I found this extra 45 minutes by observing when the chickens were all inside. The door is programmed to open at sunrise and close 45 minutes after sunset. Normally, stepper motors without gear reduction need constant power to stay in place. Motor is turned off after operationĪfter each motor operation the coils of the motor are turned off since this stepper motor has a gear reduction and can stay in place even with some weight pulling on its shaft. If power loss occurs at a different time ( not during motor operation) and the status of the door is not what it should be at the time, the motor will be operated to move the door to the correct position according to the time rules. I have found that this method is fairly robust and that the only time it might fail is when the power loss occurs during motor movement (see more in shortcomings chapter below). The RTC module has its own battery and can also handle power loss well. This saves the door status in case of power loss. A small push-button is also incorporated to test the door and relay operation.Īfter each complete movement of the motor, the door status is written to the EEPROM. Additionally, it calculates the hours of daylight of a specific day and if the number of hours is less than 15 hours 1, it turns on a relay for the additional time until the total light time is 15 hours. This is device calculates the sunrise and sunset times for a specific location, and utilizes a stepper motor that operates a guillotine door of a chicken coop at sunrise and some predetermined time after sunset. Automatic chicken coop door and light management
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