Bird Feeder Programming Help

Projects Programming
1

Hi All

I was wondering if any of you Arduino gurus could help me and or code a sketch for a project I am working on. It is an automated bird feeder which will dispense a set amount of food once a day (by time or light) until it empties at which point it will automatically reset itself and wait for more food to be added and a reset button to be pressed which will start the feed cycle again. I have already built and tested the feed mechanism hardware to do this so now all I need is the brain to control it and figured / assumed the Arduino could be perfect for this. The only problem is I am a rookie with regards to the Arduino (and microcontroller programming in general) so I will need a lot of help as really I am still at the LED binky programming level.

Mechanical Diagram

Please See attachment

Sensors

Top Hall Effect limit switch (One digital input?)
Bottom Hall Effect limit switch (One digital input?)
Photo resistor Light sensor if easier then timing (Optional see below)

Actuators

Gear Motor Forward / Reverse via special two coil motor relay (Need two digital outputs for this I assume (one for each coil/direction)

Indicators

Blinking LED Indictor to show feed cycle over / seed hopper empty (time for refill)

Program Operation:

• Run motor forward (UP) for a set (programmable) time period (from seconds to a few minutes) once every 24 hours or if easier at first light using a Photo resistor light sensor again for a set (programmable) time period (from seconds to a few minutes.
• Once motor reaches top Hall Effect limit sensor the Arduino automatically reverses motor (DOWN) to bottom Hall Effect limit switch stops motor and activates seed hopper empty LED indicator and then stops all further activity until reset (Push Button) is manually pressed to resume feeding cycle.
• Manual Reset motor carriage (DOWN) to bottom (Push Button) at any time to fill / top up feeder
• In the event of power failure it will reset to bottom and wait for button press (Not sure if this is even possible????)

Nice to have(s) in the future

  1. Some sort of motor current sensor with led indicator to stop motor in the event of a jam / motor overcurrent situation (for now I will just use a fuse)
  2. Some type of sleep mode to conserve power(May use solar power for this feeder at some point for greater portability)
  3. Some sort of backlit LCD interface for setting times as well as displaying status
  4. Set the feed time to feed at a specific to time of day i.e. 6AM in the morning)
  5. Program running LED?
  6. PWM Speed control of gear motor
  7. IR remote control (Manual feed ejection reset etc.)

Any help would be appreciated and please if you have any questions or anything is unclear please feel free to contact me (flybar@live.com).

Regards,
Paul

Bird Feeder 01.jpg
Bird Feeder 01.jpg2486×3507 695 KB

2

Whatever you do, squirrel proof this bad boy. Those rodents are mighty smart.

3

I made an almost identical version to dispense peanuts.
You might want to put some thought if it should dispense anything if there is food at the bottom already.

Why not just have a gravity feeder :wink:

4

you should look at remote via the nRF24L01.

good range and low power.

plus two arduinos = twice the fun!

5

All

Thank you for your comments thus far. I was wondering if anyone would be will to code this for me for some remuneration?

Regards,
FlyBar