Help with actuator safety

Using Arduino Project Guidance
#1

I am working on prototyping the automation of my chicken coop. One of the functions will be to open the swing gate for the run and open it to our back yard. The functioning of the actuator looks pretty simple and it has a positioning sensor built into it with a input back to my arduino.
https://www.servocity.com/html/180_lbs__thrust_linear_actuato.html#.VwgNHKQrKUk

The question that I have is I want to add a safety feature so that if something is blocking the gate and the gate hits it, then it will reverse itself and either open or close based on the action that it was currently performing. Does anyone have a code sample or would know how to do this. I have not ordered my actuator yet, so I can't just play with it to figure it out.

Thanks,
Don

#2

This could help.

Picture from post#27
R3 senses motor current, and if that gets over a certain threshold (blocked gate), some action can be taken.

Gate.png
Gate.png1179×780 69.4 KB

Leo..

#3

Hi,
The early swinging overhead automatic garage doors used to have a hinged flap along the door edge that touched the floor when closed, this had a microswitch behind it, it would operate when door came down on car or floor.

Tom... :slight_smile:

#4