Door Closed Indication

[CapeReds]

Our coop has an automatic door for the winter and I am thinking about putting another one in the run so that they can go out and free range every day. I would like to rig up some sort of confirmation light so that we can look out in the dark and know that the door has closed. Any ideas , or has any one done this yet?

 

[CapeReds]

No help, but just incase someone else wants inspiration. Low tech is best. I have decided to put some reflective tape at the top of the door that will only be evident when the door is closed.

 

[Blooie]

I just saw your post this morning. I probably wouldn't have been able to help you with your question, but wanted to say that I think your solution was brilliant! Easy, no extra work rigging a complex system - simple is always best! Nice job!

 

[Eggsoteric]

I just now saw this. We have 2 auto doors on the large tractor and we did exactly as you did. We put reflective tape at the top so it's only visible when the door is closed.

 

[Toddrick]

I think Ador1 and Pullet doors have LED jumpers on their boards. Lookup the documentation on the manufacturers website.

 

[CapeReds]

The high tech option is to use a door alarm contact switch with an LED christmas light. The idea is to have the timer cycle on to run the door and stay on for an hour or so so that we could look out the window and see the light on. With the reflective tape, its necessary to use a flashlight to see if the door has closed. Not bad unless you have helpers who don't put things back, like flashlights.

If I could be sure that the sliding action of the door was perfect and it would not get hung up, then it would be very easy just to have the light come on showing that the door motor got power and cycled.

Our house has a wireless system, zwave, that controls many of the lights. It can turn the lights on/off based on actual sunrise sunset. and can be done by a smartphone. Controlling the door with this system is easy with a plug in adapter.

 

[Cacique500]

My ADOR1 is mounted where we can't see it from the house...so I'm planning on running string from the top of the door panel, over a bobbin, out the hardware cloth, and then tied to a large fishing bobber. I should be able to tell if the bobber is "up" (door closed) or "down" (door open). Waiting for some final siding work before I install it but on paper it looks like it'll work!

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

Radio Shack has nice, small leaf switches and led bulbs as well as all the stuff to make a battery powered light setup. Your library is a good source for books with diagrams and everything else or you can use the internet for those. I wouldn't be surprised if you could not find a U-Tube video of how to wire this light and switch up. That is the high tech method.

For a string operated remote, if the bobber doesn't work well, just substitute a nice triangle flag, that will definitely be easy to see.