Help! Problem with Automatic Door- Ador1

[angelbabyamy]

Hope I'm I the right place for this, I haven't been on here in ages. I have a 2 year old Ador1 automatic door that is mounted internally and we have an external sensor. For the past month, it has been inconsistent with opening and closing. Not opening at all, not closing, etc. We ordered a new external sensor and installed it a few days ago. It is set to be more sensitive. ( or the one that opens a little earlier and closes later- my husband does it for me) and we also have the last call feature enabled.

I cam home from work yesterday and ALL my chickens were scattered around in various places because the door shut too early. My husband re-programmed it again and I am home tonight to chickens outside again. Today was a beautiful clear and sunny day. I am incredibly upset because I have to go out of town for a work related training Thursday night and will probably get home at 8pm on Friday. I also have to be out of town the first week of February. My husband works 4pm to 4am and my closest family is over an hour away and I have no friends or neighbors to track down 100 plus chickens for me. I love this door because I work FT and am gone 11 hours a day.

Has anyone else had this happen? It worked very well until recently, We changed the battery too. I am in a rural area with a river close by and there are owls, skunks, opossums and raccoons seen on a regular basis. I don't want to lose all of my chickens!

 

[Why Did The Chicken Cross]

Is there anyway you can leave them in the coop on Thursday night and then your husband can let them out when he gets home at 4AM Friday?

Have you tried calling the number on their website?

 

[angelbabyamy]

I thought about locking them up, but I would have to leave them in there all day. I have to leave Thursday afternoon. I have 100 + chickens and they are pretty tight in my chicken house. They free range during the day- no fences. But that is an option.
No, I haven't tried to call them because I am at work. I don't understand it, my husband does it. I will try to call tomorrow. I wish they had e-mail support.

 

[Why Did The Chicken Cross]

What did you decide to do?

 

[deechik]

Hi! I'm new here... and having a problem with my Ador1. Same type of problem - door not opening/closing. Battery seems fine according to tester. I have 2 batteries - when I take one out and put the new one in, the door operates for one cycle, then quits again. I was wondering if it is due to the cold snap, but I'll be very disappointed if that is the case. I need a door that opens/closes year round. I've had the door since April '15 and haven't had any issues until now.

In any case, I was curious if you found any answer. I have emailed the address in the user manual (yesterday) and haven't heard back, but it is the weekend. I will try to call on Monday. The email address I found is [email protected]

Thanks for any insight you may have.

-dee

 

[Beulah trash]

Get on amazon, and order: dpdt relay, a photo switch and a linear actuator. (Ispent less than$70.00 for a 200 pound actuator) Of the voltage you are using. I used 12 with a solar panel. This way you have industrial electronics. The premade doors are junk. I can give better instruction if needed. It sounds like your door has a bad relay or photo switch.

 

[deechik]

Hi! I'm new here... and having a problem with my Ador1. Same type of problem - door not opening/closing. Battery seems fine according to tester. I have 2 batteries - when I take one out and put the new one in, the door operates for one cycle, then quits again. I was wondering if it is due to the cold snap, but I'll be very disappointed if that is the case. I need a door that opens/closes year round. I've had the door since April '15 and haven't had any issues until now.

In any case, I was curious if you found any answer. I have emailed the address in the user manual (yesterday) and haven't heard back, but it is the weekend. I will try to call on Monday. The email address I found is [email protected]

Thanks for any insight you may have.

-dee

To update, I was able to reach Ron of AdorStore first thing this morning. He walked us through testing various components. Seems the motor is drawing too much voltage. He is sending a replacement today since the unit is still under warranty.

I want to let people know that if you have this door, the owner is very helpful. Technology fails at times - I'm glad that we are able to have a fairly speedy resolution.

 

[pfields]

I found that the option to open early close later didn't work for me either. I had to install a light on the outside of the coop that was hooked up to a timer inside the coop, then run the sensor up to that light on the outside of the coop. I set the timer to have the light come on in the morning and then again at dark. So far that has worked for me. I have two Ador doors. The first one is in the old coop and for that one I hung a light on the inside of the coop that was attached to the hardware cloth above the door. I used a timer to open and shut the door when I wanted it to. On that coop there was no way for me to install a light fixture on the outside of the coop.

The light was attached to the inside of the coop above the Ador in the old coop.

Here's the sensor under the light outside the new coop.

My Ador door on the old coop doesn't beep anymore before it opens or shuts. My older chickens were quick to learn that sound but now I have 32 five week old pullets and the door on their coop won't beep so they don't know ahead of time when it's going to open. Just now I went outside to check on them and sure enough about 6 of them were shut out of the coop.

If we just had a timer option on the door itself it would solve so many problems. You could set the time to open and shut and just make sure your batteries were good.

 

[FridayYet]

Mine has been working perfectly for about a year now. I'm glad it works on a light sensor, wouldn't want to adjust it all the time for longer or shorter days.

The "last call" setting should be available on your unit, which opens the door again after a few minutes to let stragglers in. I used it for the first few weeks, then turned that option off. might be a good idea until your young ones get the hang of things.

 

[pfields]

I never could get mine to open when I wanted by the built in light sensor on the unit. My coop faces west so the morning light didn't hit it early enough. So far the external light sensor with a light works great and I don't have to change the time frequently.

I hadn't thought about the last call feature, since I never could get option 2 to work and only 1 with a light on both of my doors, I've been hesitant to try the last call feature. I may try that tomorrow.