What is going to stop that from freezing also?
Max.

Is sits on a thermostatically controlled heater for the winter.

 

I have 10 chickens, and I like electronic gadgets, so don't take this the wrong way.

Isn't the amount of water your chickens drink fairly consistent from day to day? And can't you use that information to tell reasonably close to when they are going to run out of water? I know, for example that my little flock will drink not more than a gallon of water per day on even the very hottest days, so I know that I need to refill the five gallon dispenser every four days and still have a significant safety margin. Besides, don't you go to coop every day anyway? for eggs or companionship or something?

Of course, if you want a remote monitor with rf notification just because, that's good, too.

 

I have 10 chickens, and I like electronic gadgets, so don't take this the wrong way.

Isn't the amount of water your chickens drink fairly consistent from day to day? And can't you use that information to tell reasonably close to when they are going to run out of water? I know, for example that my little flock will drink not more than a gallon of water per day on even the very hottest days, so I know that I need to refill the five gallon dispenser every four days and still have a significant safety margin.

Of course, if you want a remote monitor with rf notification just because, that's good, too.

This is our first year keeping chickens and they free range so their requirements for water seem to fluctuate quite a bit depending on how much time they actually spend in the coop. I could put myself on a better schedule I suppose, but this is more fun

 

Okay.

Well, if you have AC in the coop, you could put a light bulb on the outside of the coop when the water gets low. Or you could use the AC line from your house to the coop as a signal path. Or you could get one of these, and make it work. http://www.ebay.com/itm/433Mhz-RF-t...361933?hash=item3392b055cd:g:ki4AAOSwq7JT0hPs

 

The chicken coop door comes up quite a bit, here and other forums.

Comment: Counterweight the door.

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the circuitry for the automatic door opener, especially to MikeML whose diagram I used. See the video below for the final product

I'll be installing MikeML's circuit design today and will let you all know how it goes Thanks so much for all of the help!

My next project will be a remote monitor for the levels of water and food in the coop if you're interested in helping me tackle another one

Here is the finished product - thanks again to all who helped, especially MikeML:

 

The chicken coop door comes up quite a bit, here and other forums.

Comment: Counterweight the door.

The DC gear motor that I got from surpluscenter.com was only $14 and puts out 8in.- lbs. of torque, plenty for this application! A counterweight would be superfluous in my case, but is a good idea in general

 

Hi, It must be chicken door season
I'm another newbie with about the same skills level and asking almost the same question as the OP.
I totally understand MikeML's diagram at the bottom of this post, but I like to do it slightly different.

I have AC (I live in Canada) to the coup and a 12V power supply.
I would rather use a photocell switch which is NO during the day, I could use two and I would imagine that I'd need a relay to turn one switch into a NC during the day.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-DC-Stree...786063?hash=item3cf748e00f:g:30gAAOSwpDdVKMvh
When the door closes at dusk I would need a 30 minute delay in the circuit for stragglers. The one issue with the one below is the operating temp range, it often gets below -10C here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC12V-Delay...845690?hash=item540aa51c3a:g:OPgAAOxy9dVTktFn

The last change is I'd like to run two motors (two doors) off the same circuit, I assume that would just be a parallel circuit and a second set of limit switches. My coop is split in two, one side is my breed stock and the the other side are layers so the doors open/close same time.

I think I understand how to do most of this from MikeML's drawing below, I'm just trying to get my head around how to do the photocell(s)
Also if it would be better to shut off the power when not needed I have no problem leaving the timers in.

Assuming you have two timers, two dc power supplies, two spst 12Vdc relays, with two normally-closed limit switches, this is about as simple as I can make it:

View attachment 94408

 

I have 10 chickens, and I like electronic gadgets, so don't take this the wrong way.

Isn't the amount of water your chickens drink fairly consistent from day to day? And can't you use that information to tell reasonably close to when they are going to run out of water? I know, for example that my little flock will drink not more than a gallon of water per day on even the very hottest days, so I know that I need to refill the five gallon dispenser every four days and still have a significant safety margin. Besides, don't you go to coop every day anyway? for eggs or companionship or something?

Hi,

I had to laugh a little at that "companionship or something", he he. Brings to mind a South Park episode i wont get into here.

 

Hello again,

A couple issues come up here.

First, the relay coil reverse diodes. There should be one on each coil. This prevents higher voltage spikes from arcing the contacts that turn the relay on and off which can cause contact welding and thus failure. That brings us to the next issue.

Second, failure mode analysis. How can the system fail, and what are the consequences.
If one of the limit switches fails closed then the door motor runs continuously and runs the battery down, or burns out the motor, or wrecks the door mechanism. If if fails open then the door is stuck open or closed forever.
This means there should be some secondary backup system to check to make sure the first system works ok, and possibly a secondary mechanism for example for the door so that it is only allowed a certain amount of time to run, such as 30 seconds or whatever is appropriate. In case of any failure detection an alarm should sound if it is a critical error detected, or a lamp (LED) lit up if non critical. If the life of the animals is threatened by a failure obviously that needs immediate attention.
At the least maybe a second set of switches to detect if the first set did not function, and maybe wired so that they both have to work right in order to operate the door or something like that.
Magnetic switches have the habit of getting stuck closed sometimes even when the magnet is pulled away from the switch. They only work for so many cycles and then start to fail. Some are better than others of course.
They can also fail to close after a certain age.

So the idea is to try to think of all the ways the system can fail and try to build in a secondary method to make sure everything is always working right. This can be very important for livestock.

What happens to us sometimes is that when we build an automatic system it usually works for a long time and we get so used to it working that we forget that it can stop working at any time. Thus we end up relying on the system and forgetting to check it because it works so darn well for years. Then one day it fails and we dont know it because we got so used to it working so well for so very long and so did not bother to check it manually.

 

@mark914 Try this:

Uses one power supply, one DPDT relay controlled by the photocell.
Relay stays on all night but motor runs only until it trips respective limit switch.
If you buy a linear actuator, most have internal limit switches.

 

Hello again,

A couple issues come up here.

First, the relay coil reverse diodes. There should be one on each coil. This prevents higher voltage spikes from arcing the contacts that turn the relay on and off which can cause contact welding and thus failure. That brings us to the next issue.

Second, failure mode analysis. How can the system fail, and what are the consequences.
If one of the limit switches fails closed then the door motor runs continuously and runs the battery down, or burns out the motor, or wrecks the door mechanism. If if fails open then the door is stuck open or closed forever.
This means there should be some secondary backup system to check to make sure the first system works ok, and possibly a secondary mechanism for example for the door so that it is only allowed a certain amount of time to run, such as 30 seconds or whatever is appropriate. In case of any failure detection an alarm should sound if it is a critical error detected, or a lamp (LED) lit up if non critical. If the life of the animals is threatened by a failure obviously that needs immediate attention.
At the least maybe a second set of switches to detect if the first set did not function, and maybe wired so that they both have to work right in order to operate the door or something like that.
Magnetic switches have the habit of getting stuck closed sometimes even when the magnet is pulled away from the switch. They only work for so many cycles and then start to fail. Some are better than others of course.
They can also fail to close after a certain age.

So the idea is to try to think of all the ways the system can fail and try to build in a secondary method to make sure everything is always working right. This can be very important for livestock.

What happens to us sometimes is that when we build an automatic system it usually works for a long time and we get so used to it working that we forget that it can stop working at any time. Thus we end up relying on the system and forgetting to check it because it works so darn well for years. Then one day it fails and we dont know it because we got so used to it working so well for so very long and so did not bother to check it manually.

These are great points and this is currently what I am thinking about now that I have a functional system again The reason that I had to re-do the previous version (which was a DC valve actuator motor that had forward and reverse wires) was that I burned out that motor somehow. I suspect it was that the motor wasn't really up to the task of lifting the weight, but I got it for free, so I used it anyway. I have the door attached to the motor shaft with 20lb. test fishing line, which will break before damaging the motor if a limit switch fails, so no worries there, and the whole system is only powered by the timer for two 15 minute intervals, one in the AM and one in the PM, so there is no danger of continuous running (the motor is rated for continuous running, so again, motor damage should not occur) The bigger issue I suppose is that if either limit switch fails, the door will end up closed with the fishing line broken which could result in chickens being locked out of the coop with no access to water/food which is inside the coop. Probably a third limit switch above the top of the door when open that would kill the whole system (leaving the door stuck open) if tripped is the way to go. Realistically, we are out in the coop at least every few days to gather up eggs, so the system does get a manual check at least that often, but I really want to install some kind of control indicator system, so that I can monitor the coop conditions from our house. I want to build sensors for the chickens' water level, food level, coop temperature, and door position indicators (closed/open) and have the information wirelessly transmitted to a monitoring display in my house. I'm thinking about using an arduino (which I have never used before, but am aware of) to accomplish the task. Learning arduino and playing with it to build this monitoring system will be my winter project Building in other redundancies into the system is a good idea though and one which I will also spend some more time thinking about. Thanks for the advice!

 

The magnetic door sensor switches that I used for limit switches are these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009SUF08?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00 and honestly, they seem pretty crappy. Is there something better/more robust that anyone can recommend? I think that it does need to be something magnetic, especially for the bottom of the door because coop bedding could easily interfere with a physical switch.

 

I think that it does need to be something magnetic, especially for the bottom of the door because coop bedding could easily interfere with a physical switch.

Don't overlook the fact that the limit switch doesn't have to be at the very bottom of the door. Just be sure that it and the actuator at the same height when the door is in position. My door uses two mechanical switches attached to one of the studs; there is only a single actuator attached to the door.

By the way, my next project is to use a Wi-Fi module to report the temperature inside the coop to Thingspeak, and have Thingspeak send me a tweet when it gets too hot or too cold.

 

Don't overlook the fact that the limit switch doesn't have to be at the very bottom of the door. Just be sure that it and the actuator at the same height when the door is in position. My door uses two mechanical switches attached to one of the studs; there is only a single actuator attached to the door.

By the way, my next project is to use a Wi-Fi module to report the temperature inside the coop to Thingspeak, and have Thingspeak send me a tweet when it gets too hot or too cold.

Very good point on the switch placement issue - not something I thought of Maybe an upgrade to a mechanical switch system is in order... Where do you get decent quality/decent price mechanical limit switches?

 

The magnetic door sensor switches that I used for limit switches are these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009SUF08?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00 and honestly, they seem pretty crappy. Is there something better/more robust that anyone can recommend? I think that it does need to be something magnetic, especially for the bottom of the door because coop bedding could easily interfere with a physical switch.

They look like the standard switches used in security systems, although I think they also come in a more rugged housings.
One type of L.S. is the small Hermetically sealed types made by Honeywell, I don't have the number in front of me but they usually come up on ebay fairly frequently as they are expensive from a dealer.
ebay 291620512572
Max.

 

Hello again,

One or two decent web cams could take care of all your monitoring needs. You could visually inspect everything from inside the house. As long as you can see anything that is critical you'd do pretty well i think.
Alternately a camera based security system. They sell units with something like 6 cameras these days complete with DVR sometimes. You can get units with night vision too so you can monitor 24/7 if you like.

 

Sorry if this schematic is done wrong, I'm an hobbyist/amateur, but I'm thinking that this would work.
The AC timer is optional, I just figured I could shut off the power supply most of the time it was not needed.
The indicator LED's would only work when the power was still on, so I don't know if I would bother with them.
The delay switch is only needed at dusk.
I could get away with one motor and mechanically open the two doors as they are only 6' away from each other.

So do you guys think this will work?

 

MikeML the actuator is a good Idea but the cheapest I could find was $70 and I want to keep costs down.
Same goes for the Webcam, wifi or arduino ideas that have been made in this thread, I want to keep it both cheap and simple.

So far this would be my most expensive part, I found these surplus gear reduction motors for $15ea locally. I found just a motor at $5ea, but then I'd have to make a speed reduction,
This one is already for the most part done and has a threaded mounting surface
It is 12v, 22 rpm and reversible, And it seems to have lots of torque for a simple door, but that is about all I can tell you about it.

 

Go to a car junk yard. Window winders, seat movers, motorized antennas, windscreen wipers all use 12Vdc reversible permanent-magnet motors.

I live in a rural area. Lots of old satellite TVRO 8ft dishes out here that are no longer used. They have a linear actuator with a 24" to 26" stroke that will run on 12Vdc..., usually available for the asking...