New take on Automatic Coop Door - Linear Actuator

[DaveWilliamsTX]

Hi everyone, I'm curious what you all think of the automatic door I put together. I've been using it for about 2 years now, and its been flawless...so I figured it would be nice to share with the world. I had a lot of trouble with an off-the-shelf door, and this one has had none of the sticking, jamming, or critter problems that my last door had. It replaces the motor/string set up with a linear actuator and some drawer sliders. Linear actuators cant be moved by critters, so no locking mechanism is needed when the door is down.

Best way to explain it is probably this youtube video I made (safe for work/family):

Writing it all out here would take a while, but I did do a blog post with schematics of the wiring etc... You can see it here: http://bambamsclub.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/a-better-automatic-chicken-coop-door/

Really interested if anyone has any thoughts or improvement ideas, I've not seen anyone use an actuator before but I could be missing something.

Thanks!
Dave

Here it is on my new coop:

 

[nohbudi]

The idea has crossed my mind before. The motion control scheme has gone more towards the newest AB Micrologix PLCs, or perhaps the dirt cheap Raspberry PI with a Gert Board attachment. Either solution would allow for time, or light-level control options. The Raspberry solution would be particularly attractive in your coop due to the very low power requirements. Other advantages are the network integration and how simple the addition of a stream capable camera can be added.

 

[DaveWilliamsTX]

The idea has crossed my mind before. The motion control scheme has gone more towards the newest AB Micrologix PLCs, or perhaps the dirt cheap Raspberry PI with a Gert Board attachment. Either solution would allow for time, or light-level control options. The Raspberry solution would be particularly attractive in your coop due to the very low power requirements. Other advantages are the network integration and how simple the addition of a stream capable camera can be added.

Yea, nohbudi, I would have really liked to do an arduino or raspberry pi based controller, but the power draw (while still pretty small) means you need a pretty potent solar panel and battery. Even at idle a Pi draws like 200mA (2.4 watts at 12 volts). You'd need at least a 10W panel and really good solar exposure to make this work and have anything in reseve for cloudy days. If you hard-wired it to power it could be awesome though! I would love to do a camera....

 

[Mouthpear]

It has been a while since you posted this and am wondering how those rails are doing? All the ones I have ever seen, that are left exposed to the elements, get rusted and fall apart.