor")
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.LOW)

 
GPIO.cleanup()

# This is the Door Close Code

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from time import sleep
import time
from datetime import datetime
from twilio.rest import Client


GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
 
Motor1A = 16
Motor1B = 18
Motor1E = 22
 
GPIO.setup(Motor1A,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1B,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1E,GPIO.OUT)

              print ("Turning motor on")
GPIO.output(Motor1A,GPIO.LOW)
GPIO.output(Motor1B,GPIO.HIGH)
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.HIGH)
 
# Edit sleep(1.5) controls the length of time motor runs
#.5 is short 1.5 runs longer

sleep(1.5)
 
print ("Stopping motor")
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.LOW)


GPIO.cleanup()

This is the crontab

To edit the crontab bring up terminal and type in
crontab –e
should bring up something like this

# For details see man 4 crontabs

# Example of job definition:
# .---------------- minute (0 - 59)
# | .------------- hour (0 - 23)
# | | .---------- day of month (1 - 31)
# | | | .------- month (1 - 12) OR jan,feb,mar,apr ...
# | | | | .---- day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0 or 7) OR sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat
# | | | | |
# * * * * * user-name command to be executed

Use the arrow keys and scroll down below this and start typing in your job you need and when you want it done. Anytime you have the # sign in front of a line of code it will be ignored it is just used to write in notes so you can remember what’s going on. I saved my Open.py and my Close.py to my desktop so it would be easy to access in the future if I need to run it manually. This will run the Open.py at 5:30 am every morning of everyday and the Close.py at 9:00 pm every evening of every day. This time will need to be adjusted for you and from time to time depending on day light dark and when you want it to open and close. Not a big deal open terminal type in crontab –e scroll down using arrow keys on keyboard then over to the number you are changing with arrow key.





# Open The Door At Certain Time

30 05 * * * python3 /home/pi/Desktop/Open.py



# Close The Door At Certain Time

00 21 * * * python3 /home/pi/Desktop/Close.py

 

[Big Doggie]

Kiss Chicken Coop Door

(Keep it simple stupid)

I have seen a lot of automatic chicken coop doors on the net, most take a lot of knowledge to make happen. I have tried a few different ones most are great, but just not simple. You need an engineer degree or a programing degree to make it happen. That why I decided to keep it simple, my door is very simple and you can design into it what every you want as time goes, but in the mean time you have a working door. So on with the door.

What we will need.

• 2 x 4 x 8
• 12 volt motor ( I used a window motor form a car door slow speed lots of torque and have of a pulley more on that later)
• Piece of thin aluminum size of door I used an aluminum commercial baking sheet
• Some fishing line I used Spider wire
• Pi3 (and the norms keyboard, mouse, monitor)
• Motor Controller L298N
• Some braided wire and some male to male and female to female jumpers
• Power supply for Pi3 and a 12 DC power supply for door motor
• Pi3 (is what I have) and a micro SD card ( I used a 32GB card)

Step 1
Okay to start we need to make the door I bought this used commercial baking sheet from a scrap metal supplier for a buck used what every you can find my door is a little taller I have some turkeys in my run also. I just sawed the edges off to make a flat light weight door. Then I drilled a hole in the top center about a ½ inch down to tie my fishing line into to lift door. Picture 1

Step 2
Next we need a set of tracks for the door to run. I ran my 2 x 4 x 8 thru a table saw, you can use a skill saw, router whatever you have just be careful and know what you are doing or get someone to do it for you. I started the slot about ½ in from the edge ran it the length of 2 x 4 then cut the 2 x 4 in half. This will give you a track for both sides of the door. Make the slot a little wider than the thickness of your door so it will slide easily and not bind. Now install your tracks inside your coop. Slide your door inside them and screw them to the wall of your coop keeping the slot side towards the wall. Also keep your screws back from the edges on the slot side so that you don’t stick a screw thru the slot. Space your 2 x 4 with slots about ¼ inch wider than your door to allow a little space to keep door from binding when going up and down. Picture 2

Step 3
Now install your motor so that the center of your pulley is center of the door. Keeping it high enough for your door to open all the way and some extra space for your string. (Mine is about 20 inches higher than my opened door) I used a car window motor it has a small gear boxed attached so it runs very slow up and down.

Step 4
Setting up the Pi. There are tons of info on the net on getting the Pi up and running. This is the official site if you click on link then read thru the info this should get you going goes in steps you can click on from the left side of the page.
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up
I have a Pi3 like I said in the beginning I not much on programming, learning as I go that’s why I love the Pi. So for all the experts out there I’m sure I have a lot of coding mistakes and may be an easier way of doing this, but everything I looked at and tried had pages of code. So that’s why I came up with this, basically you have a python script that tells door to open and another one to tell it to close. Then I use a crontab to tell which script when to run. Pretty simple. You will need your Pi, your L298N motor controller and I used
1 yellow female to female
1 blue female to female
1 orange female to female
1 black female to male
1 red female to male jumper wire like you use with Pi and breadboards (you can use any color you like)
A couple of lengths of wire pairs one to go from 12 VDC power supply to the motor controller and then one to go from controller to DC motor.

On the L298N for this we are going to pull all the jumpers off the board.
Out1 and out2 goes to the DC motor
Plus 12VDC goes to the positive side of your 12 VDC power supply
GND goes to the ground side of your power supply and to Pin 39 of the Pi
ENA goes to Pi pin 22
In 1 goes to Pi pin 16
In2 goes to Pi pin 18

Now, I did add some code that will text me when the door opens and again when it shuts. For this you would have to set up a Twilio account and have internet Wi-Fi available. I did not include the texting part of the code, this is basic and simple. If you look down thru the code you will see the sleep 1.5 this will set the amount of time your motor will run. You will need to have door open, run the closed code manually and figure out how much longer you need to run it to close all the way. For example to get your door to close if you have to run the close 4 times to shut door than you would take 4 x 1.5 equals 6 that would be what you change the sleep time on open and close from 1.5 to 6 then run open if it does not open all the way then adjust accordingly both open and close should be set the same. On my setup my sleep is set at 7.5, depending on your motor speed and height of door and height it needs to raise door yours will vary. When you are working on this be prepared to unplug one of the wire if you need to stop motor till code times out (I have alligator clips so I can disconnect in a hurry if something goes wrong making adjustments) Here are the open and close scripts, if you are using a windows computer you can download Kate a text editor open up a new window copy and paste the Open code in it and save it as Open.py and same for close. Then transfer it to the desktop of the Pi.

# This is the Door Open Code

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from time import sleep
import time
from datetime import datetime
from twilio.rest import Client


GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

Motor1A = 16
Motor1B = 18
Motor1E = 22



GPIO.setup(Motor1A,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1B,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1E,GPIO.OUT)

               print ("Turning motor on")
GPIO.output(Motor1A,GPIO.HIGH)
GPIO.output(Motor1B,GPIO.LOW)
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.HIGH)

# Edit sleep(1.5) controls the length of time motor runs
#.5 is short 1.5 runs longer

sleep(1.5)

print ("Stopping motor")
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.LOW)


GPIO.cleanup()

# This is the Door Close Code

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from time import sleep
import time
from datetime import datetime
from twilio.rest import Client


GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

Motor1A = 16
Motor1B = 18
Motor1E = 22

GPIO.setup(Motor1A,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1B,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(Motor1E,GPIO.OUT)

              print ("Turning motor on")
GPIO.output(Motor1A,GPIO.LOW)
GPIO.output(Motor1B,GPIO.HIGH)
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.HIGH)

# Edit sleep(1.5) controls the length of time motor runs
#.5 is short 1.5 runs longer

sleep(1.5)

print ("Stopping motor")
GPIO.output(Motor1E,GPIO.LOW)


GPIO.cleanup()

This is the crontab

To edit the crontab bring up terminal and type in
crontab –e
should bring up something like this

# For details see man 4 crontabs

# Example of job definition:
# .---------------- minute (0 - 59)
# | .------------- hour (0 - 23)
# | | .---------- day of month (1 - 31)
# | | | .------- month (1 - 12) OR jan,feb,mar,apr ...
# | | | | .---- day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0 or 7) OR sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat
# | | | | |
# * * * * * user-name command to be executed

Use the arrow keys and scroll down below this and start typing in your job you need and when you want it done. Anytime you have the # sign in front of a line of code it will be ignored it is just used to write in notes so you can remember what’s going on. I saved my Open.py and my Close.py to my desktop so it would be easy to access in the future if I need to run it manually. This will run the Open.py at 5:30 am every morning of everyday and the Close.py at 9:00 pm every evening of every day. This time will need to be adjusted for you and from time to time depending on day light dark and when you want it to open and close. Not a big deal open terminal type in crontab –e scroll down using arrow keys on keyboard then over to the number you are changing with arrow key.





# Open The Door At Certain Time

30 05 * * * python3 /home/pi/Desktop/Open.py



# Close The Door At Certain Time

00 21 * * * python3 /home/pi/Desktop/Close.py

Yeah .... thanks....