orrinbare, A friend of mine just bought 12 chickens a few months ago, he is agrivated with having to let them in/out too. So I will pas on the electronic door opener/closer to him.
I foresee a problem with this though, How will the door know that all the chickens are back in the coop before the door closes for the night or during cloud cover?
My first thought would be to put an RFID tag on each chicken, and have 2 RFID readers lined up about 2 feet apart in a hallway entrance to detect weather a chicken is coming or going.
In the morning the door would open! Each chicken/RFID Tag would have a true false variable to determin if that chicken is in or out (chickenHome). A variable can keep count of chickens_In, and another variable for Chickens_Out. You will also need a Constant that will hold the number of chickens you have (ChickenCount). Chicken_In will be equal to ChickenCount when program starts
When a chicken passes Reader_2 and then Reader_1, set the chickenHome variable to FALSE, increment the chicken_Out variable, and decrement the chicken_In.
When a chicken passes Reader_1 then Reader_2, set the chickenHome variable to TRUE, decrement the chicken_Out variable, and increment the chicken_In variable.
If it is past the chickens bedtime, Check to see if the chicken_In variable is equal to ChickenCount, if so close the door. If not, check every few minutes for the equality, if the process takes more than 1/2 hour (or whatever you want) Flash a bright LED that you can see from your house to alert you that not all chickens are home.
That's how I would keep track of the chickens to make sure they are all inside before the door closes.
@Jorge, i like that idea! when we tried to integrate some new chicks in with our older chickens, the young ones wanted to stay outside because the big ones didn't like them, so the old door would close and leave them out lol. my problem is i don't have any i/o pins to spare on my current door, i may try to use it in a future version
Wow, I am lost...... Hi, just found this forum, I am trying to get a automatic chicken coop door going for a friend of mine. I don't know anything about programming or electronics. But I built a real nice coop door, using a 12 volt van door motor turning a ball screw nut that in return pulls or pushes the screw up and down to open or close the door, this is all in cased in stainless steel. Looks like a airless air cylinder hooked to a stainless steel door. Also have a 2nd door that I used a No. 35 plan boar sprocket that I tapped out to 3/8-16 thread and hooked the 3/8 threaded rod to the top of the door with a 35 master chain link. The motor drives the sprocket pulling the threaded rod up or down. I hope to put some pictures and info together on as many different ways too open a close a door. But I don't have a clue as too how to wire it up and make it automatic. Can anyone send me drawings on how to do this. I am looking for everything from real simple to over the top. But please keep in mind I am a mechanical person and know very little about electrics.
I have a dual alarm clock that I hooked wires to, looks like a bomb, 3 wires (com, alarm 1 and alarm 2 ) then 2 more wires coming from the the speaker of the clock giving me a on/off 3 volts for 1 min. limit switch at top and bottom of the door can turn off and on alarms set for two different times of the day. But how do I use the on/off 3 volts to drive the motor, have to have some kind of holding relay.
Not sure if the door mechanism is settled but how about a disk door? (see attachment) You could incorporate your limit sensing along the periphery of the disk. -Scott
Comments
I foresee a problem with this though, How will the door know that all the chickens are back in the coop before the door closes for the night or during cloud cover?
My first thought would be to put an RFID tag on each chicken, and have 2 RFID readers lined up about 2 feet apart in a hallway entrance to detect weather a chicken is coming or going.
_____________________________ \_________/ | COOP | _________ | / \_____________________________| / \ Reader_1 Reader_2In the morning the door would open! Each chicken/RFID Tag would have a true false variable to determin if that chicken is in or out (chickenHome). A variable can keep count of chickens_In, and another variable for Chickens_Out. You will also need a Constant that will hold the number of chickens you have (ChickenCount). Chicken_In will be equal to ChickenCount when program startsWhen a chicken passes Reader_2 and then Reader_1, set the chickenHome variable to FALSE, increment the chicken_Out variable, and decrement the chicken_In.
When a chicken passes Reader_1 then Reader_2, set the chickenHome variable to TRUE, decrement the chicken_Out variable, and increment the chicken_In variable.
If it is past the chickens bedtime, Check to see if the chicken_In variable is equal to ChickenCount, if so close the door. If not, check every few minutes for the equality, if the process takes more than 1/2 hour (or whatever you want) Flash a bright LED that you can see from your house to alert you that not all chickens are home.
That's how I would keep track of the chickens to make sure they are all inside before the door closes.
I have a dual alarm clock that I hooked wires to, looks like a bomb, 3 wires (com, alarm 1 and alarm 2 ) then 2 more wires coming from the the speaker of the clock giving me a on/off 3 volts for 1 min. limit switch at top and bottom of the door can turn off and on alarms set for two different times of the day. But how do I use the on/off 3 volts to drive the motor, have to have some kind of holding relay.