I'm trying to create a chicken coop door project with arduino uno or mega and I already have a baseline project to follow but some features are missing.
First of all let me say I'm trying to recycle what I have at home: arduino boards, sensors, car window lifting motor/mechanism and so on.
I would like your opinion on the following:
RTC vs Photoresistor for deciding when opening and closing the door (I think RTC is more reliable)
Wireless connection so I can reach it from the internet and operate manually from distance
"Anti chopped" chicken system (I want the door, when closing, to stop closing if a chicken passes under it - it should re-open. What sensors to use? Infrared, ultrasonic?
would the car window motor be fine to use with arduino or will I burn everything?
Any suggestions are apreciated, thanks in advance.
RTC is better. Photoresistor won't do a good job (clouds, rainy days, ...). There are libraries giving you the sunset and sunrise times for your latitude and longitude. that's what you could use to trigger the door.
wireless might be of interest, depends how you want to use it. adds complexity and power needs.
your door is moving slowly and chicken are smart enough not to get caught. They might even learn that once they start hearing the motor noise that it's time to go home if they are still outside
any motor is fine, just can't plug it directly into your arduino. You need a driver and dedicated power supply.
For the RTC I would just say, open at 8 am , close at 8 PM
I read about someone who built the door and unfortunately found a chicken killed because chopped by the door, that's why I would like to know how to acheive that...also just for knowledge.
I will power the whole stuff with a 12v 100ah AGM battery recharged by a 10w solar panel and it's regulator. Will this be enough to power one an engine for that little time it will have to work? I still haven't decided if i will use a linear actuator or a geared box engine (car window lifter)
Base on the kind of motor I will use comes another question. If I use a lienar actuator to open and close the door I guess it's impossibile to lift it if not powered (some predator). If I use a window lifter engine I will just use a cable to pull up or release the door, and the door can be easily lifted by any predator because it has no locking system. On the latter, what would you suggest as locking system? Any idea?
might be an urban legend or they had a very fast door with razor blades underneath !
the typical security system you find for humans in garage door is either motion-detecting sensor or pressure detection (if the motor requires more torque than usual then it means something is obstructing the movement).
the other way to do have some sort of passive protection for your chicken door is that the motor pulls the door open (winding a rope) and only the weight of the door is what is getting it back down when you unwind the rope. the door weight is likely not going enough to chop your chicken.
I have a 12V LiFePo4 16Amh battery. It takes 60W of solar cells to charge it. Somewhere on the internet is a type the numbers in the boxes formula that calculates how much solar power is needed to charge X battery at X consumption thingy.
Chickens do not go to roost at fixed times, it depends on the season. So unless you live close to the equator, you will want the times to follow sunrise/sunset at your location.
great project. As said before, you should find equivalent example in this forum.
For the anti-chopped system, my first though is a PIR detector (react to heat emitted by birds and mammals). Some are cheap (and absolutely not configurable wich is a pain to me) but could do the trick.
Set it on during a period around the closure/opening hour, but disable it during night, or any fox roaming around may trigger it.
Good idea.
Do you know any arduinbo module with the PIR on it?
I would turn it on by code only during closing time and once closed it would be turned off.
Thanks
I would love to live near the equator but unfortunately I live in Italy.
I know that chicken don't have fixed times, I have several ones, but I thought that fixed times could do the work, but I think it's better working as you said on sunset/sunrise based on location.
Any suggestions for the code?
Wow, thanks.
Where would you mount that sensor?
On a fixed side of the door frame? I must study more because I don't know the range of detection of these sensors. Thanks for the idea
I suggest having the project make a distinctive noise moments before closing the door so that the chickens learn noise means go into coop door is about to close get inside.
