Want to put my automatic door on a timer

[JacksonH]

I think that I have figured out a way to get a timer to open/close my chicken door opener. The button that is on the wall is just really a fancy doorbell momentary switch and what I need is something to create a short in the circuitry. I modified a simple mechanical timer to do just that, and although I haven't tested it on the chicken door opener, it does create a short in the circuit, so it should work. If I set the timer to let's say 7:00 PM, and the door is open, it will close.

The timer that I have modified has only one "on" and one "off" setting, and there is about 1 hour and 15 minutes minimum between on and off. So therefore, that is the equivalent of holding the wall button for over an hour.

Now my question to those of you with more electronics knowledge than I is this:

Will that hurt the electronics of the opener?

I can get a timer that has perhaps a 15 minute minimum between on and off, but that is still pretty long if it is holding a relay on, or some such setup.

Any advice or ideas will be much appreciated.

Thanks,

JacksonH

 

[bobbieschicks]

The timer that I have with my set up is a deer feeder timer that allows me to put in "event" times and I just program it to open at an early time and close at a later time and repeat those events daily. As far as wiring goes - I'd have to look at it because my DH wired it for me - I'll look tomorrow when it's daylight and try to get a picture of it for you. It came as part of a kit I purchased from an on line source when I got my add-a-motor chicken door opener and solar panel/battery.