DIY Motorized Coop Door

[HomeCastle]

Hi everyone.

I've been building my chicken coop over the last few months and I decided that it should have a motorized door for the coop. It was a fun project. I finished and installed it last week and it's been running great. I'll post some pictures and video of it in operation.

Has anyone else here tried a build your own motorized door? It'd be cool to see what other people came up with.

Here's the full unit installed on the main door.


Here's inside the coop.



The motor comes from a drill, but the drill was a little to strong for the mechanics, so I added this speed controller to dial back the drill a bit. It has a cover plate that goes over this with a dial on it.

 

[Weasleymum]

That is really cool! How much did it cost to make? And could you outfit it with a timer, so that it opens and closes automatically?

 

[HomeCastle]

It would be fairly easy to replace the switch with a couple of timers. I'm out there every morning to do other chores as well, so it's no bother for me to just flip a switch on the side of the coop. But since it's going to start getting darker in the morning when I'm out there, I was thinking about hooking up a light sensor to trigger the opening and closing.

 

[Weasleymum]

It would be fairly easy to replace the switch with a couple of timers. I'm out there every morning to do other chores as well, so it's no bother for me to just flip a switch on the side of the coop. But since it's going to start getting darker in the morning when I'm out there, I was thinking about hooking up a light sensor to trigger the opening and closing.

Thanks! My thinking is, that it would only be worthwhile for me if it is automatic, because otherwise it's just flipping a switch versus pulling a cord. Either way, you've got to be there doing it, and the actual act of tugging the door open or closed doesn't need to be made easier. BUT, if it made it so that you didn't have to be there to put the chickens up at night or let them out in the morning, that would be a huge benefit, and worth building the whole system for.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Pop door radio-antenna

Hokum Coco
Oct 14, 2013 at 1:19 pm
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-5-bucks-with-a-radio-antenna-from-a-junkyard

 

[Mudd Flapp]

Nice set-up. It would be super easy to add a light detector circuit to control you opener. I used an Arduino microprocessor and a photo resistor. I love my opener.