Automatic chicken door opener.
orrinbare
Posts: 32
We got our chickens a little over a year ago and quickly realized we hated getting up early to let them out. and we forgot to open/shut the door a few times, thankfully none were killed by foxes etc. anyways, i used a relay, a cordless screwdriver, and some limit switches all powered by an appliance timer to open and shut the door to the coop every day and it worked well...for a time.
failure one: the door jammed in the track and the motor burned up trying to raise it all day. trying to replace the motor i damaged the relay and had to rebuild the whole system.
failure two: the rope broke off of the door and so the motor ran wide open all day, by the time i got home and found it like that it was already too late. luckily neither time started a fire or anything, so no fried chickens.
i would just keep fixing these small issues and rebuilding the same basic system, but eventually its gonna catch fire or somethin will get in and kill my birds, so i'm wanting to use a basic stamp microcontroller and a solder breadboard i guess to build a better version, with some failsafes. i would like to use an encoder to track the revolutions of the rope spindle on the motor and stop it if it doesn't reach certain amount of revolutions in a set time, or if it doesn't stop from the limit switches. maybe in the future would be nice to have an led scroller that would display an error message or something. just wondering if you have any ideas for this project? anything usefull. also, i'm amazed with what my boe bot can do, but it only runs for 15 minutes or so at a time, how well would the microcontroller do with being on constantly? and environment-wise, this is in a chicken coupe, its not the best place for sensitive electronics, any ideas to help protect it? i don't wanna waste money on this if its not a for sure thing. thanks in advance
failure one: the door jammed in the track and the motor burned up trying to raise it all day. trying to replace the motor i damaged the relay and had to rebuild the whole system.
failure two: the rope broke off of the door and so the motor ran wide open all day, by the time i got home and found it like that it was already too late. luckily neither time started a fire or anything, so no fried chickens.
i would just keep fixing these small issues and rebuilding the same basic system, but eventually its gonna catch fire or somethin will get in and kill my birds, so i'm wanting to use a basic stamp microcontroller and a solder breadboard i guess to build a better version, with some failsafes. i would like to use an encoder to track the revolutions of the rope spindle on the motor and stop it if it doesn't reach certain amount of revolutions in a set time, or if it doesn't stop from the limit switches. maybe in the future would be nice to have an led scroller that would display an error message or something. just wondering if you have any ideas for this project? anything usefull. also, i'm amazed with what my boe bot can do, but it only runs for 15 minutes or so at a time, how well would the microcontroller do with being on constantly? and environment-wise, this is in a chicken coupe, its not the best place for sensitive electronics, any ideas to help protect it? i don't wanna waste money on this if its not a for sure thing. thanks in advance
Comments
Example: We use different color light bulbs ti indicate the condition of the machine, RED meaning something is wrong, GREEN, everything a ok, etc.... you get the idea.
That way, you can get a visual idea from some distance if everything is working or not.
Some type of sensor that states if the door is clear or not, no need to drop the door when chickens are coming in or out, and if one get's stuck in the door while closing, you need to know.
It would be nice if you could maybe....maybe integrate some type of communication system in it, like with X10..assuming it's all the same source/leg
For example, the stamp could transmit a simple good/not good signal over the power line and something in your house could give an indication of the status of the stamp, if everything was good or not.
Error code, getting something to work is simple. when it doesn't work, that's where a lot of code comes from. you need to flowchart this and write code for everything that could go wrong (like the motor overheating, something getting stuck, chickens can't get out. Backup system?
Secondly, I am planning a chicken coup now and expect to build robotic doors and ventilation systems. I will be following your thread here for ideas!
Paul
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coop
So it's a coop door opener, or is it to open a chicken door, or a door opener that's chicken? I get like this when people talk about "HUAC", too.
Anyway, you need to get the mechanicals right, or nothing else will matter. It's all, otherwise, very achievable, providing that the birds don't decide to pick it apart. Put it in an aluminum box, if the birds can survive then the Stamp can, too.
You'd think with my level of education I'd have caught that! Darn Mississippi Edumacation!!
OUR sincerest apologies... they were having a out of place argument amongst themselves and it in no way involved you.
If you come back to visit after all that:
There is a fella on here that built just what you describe. He used a linear actuator of sorts to make a horizontal sliding door. If I remember correctly he already had the actuator which is why he used that method.
I use a vertical sliding door on my coop, but it's not powered. It jams constantly and takes a little wiggling, so I don't think that would be a good candidate without some kind of linear bearings BUT the nice thing is gravity holds it down..... so it has it's own "Locking mechanism".... It's very secure. I don't think an animal could figure out how to open it, or overpower it..... maybe a grizzly which we don't have
A good ol' hinged door would be simplest, but you have to lock it.
Just a thought. Maybe two drawer slides from the hardware store, some 20+ test fishing line, a spool and another drill motor or similar. If you vertically lift it, assuming the line never breaks, I don't think you could hurt a chicken if it DID close on the bird..... just annoy it surely
The Basic Stamp would be plenty for this project and give you some visual cues if you want. Weather should not be a problem if you use all DC sensors and motor and a project enclosure with rubber-insert cord grips. All standard stuff I would think.
Back on topic:
I like the idea of a vertical sliding door. I'm thinking a failsafe position of "open" would be more desirable perhaps. But I'm thinking out loud here. If the door fails in the open position the chickens can traverse in or out as needed. If the door fails closed they are trapped inside or trapped outside. I've not worked out the details on a failsafe open strategy yet.
Paul
Instead of making sure of making sure of making sure, why not strive for a sounder "chicken door" mechanism?
All of the Stamps are made with industrial-rated components.
Parrots are super-destructive and little (nothing) escapes their notice / curiosity; how to bird-proof your situation beyond the obvious is more your call the anyone else's.
[Whether one gets nudged off a ledge by some accident or an act of malice, the law of gravity still applies.]
A PIR sensor could be used to check for chickens in the door way before closing.You wouldn't want any chickens loosing their heads before their time;)
-dan
This is nothing more than an encoder that sees a change in logic state from a sensor.. 0 to 1 to 0 or 1 to 0 to 1
A simple peace of Plumbers tape and a couple of IR components would do the trick.(IR emitter/detector) The IR's will need to be shielded from Sun light.
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This is what Plumbers tape looks like.
O O O O O O O O O O O ' Its metal tape about .035" thick X 3/4" wide usually sold in 6' rolls.(about $3 to $5 a roll)
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Evenly spaced magnets and a fix reed switch would also work and wouldn't need the Sun light shielding.
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The code for a Stamp to do this is pretty simple.
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I have a BS2 that opens and closes the Coop door for my chickens. It has never once failed since late 2004 when I rebuilt my chicken coop after 3 Hurricanes leveled the first one I built. (Yes; The chickens survived)
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My coop is PC controlled via two BS2's. One is in the coop and the other is in the house next to my PC. The two BS2 talk to each other via RF. I have some simple PC code that runs all of this.
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Stick with the forums and you'll see how all of this works.Its not that difficult.
Some ideas I'm bouncing around and the OP might want to consider is 1) automated feeding 2) temperature controlled ventilation.
Paul
I have all of this implemented.
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DS2760 for reading temperature using a type K T/C.
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2 27981's and 2 27980's for RF
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2 S202S02 (solid state relays) for vent fan and small 120v space heater
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A PING to read the level in the feeder hopper
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A passive IR detector to count the number of chickens passing through the door. This also stops the door from closing if a chicken is in the door way.
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A home-made float switch too make sure the water trough is full. I use a toilet style float valve to maintain the water level.
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A full rotation servo to open and close the door.( I used two small rack and pinion gears for the door )
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I wrote a simple little HMI/GUI interface using LibertyBasic on my PC to talk to the BS2 in the house that transmits and receives data from the BS2 in the Coop via RF.
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Most of the parts needed are from Parallax.
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Parallax is soon to release a WiFi unit that will be sweet for this application. it will free up the BS2 I have inside the house too.
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P.S. You can try out a free version of LibertyBasic called JustBASIC. It has some really good examples of how to do what I mentioned aboved.www.Justbasic.com
If you have timing issues(e.g. motor is not shout down after a timeout period) why not using PICoPLC? It's free, and it can compile for Propeller!
Ladder programming is simple and meant for these kind of tasks. A simulator is included, so you can test your code before frying the birds!
You can get PICoPLC here: http://www.apstech.hu/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&view=folder&Itemid=19&id=6%3Apicoplc&lang=en
Regards,
Attila
If you incorporate everything folks are talking about you.... will have some serious over engineering, LOL! And I KNOW there are an abundance of us around here!!
Limit switches, reed switches, and a visible green light all sound pretty good.
Regarding the mechanical part of the door, i always try and incorporate a counter weight of some kind to ease the load on the motor. Basically a pulley and weight system, with the weight moving up and down in a safe location, or inside a piece of PVC pipe.
Sounds like a fun project.
Lloyd
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The BS2 is easier to use since it has a lot more command options.
I think you are saying you're using a timer to start the opening process. (2 a.m.)
I talking about a timer of e.g. 25 seconds (PLC : delayed turn off timer) to limit the ON-time for the drill. This ensures that your motor will be shut off, even if the end-switch is not reached.
Yep.
How about a light detector. When the sun comes up, the door opens.
When the sun goes down, the door closes.
Limit switches for top and bottom position. Current limiter to save the motor.
I have two suggestions for you.
1) I don't know how many amps the motor pulls. But, I have this suggestion, that you can use HB-25 to control the motor and the good thing is the HB-25 uses a servo cable to control to the HB-25 this means you only need one I/O pin.
2) A astronomical time clock to tell the basic stamp to open the door. Which would replace the photoeye (light detector) This type of time clock automatically adjusts to the sunrise and sunset times, eliminating the need for a separate photoeye (light detector).
These idea here is to save you I/O pins and to KISS (keep it simple stupid) method the control the door. Last I/O = last programming.