Hi, I'm very new to electronics and I'm not sure if I'm in the right place but here goes: I recently bought a few chickens (my girls) and built a house for them, my problem is that ideally chickens should be let out at the break of dawn and allowed back in at dusk to keep any foxes at bay, unfortunately the way my hours at work are this isn't allways possible.
My solution is to build a light activated motorised hatch. The hatch is a simple shutter that slides up (pulled by the motor) and stays open for a predetermined time to allow the chickens in/out, then slides back down to keep the chickens in/out. The shutter will only weigh approx 1/2 lb (1/4 kg) so I'm hoping that 4 AA batteries will be a sufficient power supply.
As I say I'm new to electronics but did a short course in circuit building about 10 years ago. What I really need are a few pointers to get me started regarding the components I should be using (sensors, motor, IC etc)and equipment I would need to purchase to complete the project. I could probably buy something commercially made that would work out as cheaply, but I'd prefer to have a go at building it myself.
Any help or suggestions offered would be greatly appreciated.
Regards Ciribhoy
My solution is to build a light activated motorised hatch. The hatch is a simple shutter that slides up (pulled by the motor) and stays open for a predetermined time to allow the chickens in/out, then slides back down to keep the chickens in/out. The shutter will only weigh approx 1/2 lb (1/4 kg) so I'm hoping that 4 AA batteries will be a sufficient power supply.
As I say I'm new to electronics but did a short course in circuit building about 10 years ago. What I really need are a few pointers to get me started regarding the components I should be using (sensors, motor, IC etc)and equipment I would need to purchase to complete the project. I could probably buy something commercially made that would work out as cheaply, but I'd prefer to have a go at building it myself.
Any help or suggestions offered would be greatly appreciated.
Regards Ciribhoy