Omlet Auto Door Problem

[Bigfishbobby]

I upgraded ours to the new wifi version and added the light for Christmas. I already miss the older version. The light sensitivity isn’t comparable and is way more sensitive than before. It’s not a big deal until you live in the mountains and it goes from sunny to extremely overcast in a matter of 30 mins. The light constantly comes on and the door opens and closes during the day, despite being on the lowest light setting. The old door controller never did that. Setting it by time renders the idea of setting it and forgetting it useless. The notifications it sends to your phone are the only perk imho.

 

[Bigfishbobby]

Just an additional note to my post above…we actually had a young hen get her head caught on the inside of the Omlet door somehow. We came out and her head was trapped on the inside and her body had contorted and was hanging outside on the ramp. Luckily we were out there early and she recovered after a few days of rest.

 

[UpstateChickenDaddy]

Does the Omlet have a safety sensor to stop it from closing on a hen? I didn’t see any in the pictures and couldn’t tell from the description. I have few issues with my Chickcozy elevator door style apart from stuff getting stuck in the lower rail, preventig closure. I just keep a screwdriver out there and check every few days. But I love the we connectivity in the Omlet

 

[Bigfishbobby]

Yes it does. Where the door meets the jamb it has a pressure switch that runs the length of the jamb. I’ve never had an issue with the door closing on a chicken, only once that it somehow opened on one and caught her in it.

 

[Bawkbok]

we actually had a young hen get her head caught on the inside of the Omlet door somehow.

I had two different chickens that got caught in the door but I was there to quickly open it manually. When I spoke with Omlet, they said the sensitivity is what controls when the door stops but the chicken body was fully in the door way, not just the head, so it should have immediately recognized an object when it hit the side of her body but it still closed on her. The auto door is the greatest risk so I've learned not to trust it and use the manual mode. It means having to be out at roost time but I'm watching the door anyway to ensure it works properly. I hope they improve how this works so future customers don't incur this problem. It's a good thing you were there to help her. My goodness.

 

[Bigfishbobby]

Update on my new wifi version Omlet door. I removed the new controller and replaced it with the old one. They say it can work off of battery power and they are right, but it lasts literally MAYBE 24 hours. Get this….around noon it showed 77% battery. By around 6p when it was scheduled to close it was offline with no battery. No light on, no opening and closing all day, just dead. To boot, I lost the power cord it comes with (and running power to it will suck on top of it) so I basically wasted my money. If something happens to my old Omlet controller and they don’t bring it back they will lose me as a customer for sure. I’m curious if @Omlet Ltd has any recommendation other than to restart it, recalibrate it, or run power to it because at this point, saying it is even a possibility that this thing will run on battery is complete false advertisement (or mine is just faulty).

 

[Bawkbok]

Wow, Bigfish, I'm sorry to hear you're having so many issues. Our batteries last about a year. We replace at 50% just because I feel better doing that. Sounds like yours is faulty and they should replace it for free. Scary to think of your chickens being locked in all day if the door won't open. Not a good situation.

 

[Bawkbok]

They say it can work off of battery power and they are right, but it lasts literally MAYBE 24 hours.

Wifi tends to suck the life out of batteries since it runs all the time, so that's probably the issue.

 

[Bigfishbobby]

Wow, Bigfish, I'm sorry to hear you're having so many issues. Our batteries last about a year. We replace at 50% just because I feel better doing that. Sounds like yours is faulty and they should replace it for free. Scary to think of your chickens being locked in all day if the door won't open. Not a good situation.

It was horribly unreliable. We do have the light as well, but it was draining without the light ever coming on during the day. I played with all of the settings and the sleep mode it goes in on battery power is horrible too. If you try to turn on the light or open/close the door manually, it tells you to wait up to 10 mins for it to perform the task.

 

[Bawkbok]

I would ditch the wifi version and revert to the disposable battery option - much more reliable. Frustrating for sure. When it comes to live animals, I don't always trust technology.