Is there any particular reason you want to use a 12V photo-cell?

Well, the power source is 12 Volt, so is the relay and the actuators are 12 V too. As a matter of fact, I got a good quality 220V sensor but I'd have to place it before the 12V power supply which means there is either power or not further down the line. When the relay is placed after the power supply it always is under power, and it should.

 

Actually, I buy a lot of goods in the UK. It's one of the cheapest places in Europe for consumer electronics and small 'stuff'. Shipping is like 43 CAD for 25kg, not for 1 sensor! (That's really ridiculous) Everything is sent (free of charge) to a friend of mine and once he's got 25 kg I get it collected. But since business is closed I don't need anything.

 

I bought a 0-0.5 ohms 1000 W adjustible (fixed value)resistor too as a dummy load for a lamp. 22V, 40A to run, 40kV pulse to start with an open circuit voltage about 80V.

Tires. Once I did my research, I ended up with the P4000, the P400 and the P4, different varients over time. They have been incredible tires. They have tread on the sidewall. https://www.pirelli.com/tires/en-us/car/catalog/product/p4-four-seasons-plus They have to be special ordered. They are not really expensive. https://www.1010tires.com/Tires/Reviews/Pirelli/P4+Four+Seasons

 

Buy it locally. Was also wondering why the UK preference?

The Spanish don't live in houses, they live in ugly apartments. Last week I needed a garden spade so we went to a large builders market. Forget it. In the UK gardening is very popular so you can even buy spades at the bakery. I don't like shopping here. Too often you buy something online and a week later they tell you it's not in stock. Out of principle I refuse to buy here now. You won't find that switch here anyway. Nobody has a garden except retired foreigners and the Russian maffia.

Car parts is the same. You can't change the oil in the city if you live on the 10th floor. Nobody does that. Nobody does anything. So the market of parts for those who want to do it themselves is almost non-existent.

 

Is it thermal or electronic?

It's grey.

Ok, ok ........... I shall take a picture!

 

 

 

Here most tires have tread on the sidewalls, to some extent, some more than others.

I read the German car organisation tests. Wear, durability, flexibility, breaking distance dry/wet, comfort, noise etc. The main brands are always in the top 20 BUT quite often there are tyres that stand out, even 'win' the contest and are a fair bit (not an awful lot) cheaper. It varies from year to year. I had Pirelli's once. Now I have got other brands (4 cars) and they have lasted 62.000 km or 38500 miles (2 cars the exact same mileage) and do no need to get replaced yet. Road conditions here are excellent, smooth asphalt, 99% of the time it's dry.

 

Here people buy dummies for their babies. Well, not here, nobody has babies here but a bit further south there are places where every women bears 7.

 

Nice place.

It is if you don't live in an apartment. We don't of course. I don't like cities anyway. And if you forget about the cities (although Barcelona and Madrid are great to visit!) it's just country side. Very few people. Millions of mountains, beaches, hills. It's pretty! The North West gets all the shit from the Atlantic Ocean so it's incredibly green and the South East is bone dry. John Wayne actually filmed a movie here as it looks like Arizona. It's the only (small) real desert in Europe.

 

Excellent, easy to modify or you can use an external relay.

I love modifying with the tools I have.

 

Here frost deteriorates the roads a lot.

Sure, I remember the winters (nothing compared to what you are used to of course) in the Netherlands. Frost rips every crack open.

 

Sounds too hot for me.

I love the heat. I feel happy. And I feel miserable and angry when it's cold and wet.

 

I hope it won't take long for you to realize that the photocell method is a bad idea. The astronomic timer is cheap,
Finding a DC version is harder. Some smart relays or small PLC's have the timers and can operate on 12 or 24VDC,

You should incorporate a way to manually unhook the actuator and move it manually in case of a power failure.

If your running power, you might consider running ethernet cable too or a couple of them. You might add a couple of POE devices. You might decide to check door status via a web page.

You could plan for a full 12V only battery backed up system. Adding "hooks" to the system is easier to do when building.

I tend to build or do programming by listing everything I might want to do given infinate resources, Then decide what I absolutely need. When building, I can do stuff that make adding later easy. The method worked out well.

Something that's hard to pitch to management is to thow out any idea in the design phase no matter how absurd. You evaluate it later, not dismiss it immediately.

A few rainy days might be enough to realize that a photocell is a bad idea.

A power failure for a few days might be enough to convince you that a 12V battery backed up system is required.

Maybe a knock detector to alert you that the chickens want out?

Never talked about smarts, that prevent the door from closing on a chicken. We assume that they will get out of the way.

==

Where I've lived for 60 years we had only one power failure that lasted about 5 days. The transformer that fed 4 houses blew (ice storm). I was able to rent a generator for that. Most power outages are fixed within 2 hours. A few last more than that.

Hurricaines are an issue, but they are rare.

Food will last a few days. one 16 cuft freezer, a fridge mostly for medications and the normal fridge.

There are two sump pumps and powering that is a problem and one possible infiltration point IF edging gets compromised. Freeze/thaw cycles will compromise the edging. There is a plan to avoid that.

I had a wireless water alarm for the french drain (edging compromise), but it broke. Water removal would be done with a wet vac. A UPS would be nearby. it's not all together yet.

The window well water alarm, you can't hear it upstairs.

One sump pump is a window well. Rare to have a problem. Hurricaines are a problem. It's a 12 V bilge pump and the power supply is usually off. "Plans" are to be able to connect to the car.

If the main sump pump fails, again, "plans" are to easily remove the 120 VAC pump. There is a union on the discharge. Feed power outside to a car and run the pump from that.

I haven't got a to make the cables or do the other necessary stuff. Something else is always more important.

 

 

That's around the corner from here but the next is sort of where we live, quite different

 

I hope it won't take long for you to realize that the photocell method is a bad idea. The astronomic timer is cheap,

I have looked for those but around a 100 box is too much. That might be cheap but my wife does it for nothing!

You should incorporate a way to manually unhook the actuator and move it manually in case of a power failure.

Oh, that's easy. I have set it all up, flexible metal wire and pulleys. You can lift them up by hand, no problem.

If your running power, you might consider running ethernet cable too or a couple of them. You might add a couple of POE devices. You might decide to check door status via a web page.

I might get a headache

You could plan for a full 12V only battery backed up system. Adding "hooks" to the system is easier to do when building.

That was the idea in the first place but I had calculated that just getting one power source and relay would be cheaper.

A few rainy days might be enough to realize that a photocell is a bad idea.

Ah, now you making a point! It could indeed be that the coop door closes during an exceptionally wet/dark day and then .......

In that case I could go back to the timer option. Timers were also included (originally) in the plan. But, you got to adjust them all the time, that's why the sensor.

A power failure for a few days might be enough to convince you that a 12V battery backed up system is required.

We don't get that.

Maybe a knock detector to alert you that the chickens want out?

I wouldn't notice a thing. I wait until it's warm enough to wake up.

Never talked about smarts, that prevent the door from closing on a chicken. We assume that they will get out of the way.

He he he ..........the actuator goes REAL slow so there's plenty of time to say 'what the chick' and keep walking

Where I've lived for 60 years we had only one power failure that lasted about 5 days. The transformer that fed 4 houses blew (ice storm). I was able to rent a generator for that. Most power outages are fixed within 2 hours. A few last more than that.

That reminds me, we had a fire nearby caused by an explosion in a huge transformer.

Hurricaines are an issue, but they are rare.

Don't exist here

Food will last a few days. one 16 cuft freezer, a fridge mostly for medications and the normal fridge.

We got chickens ............

 

That would be taken care of by the natural selection.

Of intelligence?

 

Hey guys! I’m out. This is no longer about re-engineering inappropriate components to operate chicken doors. Good luck!

 

So, hack or external relay?

Well, this sensor is actually for the future shop lights. That's not a must but .......... I am not going to crack things out and solder wires. Chances are I wreck it so I would rather look for a way to get the Techmar cheaper of something similar.