Hello everyone my first post so let me say thanks for all the help I hope to receive.
First off I realize this is going to sound extremely outrageous and probably too much for one post so here goes.
I run a small hobby farm out of my back yard I have ~170 chickens that I collect eggs from daily my issue is I work full time 40+ a week so it's difficult for me to let the chickens out after they have laid there eggs for the day normally around 12 pm I've seen Adruino automation on coop doors before my problem isn't materials I've got hundreds if not thousands of steppers sensors power supply's you name it I've got them it's combining all the functions into one or 2 or even 3 Arduinos . My basic need is to open a door using a stepper at a certain time 12 pm and close the same door at say 9 pm that should be the easy part. Secondly if it's possible I'd like to keep the door closed if the temperature is below 40*F or if it is raining or has rained in the last 24 hours. So temperature sensors with led readout is a must also time since the door was opened would be nice . Now the third and most difficult i also feel like if I am going this far with the automation I should automate the feed and water which both run off 120v so a relay to a relay is the obvious option but being able to see the time the feed auger ran and such is a mystery to me so essentially I've got huge hopes and dreams. I'm a horrible programmer unless it's editing and adjusting variables. I can't get past the include and setup if it was pre set where I could say turn this stepper 253 steps and hold for 9 hours then reverse for 253 steps until 1200 the. I would be golden but no such language has ever crossed my path so thoughts advice. And I do realize I can order a giant box of crap from a farm supply place for 3000$ but actually using old "materials" seems cheaper
All of that can be done with Arduino but you will need to acquire some skills along the way. Rather than viewing the problem as one huge mountain you need to treat it as a number of small easy steps. When you started to keep chickens did you go from a empty plot to 170 birds in a day or a week? I'm guessing not- you probably started with a few, learnt from that, re-designed your coups a few times until you got to where you are today.
I suggest you start out by buying one of the arduino starter kits then working through all the examples that come with that. Once you have improved your programming and hardware skills you will then be in a much better position to design your coup management system.
rw950431:
Rather than viewing the problem as one huge mountain you need to treat it as a number of small easy steps.
+1
Write short programs that just work with one item - the motor, the relay, the real-time-clock, the LCD etc until you are familiar with controlling each of them with the Arduino. Only then begin to build a more complex program - and do that step by step also.
The other great advantage of small single purpose programs is that it makes it much easier to get help here if you get stuck.
Start with an indoor hydroponics system. See if you can keep plants alive for an entire growing season. It's harder than you think. Sensors fail, pumps and motors get clogged.
Recently one of my DS18b20 temperature sensors used in an outdoor project died after being in service for less than a month. By good fortune it wasn't a critical sensor, but it wasn't a failure that I was expecting or had planned for.
I run a small hobby farm
Out of my back yard I have ~170 chickens that I collect eggs from daily
My issue is I work full time 40+ a week so it's difficult for me to let the chickens out after they have laid there eggs for the day
Normally around 12 pm
I've seen Adruino automation on coop doors before my problem isn't materials I've got hundreds if not thousands of steppers sensors power supply's you name it I've got them
It's combining all the functions into one or 2 or even 3 Arduinos .
My basic need is to open a door using a stepper at a certain time 12 pm and close the same door at say 9 pm that should be the easy part.
Secondly if it's possible I'd like to keep the door closed if the temperature is below 40*F or if it is raining or has rained in the last 24 hours.
So temperature sensors with led readout is a must also time since the door was opened would be nice .
Now the third and most difficult i also feel like if I am going this far with the automation I should automate the feed and water which both run off 120v so a relay to a relay is the obvious option but being able to see the time the feed auger ran and such is a mystery to me
so essentially I've got huge hopes and dreams.
I'm a horrible programmer unless it's editing and adjusting variables.
I can't get past the include and setup if it was pre set where I could say turn this stepper 253 steps and hold for 9 hours then reverse for 253 steps until 1200 the.
I would be golden but no such language has ever crossed my path so thoughts advice.
And I do realize I can order a giant box of crap from a farm supply place for 3000$ but actually using old "materials" seems cheaper
Sorry but had to lay your post out in point form to help understand.
Take Robin2 suggestion, work on small aspects of your project to learn about Arduino and the conditions you will have your project working under.
