Cooptender coop door problems help needed

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Now that I am on my Christmas break I want to finally deal with my cooptender mess. We contacted cooptender again and they said it’s possible that the control panel is broken and we could order a new one for 175$. That is not going to happen. So I took the coop apart and will harvest the motor, the drive and the switch controller and see if a good old fashion timer will work. I was hoping someone could help we with the wires. I took some pictures of what I have before I disconnect everything. I also have a timer not pictured. Any help is appreciated.

They don't sound like they have very good technical support. If it worked when you hooked it up to solar, it (the control panel) works. Period.

Now that you have it apart you need to determine if 120VAC is getting to the DC power supply, and if it is outputting 15VDC.

 

[Zwillingsmama]

June bug it wasn’t working properly after all. But since I live in sunny California we discovered that only on a rainy day. Something seems to drain the battery overnight - once the sun is out the lights come back up and the door opens. During the day there seems to be enough solar left to make it close at sun set Unless it’s cloudy/ rainy than it stays open until the next sunny day.
The coop tender support sucks. They also offered I can ship it back and forth on my expense, repair it for $20 labor plus all the parts. That can add up fast for more than it is worth.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Something seems to drain the battery overnight...

I have an idea or two why that might be. First have to figure out if the DC p/s works. Have you done that yet?

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Something you could also do is test the blocking diode on the solar panel. If it's bad that would explain the battery discharging overnight.

 

[Zwillingsmama]

We have 2 solar panels and it’s doing the same thing on either so i think it’s not the panel.
We are trying to measure the output but are not getting any readings. I guess we are just not sure where to put the meter.

 

[Zwillingsmama]

I am pretty sure something is wrong with the switch (picture below). The ac runs through that thing and we get no reading on the other side. Same is with dc. The solar cables are the only way to connect the door circumventing the switch and we get a reading from the battery. That still does not explain to me why the battery is draining with no sunshine. I can try to contact cooptender and see if they are selling a new switch ( it’s not on their part list) or is there a makeshift switch I can make to see if that would work without spending money

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

We have 2 solar panels and it’s doing the same thing on either so i think it’s not the panel.

Are they connected in parallel or in series? If in parallel one bad blocking diode would drain the battery.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I am pretty sure something is wrong with the switch (picture below). The ac runs through that thing and we get no reading on the other side. Same is with dc.

If you would, please, pull out the fuse box on the switch and take a picture of it, the fuses and the inside where the fuse box plugs into.

 

[Zwillingsmama]

If you would, please, pull out the fuse box on the switch and take a picture of it, the fuses and the inside where the fuse box plugs into.

 

[jthornton]

@HenOnAJuneBug is that a double pole switch that turns off both the AC side and the DC side? IIRC you have this same door?

JT