Kippenrennen Gevogelte Henny Penny Homesteading Grid. For example, 6:30AM- 6:31AM and 9:00PM – 9:01PM. thks. On December 29, 2018. It is entirely optional. REMEMBER you have TWO programming times to reset. Or too much poo and other debris? Thanks sir, On Youtube there are plenty of automatic chicken coop doors that use string to raise/lower a guillotine-style door, sliding vertically in a track. Agree about the solar charge controller — even with a small solar panel that technically doesn’t need one, I think the controller is still a good idea just to prevent the solar panel from slowly draining the battery if you get a few bad weather days in a row, or snow cover, etc. The actuator motor uses reduction gears that drive a worm gear — the entire system is geared down so much that it would take hundreds of pounds of force to get it to move. http://www.fabiens.org/ckblog/?page_id=106. That means you can just set the same start time on both timers which simplifies things. If you have dedicated power from a power adapter rather than solar panel/battery, you’re all set. Any thoughts? It is well ventilated with accessible nesting boxes, windows and a water proof predator roof. Dear mike I move 2 x wire around and both timer work , Open and close the 12V linear actuator. Testing only 1 x timer work , The other timer flick the relay but notting happen Does it stop by resistance of some sort? A few months of this started to feel like Russian roulette. This way you won’t need to reprogram the seasonal daylight changes. That self-locking module sounded promising when I first heard about it but now I’m not convinced the locking aspect helps. Also make sure the linear actuator you buy comes with mounting brackets. Hi Bill, the photocell is definitely a small constant draw, & it looks from Mark’s schematic that both relay coils stay energized while the photocell switches on, so that’s an added power draw for all daylight hours. That linear actuator I used is a generic brand, 8″ stroke at 0.4 inches per second, so it’s a ~20 second run. Automatic Chicken Door + Solar Module Bundle. Dear Wick: Jonathan. Yep that’s how I have it set up. Arduino Chicken Coop Door LEDs Status: Green: indicating the door is closed and chickens are safely inside. Also what’s the power source? Automatic Chicken Coop Door – Solar Time Table Switch. You can also add voltage meter if you want. The DIY automatic chicken coop door makes the life of your feathery flocks easy and comfortable. http://www.amazon.com/TEMCo-Reversing-Solenoid-Switch-Contactor/dp/B01DFJN2PM, http://www.amazon.com/Reversing-Continuous-Solenoid-Relay-Windlass/dp/B004VAGKZE/, A solar charge controller may also be a good idea to prevent overcharging the battery…. Do you find that the door is open far enough for the chickens? It’s far more reliable than a photocell, but one caveat — it runs on AC power. PHOTO: Amy Grisak . I wonder which one is the lowest operating cost. I think the main concern there is it probably won’t work with a solar panel & battery as the power source because of the constant power draw — the photocell holds the relay (in this case, both relays) open all day. Here’s the wiring diagram for a motor reversing solenoid. On each timer, there are 4 spade pins in a row. I’m sure that it can be damaged outside in case of rain shortly. Chickens are a tasty snack for lots of predators. IP65 should work fine for normal outdoor use (rain/snow) but IP68 is better. THE TIMER SETUP IS OUTDATED. It will be easy to switch this original design to the new design if people want to do that. some of us used that way and it is now hard to read for reference. Readily available stateside? For the H-bridge setup: If when you’re all done the actuator operates the opposite from what you want, just flip the actuator’s connections to the relay’s common pins. How about rushing home before dark to lock them up before something eats them? We lose power and this always guarantees the door to close. What are your thoughts? Typically, actuators with higher force ratings mean slower movement. Any 12VDC 8″ linear actuator that’s rated IP65 (outdoor use) or higher with built-in limit switches should work just fine for a coop door. I am using this system with reliablity. You can also make a DIY automatic chicken coop door and instead of using electricity or batteries, use the chickens themselves! The DC comes to the center of the switch and is wired to be polarity reversing exactly like the relay. i thoroughly enjoyed building my solar powered coop door opener! Hi David, sure, here’s an updated link for a solar charge controller: https://amzn.to/31YeGUD, Your email address will not be published. The door frame with motor housing door controller enclosure will be 13 ½ inches wide x 26 ½ inches tall when complete. That opens & closes the coop door. Yes I think it would work fine if you had the actuator below the coop floor with an extension off the door, so the actuator can be located entirely away from the “litter layer”. With this original design, one timer controls power & the other timer simultaneously controls whether it’s reversed so it’s a bit more complicated. My main concern is of clever raccoons finding a way to pry open the door. I’m almost done an updated post about a more straightforward way to set up the reverse polarity, but it changes the components a bit so I can’t explain it here. I believe I have the same model timer. Otherwise if you don’t bother with figuring out which timer is faster, then you’d do it your way with adjusting the reversing timer’s start AND end times — but in that case I’d set the reversing timer event to start 5+ minutes (rather than 1 minute) ahead of the power timer & stay on 5+ minutes afterward. Most trickle chargers/battery maintainers are at least 1 amp & that should keep up with the constant power draw of the photocell & relay coils. 3) A note for ALL users of this splendid system. Automatic Turkey Large Chicken Door + Solar Module Bundle. Like you said, I think you’d have to go to a larger solar panel or AC power to keep up with the photocell draw. I worked great they will be here this week. For the fuse, you’ll want to size it more than the max amp rating for your motor (but not more than double). Works great but the battery dies in a few days. I used this site to wire with one timer. Me too please! I’d love to see a photocell setup that didn’t constantly power a relay coil during all daylight hours…. I’ve checked my wiring a few times and it seems to be on par with yours. The prices in the list are links to where you can buy each item. The coil needs to be wired to the reversing timer, as shown. Also interesting to know the timer specs might have changed. Do you have special one or you have protected it in soime way? It is specifically designed for our Auto Door so no retrofit is necessary. Hi Wick, hey with this awesome system, can you set the door to open at first light & close at dark? This relay has 4 sets of +/- pins: normally closed (NC), normally open (NO), common, & coil. Red: indicating danger: the door is open and chickens are out. Mar 10, 2021 - Tired of waking up early to let the chickens out? Do you think this would work inside a coop where the door opens inward in the floor? In any event, your setup and site here is exceptional, and I have looked all over. That simplifies things. USD 541.47 USD 675.00. Hope that helps! The lowest-power actuators I ran across had 100lbs of force, which is plenty. Is that where your wire connections are made? If you send a photo I might be able to troubleshoot it. Thanks in advance for all your input. So the 2nd timer is needed to reverse polarity? That way my system can run for over a year before I’d have to resync the timer clocks. We have raccoons come by our coop pretty much every night & if the door didn’t close just once, could be bad, so I prefer the battery/charger method because it handles power outages. Better yet, use a 12V battery permanently hooked up to a battery maintainer & you won’t ever have to worry about power outages. PLEASE SEE THE UPDATED METHOD HERE. DIY Free Chicken Coop Plan. I’ve used an IP65-rated actuator for our chicken coop for the last 7 years (outside, facing downward) in Vermont USA, which is a wet/cold environment, & it’s worked great. I need tgis together and operational inside of 2weejs. You still need the two timers, but one can be dedicated to opening and one cane be dedicated to shutting. THE TIMER SETUP BELOW IS OUTDATED. PLEASE SEE THE UPDATED METHOD HERE. Well see how this goes tomorrow and this is when the items are set to arrive. Our coop is on wheels & we move it around our field far away from A/C power, so I needed it to be self-powered. Thanks for your reply.I was able to hack a 12volt power supply and everything is prewired using (2) relays plus a 12v Sensky waterproofed light sensor.Everything is working fine but I still need to add (2)limit switches to the system. I had to mount the actuator on the side because of an upper window we didn’t want to loose. Fully open, there’s plenty of room. Then added a micro switch that turns on a red LED when the door is closed and a green LED when the door is open. The first digit is dust protection & the second digit is water protection. The socket base simply adds screw terminals, & has screw holes so you can mount the relay to something. Sometimes though, the coop could use a little help. Follow the thread up further to see how it’s done. As for now I have more photocells being shipped and I purchased (2 ) dual channel relay controllers and am going to try to wire the photocell into the IN1/IN2 on the relay controller and then have the actuator wired to the NO/COM/NC ——-NO/COM/NC on the two separate relays power out sources for normal and reverse polarity. Thanks for the clear details and wiring plans. Nice find! I wanted something with a direct drive to use with a door that swung up on hinges to open. IDK, maybe the timer specs have changed. Two small doors that open individually, like a dutch door, but no way to open them together because of the latches! Next, program the timers so their clocks are set identically. Correct? Questions for Master Wick: The relay is an electromagnet & when energized that’s a significant power drain. that gets me. It is integrated with an LCD screen to monitor the settings, the timer, and the light sensor adjustments. Chicken Coop Motor (D20) Automatic Chicken Door Opener; ASTx Extreme Automatic; ChickSafe Premium by Brinsea Products; Automatic Chicken Coop by Titan Incubators; ChickSafe Extreme Automatic by Brinsea Products The second timer (the “reversing timer”) energizes a DPDT relay concurrently during one of the power timer events to reverse polarity to the actuator. By Wick. 3. Also, clicking on your link to 12V DPDT relay brings up something that does not look like yours pictured above. Double throw just means the relay has two available switch positions (NO & NC). I have burnt up my fair share of components but thankfully most of them are fairly inexpensive and readily available on Amazon.com. For these chicken coop door wiring examples, the relays use COM for the output to the motor, with +/- run to NO/NC, so the polarity to the motor changes depending on whether the relay coil is energized … in other words, we’re using the relay to switch between two inputs (NO & NC). 17K views; by Amy Grisak April 16, 2020. can you email me the actual motor you bought for the solar power automatic door opener. \providing they don’t come on at same time wold not sort circuit. Mike. Hi Mark. That setup with two SPST timers each connected to the motor with opposite polarity won’t work, since it short-circuits as soon as either timer switches on. So far the whole system has been working great & it’s been several years. THIS WIRING DIAGRAM IS OUTDATED. Are there any benefits to using the two optocouplers? Here’s the full-size image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71uGj3903eL.jpg. When I put 12v on terminals 1 & 2, and the VOM on 3 & 4 and moved the top button to the little lightbulb (manual) on the left of AUTO. This is what I see when I look outside at the coop. PLEASE SEE THE UPDATED METHOD HERE. I think the problem with the photocell setup is the photocell has a relay coil for its internal switch that’s energized during either the entire day or entire night hours depending on how your photocell works (day-on or night-on) … plus the draw from the relay(s) for the linear actuator which are also switched on for many hours with that setup… You could use an interval-on timer relay to cut power to the actuator relay(s) after a few minutes, but there’s no way I know of around the photocell problem. SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=joeballoneIn this DIY video I'll show you how to make a solar powered automatic chicken coop door opener from a power car antenna that is powered by a battery and controlled by an electronic timer. Wiring of the battery and timer will add an additional 15-20 minutes to the installation. LOVSHARE Automatic Chicken Coop Door 12V DC, Chicken Coop Door 11.8x12.6 inch, Automatic Chicken Door Opener W/ Infrared Induction, Light Sensor for Standard Sized Chicken Breeds, Coops, Cages 4.1 out of 5 stars 114 Each timer just takes the place of the switches shown in the diagram. You’d have to cut power to the actuator before it reached the end of the stroke. It’s cheap and easy. Hi Deitch, I’ll have that posted next week, probably by Thursday. Any more questions, fire away. Can you send some photos of the wiring, including closeups of the connections to the timers & the relay? Just plug in our Solar Kit in place of the power adapter we ship with every product. If you draw it out, you’ll see the problem. In 1 hour, that’s about 0.00068 kW-h. You figure $0.11 per kW-h, so about $0.054 in a month for 24/7 operation. Neat, I didn’t know about the reversing contactor relays. 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