Cooptender coop door problems help needed

[HenOnAJuneBug]

@jthornton ,
something's not making sense. She said there is a short on the switch's right side between the AC post and the top fuse bracket directly below it, and an open circuit on the left side (looking at the switch from the front). They should both be shorts, but I think they severed one side to allow the DC to go through one side of the switch (instead of AC common as the switch was designed for).

She also said the wire that goes to the battery is the middle wire on the right side, which IMO has to be connected to the AC post (if what she said is right). If there was an open circuit on the right side and a short on the left side, that would make sense to me. But the way it looks to me based on what she said is that the AC is connected to the DC.

 

[Zwillingsmama]

June bug you must have edited your instructions for further measurements- anyhow took another pictures which’s shows the battery hook up wire. Also want to be clear where to meassure - if you refer to left or right side do you have the front or back side in mind?
The red stuff is plastic and not easy to scrape off.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Also want to be clear where to meassure - if you refer to left or right side do you have the front or back side in mind?
The red stuff is plastic and not easy to scrape off.

JT made this nifty picture with instructions to measure resistance. You responded that you measured zero ohms on one side and infinite ohms on the other side (you used different words). Looking from the front, which side read zero ohms?

 

[Zwillingsmama]

From front- left side infinite- right side 0 - I just wanted to make sure we are on the same page.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

From front- left side infinite- right side 0 - I just wanted to make sure we are on the same page.

That's what I was afraid of. They sure made life difficult by putting that plastic on the solder joints. Not necessary at all. I really need to see what's behind it on 2 connections. But before we do that can you take a picture, or describe, where the black wire directly above the one that says "battery" goes. I'm assuming it goes to either CN1 or CN2 on the power supply (in the 2nd picture below see CN2 labeled on the printed circuit board next to white ConNector at top)

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

@Zwillingsmama,
There's a simple way you can test if the switch is working. In the picture below there are two wires coming out of the bottom of the switch. Directly above each connection there is a metal tab. If you place a test lead on a connection and the other test lead on the tab directly above it, you should be able to read zero resistance and infinite resistance when you turn the switch on and off. You'll have to make sure that each test lead is actually touching metal rather than that red plastic stuff.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

@Zwillingsmama,
Here's something else we can do. Let's assume for the moment that everything pertaining to the door is working as it should. Would you please take a picture of the back of your solar panel. I'm assuming that there is a little plastic box on the back that contains a blocking diode. If there is, open the box and take a picture of its contents.

You mentioned earlier that you have 2 solar panels. Do you use them together, or does one only serve as a backup?

 

[Zwillingsmama]

Red goes to cn1. I took 2 pics and labeled the wires 1-5. 3 goes to battery.

 

[Zwillingsmama]

@Zwillingsmama,
Here's something else we can do. Let's assume for the moment that everything pertaining to the door is working as it should. Would you please take a picture of the back of your solar panel. I'm assuming that there is a little plastic box on the back that contains a blocking diode. If there is, open the box and take a picture of its contents.

You mentioned earlier that you have 2 solar panels. Do you use them together, or does one only serve as a backup?

Here is a picture of the back of the solar panel. Do you also need to see the solar charge controller? We have 2 solar panels. 1 for the electric fence and 1 for the coop door. They are not connected. But using either made no difference for the door. We switched at one point the panels to see if that made a difference but the door problem persisted with either panel. I wait with the switch measurement for my husband to come home

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Red goes to cn1. I took 2 pics and labeled the wires 1-5. 3 goes to battery.

This is excellent. Has your system ever worked with AC power? It looks to me like it's not even wired to run on AC.