Can we Build the BEST Automatic Solar Coop Door for super cheap? (Free plans)

[@joewwilliams]

Not surprised at all they have names! I know a rooster named "rooster". And also a horse named "rooster" sooo... I guess a theme is developing.

[@FloweringElbow]

lol

[@hyahmuleart7144]

Seeing that you’ve posted has made my day. Thanks for sharing your mind with us!

[@FloweringElbow]

You are so welcome!

[@PiefacePete46]

@Hyah Mule Art : Me too!... spotting a new post brings an instant smile to my face! 😄

[@jamespeterson1148]

Me also! Never know what im going to get with FloweringElbow, but I know it will be top notch and ill learn something.

[@pocket83squared]

Out of nowhere, I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate your channel logo. It's a great metaphor for this content: the way that the 'W' is both dual-purpose and slightly off suits you, because the theme here is always about _forcing_ the incompatible into place! And this was way too much trouble for chickens. Unappreciative monsters! I'd expect nothing less. Hope you have a safe upcoming milling season.

[@FloweringElbow]

Haha. Thanks Pocket, always a pleasure to hear from you. It may have been a pain (well, some painful fun, let's say) to setup, and then a pain (just a plain pain) to calibrate and debug, but it's actually been super handy all winter :) And the monsters are dishing us up a good number of delightful eggs each day atm, so I won't say naught bad about em.

[@123456eugenio]

What about a fox using a flashlight to open the door?

[@s.whitaker1120]

A fox doesn't have the 100 second attention span required to activate the light sensor. They get tired after 22.7 seconds of holding a flashlight anyhow.

[@AztecWarrior69_69]

@@s.whitaker1120 That's not true at all. Fox are very smart and will take the time to figure out weak spots. The ONLY reason they don't use flashlights is because they don't have thumbs. They can't put batteries in after the ones that come with the flashlight die. DUH

[@lumotroph]

Ah I love this. Makes me want to keep chickens again! Greetings from Johannesburg

[@horst6855]

hey there, you'd make me (and a lot of others) really happy if you'd make a new video. watched them all. and i keep checking back and get a little sad when there's no news. you are a very positive force in all of the "makers" youtube.

[@FloweringElbow]

Hey friend. I need this right now - just sitting down to edit a gazillion hours of footage into a watchable video. Thanks so much for watching and for the encouragement. I'll try and have one out by next Saturday. Peace :)

[@meatcreap]

I just love your videos so much!

[@mattsan70]

A bit of Woodworking, metal work, electronics and chicken poo - what's not to like - thanks for sharing!

[@StripeyType]

I am as ever pleased to see a fellow lover of a wooly-pully, but in this particular video, my eye was drawn by what appears to be a storage and organization solution built around using euro/klt crates as drawers! Here in the US, these crates are mostly unobtainable, which is truly a shame as they're far better-designed than our milk crates (which are square)

[@FloweringElbow]

Hey James, very observant. Yes, those crates are super handy. They are in stacks that allow them to act a bit like draws, but pulling them all the way out is easy. I was actually given them by a friend who's work was throwing them out!? The frames made of stainless steel, and they were tig welded by a guy he works with...

[@StripeyType]

@@FloweringElbow that's really magnificent! I am at the point (WELL past it if I'm honest) where my "next project" really needs to be 'Clean Up and Organize for Staying Cleaned Up', and Euro/KLT crates seem so excellent. the (very expensive) Systainers are based upon the same dimension of the (comparatively cheap) Eurocrates, and this bit of information has seemed to me to be important to the goal, somehow, but as I mentioned, they're rather difficult to come by in the US.

[@chrisleech1565]

Love how the birds were getting set to lay whilst your doing the install. Also admire the breeds in your flock. Really gorgeous plumage.

[@FloweringElbow]

Thank you very much!

[@jeepien]

Lovely plumage, the Norwegian Blue!

[@luke0b708]

I've been building and refining something like this for years :D Nice channel. Subscribed.

[@SprocketN]

My chickens have an internet bought light detector controlled door. It moves very slowly. In the morning they’ve all scrambled through before it’s fully open. In the evening it doesn’t shut until it is properly dark, so they’re all asleep before it starts moving down. The door is a piece of 1/4” plywood. There is a piece of wood at the bottom that may stop a claw or nose getting under it to lift it up. Fortunately their run is fox proof when the gate is closed. They’re confined to their run due to bird flu rules, so the gate is always closed now, keeping predators out. Before the restrictions they could wander over half of the garden, with the gate open the door being closed was more important. When the batteries fail (4 AA batteries) it can take ages to set the bottom and top positions (usually when it’s cold and raining). It seems to rely on time for lowering and motor current (stalling) for the up position. I have been planning to change it and fit rechargeable battles fed from a solar panel so I don’t have to set it up every three months. More importantly, the main problem caused by the batteries going flat is that the door doesn’t open. It always fails closed, or open only half an inch. My chickens are stuck in there until someone notices the door is still closed, this can be a couple of hours after sunrise in the summer. They’re never happy when they’re stuck inside. A constant power supply will ensure they don’t get trapped inside. Thus providing the full convenience of an automated door as I won’t have to check it’s actually opened!

[@PiefacePete46]

@Sprocket N : Large retail outlets have counting systems on their entryways to provide stats on foot-traffic etc. Maybe an adaptation of this could give a headcount check, and shut the door when everychook is strapped into their seats. It could even raise an alarm if somechook has failed to board by door-closing time? 😜

[@FloweringElbow]

Hey Sprocket N, thanks for watching and sharing your experience. Touch wood, the battery and solar part of our system has been really good - considering the cost (an old lawnmower battery discarded by our neighbours, 2nd hand 20w panel, and a cheap charge controller) it's gone through the darkest part of winter without fault, which is surprizing. Thanks again, Bongo.

[@FloweringElbow]

Hi John, Yeah, it wouldn't be crazy hard to implement something like that. Internet connectivity that would allow for missing chicken alerts would be cool. I fear delaying the shut time until all are accounted for could lead to unintended consequences though, so probably just some kind of alert would be best. Unfortunately I'm an old-school kinda weirdo that doesn't always (or even very often) have a phone on me...

[@SprocketN]

@@PiefacePete46 I had thought about that, but counting them out in a morning would be impossible. They all pile out like a ball of feathers and legs! I suppose I could assume that the house is empty at the point when it’s time to close, but sometimes they go in very close together so being sure that there’s one or two passing the sensor may be tricky. It would be an interesting project tho’. I’ll get the battery reliability sorted first though.

[@PiefacePete46]

@@FloweringElbow : My tongue was firmly in my cheek! Just my feeble attempt at humour. 🥴 Keep it up... the world needs all the "old-school kinda weirdos" we can find! 👍

[@gary_glover]

Great project! Thanks for bringing us along!!

[@123Liquid321]

Maybe adding a automated feeder in the shed will help getting all the chickens in? When its getting dark, first start feeding and after a certain time start closing the door.

[@AztecWarrior69_69]

lights in the coop work much better.

[@tuloko16]

That’s pretty cool setup. You could have the arduino play a sound when the door is about to close and have it trigger some sort of automatic feeder. Problably using the door itself. And drop them a little snack inside the coup before bedtime so they all come in. It doesn’t take long to train them to associate sounds with food.

[@FloweringElbow]

Nice idea!

[@qshed]

I have been ask by Cloud, Mrs Miggins, Headwig and Mortus if they too can have an automated door.

[@FloweringElbow]

Chop chop then, as Sam would say to me ;)

[@MrWaalkman]

Our chickens also have names too (thus making them pets rather than food. The dogs however, do not make a distinction), and I like to use names of food dishes that incorporate chickens. Thus "Mole", "McNuggets", "Cacciatore", etc. The chickens don't seem to mind.

[@marc_frank]

0:58 "We look for things." "What sort of things?" "Things we need." "Can you be more specific?" "Things to make us go. We need help."

[@FloweringElbow]

This is beyond my comprehension, but it made me smile.

[@marc_frank]

@@FloweringElbow it's a Star Trek episode "Samaritan Snare" :)

[@jeepien]

One feature I've seen to allow for straggler chickens is to close the door as usual, then wait two minutes, to give any outside chickens time to notice that they have screwed up. And after that, open the door for 30 seconds or so, and then close it for the night.

[@luke0b708]

Great idea!

[@AztecWarrior69_69]

This at first look, seems to be a good idea, however it is a bad one. First if you want your chicken inside get a timed light to get them in. as to the door opening back up. Why give a fox or racoon a chance to get in and then be locked in there with them? It is better to lose on or two then to endanger the whole flock.

[@jeepien]

@@AztecWarrior69_69 // I think that danger is minimal. Even without that feature, a racoon or fox could simply show up five minutes earlier, so the difference in safety is vanishingly small. Say more about this "timed light". Where is it and how does it get them inside?

[@jamespeterson1148]

Chicken-Chicken forever! Nice project. Love the use of the simple wiper motor and sloar panel.

[@The.Talent]

We have a Chicken Chicken, too. Of course their surnames are all chicken, but this one also has it as her first name, hence, Chicken Chicken.

[@pardonwhat]

Just a thought & though not as much fun,,, it may have been simpler to connect an electric eye to a latching flip flop relay with limit switches and a pulley for speed control. Also if you make the door double width it may solve your traffic jam problem. That said i wouldn’t have learnt all that good stuff from your endeavour 👍🏻

[@2pi628]

Nice! 👍 On my chicken door I used a surplus electric window motor. Worked great. I used Arduino, 12volt automotive relays(forward/reverse), magnetic security switches, and a tiny solar detector to control it all. Edit: To water proof all electronics I used a large canning jar and lid to contain it all. Siliconed all wires penetrating the lid. It's been 9 years still working.

[@FloweringElbow]

Nice work! thanks for sharing your experience, sounds good. like the jar-seal idea

[@AztecWarrior69_69]

First off. The suggestions I am about to make are in NO WAY to be taken as insults or degrading your work. They may at times read like I am putting your work down but I am not and not my intent. So first suggestion is to make it modular. Make it so you can take it on and off, to where if you remove it that it take very little effort and does not keep the other door from being useful. At the end of this comment I will link to my version of a string door (hate string doors), where you can see how it can be taken out completely with little effort and taken inside to do any upgrades or maintenance on it. Mount it on the outside. See my previous comment. Use a french cleat. You have a table saw, use it. LOL. Mount your control box using a french cleat. When it comes time to do any updates, upgrades or maintenance on it, all you have to do is take it off the wall. Instead of taking it apart and undoing all those screws. Use quick disconnects. Never hardwire your components. Always use some sort of quick disconnect. From every part to the control, should have some sort of connector to disconnect it from right there at the controller. Instead of using the Arduino nano, use a the regular large Uno. You can put a motor shield on it and not have to do so much wiring and programing. On your spool, for the string. Make it so that if the wire rope keeps going that it is not permanently attached to the spool. If for some reason the door does not go all the way down, when the spool gets to the end of the wire rope, it just falls off. That keeps it from pulling the door back up. Since you have the fabrication tools, make your limit switches like this guy. With a few mods, you can make the limits at the motor not at the door. No need to add a timer. this also makes it so you do not need to make the arduino stop the motor by using the switches to tell the arduino when the door is up or down. The switches cut the power to the motor. says on programing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2rLlWV9i9J4aaM Here is my version of a string door. Maybe you can use the locking feature or even the fall arrest system. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIqwYauQbbmql6M In any case I like your work.

[@d46512]

A relay driver should include a reverse bias diode as the load, a big coil, is inductive.

[@WarGrade]

Could you not have a bit of code that might put a light on inside say 5 min before the door closes, to attract them in or release a little food?

[@pendarischneider]

Some thoughts - 1. Assessing light levels could be done monitoring the voltage from the solar cells and thereby eliminating the specific light sensor; 2.Leaving the door open for (maybe) 5-10 minutes after sunset should allow for the "stalled in doorway" hen to have moved; and, right at the extreme margins, 3. Something longer than 100s for the "it's dark" decision (you may get lucky with a solar eclipse causing the door to be closing with the chooks entering 🤪). New to the channel and enjoying the content, well done.

[@robertbrady3783]

Fun project! Get rid of the added complexity of an Arduino, no code is needed. Use a light sensor module and your relays only, put your limit switches to respond to the string position so its cleaner (you can add a second string if needed) or make your string longer than the door throw using a pulley. Clamp washers using small bolts to the string which trip the limit switches. Add a time delayed relay with a buzzer or bell to sound off 30 seconds before the door closes to train your chickens. your outside coop looks secure enough to let delinquent chickens learn that ignoring the bell means sleeping out side for a night... another thought, have your roosting bar on a spring and the bar triggers a power switch when the weight of all the birds have roosted allowing the door to close when the light sensor triggers.

[@handdancin]

ah yes, the 4 relay to ibt-2 pipeline! i just went on that journey myself 😂

[@x_ph1l]

Cool. If using relays, you don't need 4 relays to switch polarity to a motor, just 2 will do. Each relay's common would be connected to motor + and - respectively and both relays NC pins would be connected to battery negative, and both NO pins to battery positive. This way when energizing relay #1 motor will spin one way, and if energizing relay #2 the other way. Energizing both relays will do nothing.

[@FloweringElbow]

Yep I hear you. Realized some time after abandoning relays altogether. I still think that would have worked well, and had the advantage of not making the high pitched noise the PWM module makes. The motor was too fast really though, so PWM it is...

[@aarondcmedia9585]

Do you eat duck eggs? Do you do multi-species grazing or are the ducks and chickens fixed in their area? Totally non-CNC related questions from a devoted CNC advocate, I realise, but am very curious. How would you feel about IR-capable animal recognition door access? It could differentiate between a chicken and a fox / predator and open the door for one and not the other. Until the fox starts wearing chicken wigs, of course. Love the content, please keep it coming.

[@PiefacePete46]

@Aaron DC mediA : Or alternatively open the door for chooks, and drop the guillotine on foxes! 😜

[@aarondcmedia9585]

@@PiefacePete46 whilstl I understand a dislike for foxes trying to take your chickens, something tells me this youtuber would seek to let the foxes be, rather than kill them. Something I can understand to an extent. Ecological systems are complex.

[@FloweringElbow]

Hi Aaron thanks for watching the random content :D So we don't actually have ducks, we have 3 geese. But yeah, they usually roam about in the same patch as the chickens. The geese are unequivocally in charge. We have only had the geese since the summer, so they are not yet 1 year old, but we had our first goose egg yesterday, which was a nice sign of spring. The taste is between a duck and a hen egg. On the 'IR-capable animal recognition door access', I think it would be cool, but testing and de-bugging would be very tricky. Simple may be best in this instance... A completely separate fox alarm system of some kind and/or a chicken not gone to bed alert would be a nice addition though. Thanks again, Bongo.

[@rl3898]

@@FloweringElbow There are leg fobs for access system detectors which work with arduino, so you can know all chicks are in before shutting the door and if a chick does not enter at dusk plus x minutes that can trigger an alarm so you know or could even send a text!!

[@PiefacePete46]

@@aarondcmedia9585 : I live in New Zealand where there are no foxes. In truth I have an admiration for them, and their legendary cunning... I have watched a number of videos from the "SaveAFox" KZbin channel, and they always leave me smiling. My comment stems from a childhood peppered with cartoons which usually showed the fox as the "Bad Guy". Political Correctness has put an end to such things... youngsters today will never see Wile-E-Coyote being foiled by the Road-Runner; instead they will be subjected to an endless diet of angry growly-voiced humanoid characters acting violently towards each other... this is Okay apparently. Go figure! 🥴 (Foxes are in no danger from me!)

[@wimoweh]

Wouldn't a buzzer help? On door closing, a short beep before start closing, so hens may be trained and go in. It's quite simple thing to add.

[@PiefacePete46]

@Минко Минков : Or add a sound module so that a couple of minutes before closing time it broadcasts the crowing of a hot and horny rooster... guaranteed 100% on board when the door closes! 😃

[@michaellinahan7740]

Those H bridge drivers are very reliable I have one in a DIY tapping arm I made years back and still works a treat. Did you know that you can change the PWM driver frequency to take the 'whine' the driver makes out of the audible range . Have you ever tried using a pro mini with a tft display. I am stuck on a project to make an automatic watering (and fertilizer injector) system but I am struggling to make the display show anything. In the past I have just used a mega and the plugin display boards but their prices seem to have skyrocketed, like everything else I suppose, so I went for the pro mini and the (serial) ILI9418 display to cut down on connections. Keep up the good work.

[@FloweringElbow]

Hi Michael, Thanks for watching:) I did not know you could change the pwm frequency to get rid of the whine! Please tell me more - how is it done?

[@britzwickit]

beep boop engagement bot. great video as always

[@KarlMiller]

Where'd you end up on the gantry leveling device and accuracy measured? Would be great to see how you worked every out.

[@FloweringElbow]

Hey Karl. Thanks for watching. In terms of the cnc I think I covered gantry levelling in the main build video no? "Called can we diy an industrial grade cnc?" Or something along those lines, alsi 2 vids after that cnc related... peace, and thanks again 🙏

[@KarlMiller]

@@FloweringElbow thank you for the response. I was wondering specifically if you did anything more with the laser setup. I did see you try to use the screws to fix the valleys you had on the beam, but I didn't see how you finally got those flatter. I thought you talked about possibly doing an epoxy pour to level out the surface where the rails were mounted. I watched your subsequent videos but never caught that part. BTW - you really have a great talent and approach for solving problems and getting things working. Wherever you got your experience from was time, effort and money well spent.

[@aboxx1982]

Now all you need is a plucker!!!!

[@PiefacePete46]

Portcullis???? Nahhh... Guillotine! 🐔 😵 👍

[@FloweringElbow]

lol. No heads rolled so far ;)

[@Berkeloid0]

This was really interesting. Windscreen wiper motors are supposed to be fairly high torque, so it makes me wonder whether you could instead make something shaped a bit like a pizza slice, with the motor attached at the pointy tip. As it turns it would swing the pizza slice out of the doorway to open it, and swing it back to close it. It might make it simpler from the perspective of not having to deal with the wire tangling, although you may need some micro switches on the leading edge to stop it if it comes down on a chicken. Perhaps if you put a counterweight on the opposite end you may not even need a high torque motor either.

[@FloweringElbow]

I like the idea - and it would look cool/ slightly scary during the operation. So far this door's doing a good job though so will have to wait for the next animal auto opening type thing ;)

[@AztecWarrior69_69]

Do you realise how much room that would take to operate. Plus getting it to be secure. You would have to have it slide in to some sort of bracket to make sure it is not able to be pushed in. Also making it it stays on the shaft of the motor. NAH wy spend all that time and effort when there are other proven secure methods.

[@Berkeloid0]

@@AztecWarrior69_69 If you make it larger than the door it can't get pushed in, and they have these really nifty things called nuts that can be used to keep things fixed to motor shafts. If you're not a tinkerer and just want to buy someone else's off-the-shelf solution that's fine, but half the fun is with experimenting to see if you can do better.

[@AztecWarrior69_69]

@@Berkeloid0 " nifty things called nuts" " If you're not a tinkerer and just want to buy someone else's off-the-shelf solution that's fine, " You should really check a person's channel or even just ask them first before you make ignorant snide remarks like that. In fact me being a "tinkerer" builder IS EXACTLY why I am questioning your half thought of an idea. But congrats you just made a fool of yourself. "nuts that can be used to keep things fixed to motor shafts" Yeah those motor shafts on windshield wiper motors are usually no more than an inch. So just how is that nut supposed to hold a huge pizza wedge? Come on now mister cocky. Even if you have one with splines they are tiny and will wear the board down in a few days. Not to mention that it would be moving are a break neck speed, literally. " If you make it larger than the door it can't get pushed in" Yeah going back to it taking up way more room for no good reason. And that you never stated inside or out. Out is way worse. A huge door with ONLY one connection point would be so easy for most intelligent animals to pry open and squeeze through. " half the fun is with experimenting to see if you can do better." Goes back to if you would stop and think to look at person's channel or ask, you would have seen that I already have done better. WAY BETTER. What's worse is that you are giving out idea that I am sure you never even tried to make. Of course you are not going to put any time money or effort in that crackpot idea. So you don't have any risk if it doesn't work. SO, how about YOU " half the fun is with experimenting to see if you can do better." and make that crap idea work and post a video. Lets see you do it before you toss out lazy ideas for other to waste time on. Hell just get the motor and pie part done. I dare you. Put your money where your mouth is. I already posted vid on actual working ideas. Let's see your pizza door working.

[@AztecWarrior69_69]

@@Berkeloid0 Well is see youtube is deleting comments again. SO larger door you say.? Again "Do you realise how much room that would take to operate." so you answer to it having to take up way more room is TAKE UP EVEN MORE ROOM. "they have these really nifty things called nuts" It is never a good idea to be condescending especially when all you are doing is making yourself look bad by making uninformed comments. That nut is not what keeps lever in place while it rotates. That is where all the stress is. It evether has splines or a notch the line up with the lever. How are you going to do that with a huge door pivoting on that tiny shaft. That nut ain't gonna do dittlely for you. " If you're not a tinkerer and just want to buy someone else's off-the-shelf solution that's fine" Why don't you try looking at my content. BEFORE you know yourself look like a ditz. Also why don't you make of and proof that it can be done. From my viewpoint you are just throwing out BS non working ideas that won't put YOURSELF outta pocket or waste of time. Meaning it won't be any skin off your back, when it fails, since it's not you actually doing it. You are not out any expense or effort, others will be. So make one and show how it's done. More to the point not done.

[@KarlMiller]

It is pretty easy to integrate an RFID reader to your controller so you can adjust the behavior of the door based on all birds being present with an RFID tag bracelet or necklace. You could also create a small coin cell operated Bluetooth beacon in a collar. You might need a larger antenna and continously running power if using an RFID reader, but beacons could be just searched for at bed time because their necklaces would just wakeup and ping every ten seconds or so.

[@AztecWarrior69_69]

um yeah I have mine in the works but to say it is easy, is just not at all true.

[@kolroot1281]

Крутая коробочка из дискет 1.44 мб. лайк

[@FloweringElbow]

Спасибо :D

[@StephenBoyd21]

Next step, AI tracking so that the door only closes when they are all in.

[@FloweringElbow]

Haha, if only I had the intelligence to work AI. There are problems with this though, even if working well. If one chicken is taken at dusk by a fox for example, coop may stay open... We need an AI that will go off looking for the missing chicken, take them home, or take other appropriate action.

[@carlosramos9648]

Bro using a lathe with long sleeves

[@FloweringElbow]

Not baggy sleeves though 😉