How to run an electric coop door off a 12 v car battery and a 12 v DC timer

[Wenham Hens]

Hi,

this is my first flock. 7 beautiful girls, and 6 are laying. The coop is about 100' from the nearest source of power, so i am determined to run the electric coop door off a 12 volt car battery with a 12 v DC timer.

I've got the electric motor and coop door installed, and they have been running off a long extension cord with a manual lamp timer perfectly for the past 2 weeks.

Next I bought a 15 watt solar trickle charger and connected it to a good 12 v old car battery. The pv panel, charger, controller and battery condition indicator are all running perfectly,so I went ahead and bought a timer.

I thought the timer was a 12 volt DC timer. It didn't work, and it turns out that the timer uses AC power to run a 12 volt DC motor. That wasn't clear in the instructions, and I don't have any experience with electrical terms, so I bought the wrong product. Fortunately it was only $15, so it's not a problem.

What I need is someone to point me to the correct timer device that uses 12 v DC power to run a 12 v DC motor.

Any help would be appreciated.

Alden

 

[jbirds2012]

here's a website that sells chicken doors http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/ i would also google "chicken doors" and shop around. good luck to ya

 

[Mehjr10]

Altronix makes a timer that will open a door and keep it open for a program length of time. You can call and talk to their tech guy.

I used two 12vdc timers made by Diehl - http://www.borggeneral.com/digital-timer-series884.html. One to open one to close. I did this because i had them on hand.

Search for 12vdc event timers.