Someone Plz help me~ Auto Fish Feeder

Hi guys, I'm a college student involved in Electrical & Electronic Engineering. I wan to make an auto fish feeder for my project. I have an idea to build the auto fish feeder which using micro controller or timer. I need a complete circuit of thie auto fish feeder. Please help me on the circuit, because i have to hand in my proposal by next week. Thanks a lot dudes

do you have any experience with microcontrollers?
The circuit seems very simple to me, you just have your microcontroller connected to the mechanism that will feed the fish (stepper motor/servo motor/what have you). Then just program the microcontroller for the time delay.

I think the hardest part of this whole thing is building the mechasim that will actually do the feeding.

hm...the circuit is simple for u, but it's tough for me dude. i've try to figure to use time delay on my circuit for example 12 hours will feed once, then the timer start to countdown the next 12 hours. but i still dunno how to design a circuit for myself, i'm just a newbie. plz help me. thanks

ok.. i've an idea. is about using a stepper motor to control the round feeder plate. The round feeder plate, there are 2 holes on it for the food drop from the container. hope u can get my idea. by using the micro controller to set the time and the stepper motor speed, every 6 hours the stepper motor will spin 180 degree, the food will drop from the 1 of the hole then close again. I really got no idea how to design a circuit to let it work. plz help

I understand what you're saying about the feeding mechanism and it sounds like it should work.

What micro are you using?

What does your proposal need to contain - the completed work or just an outline of what you plan to do?

I would like to think that professors or instructors would look for the notes that show the evolution of your project - not just the finished work. Whether you realise it or not you are developing your ideas, with some assistance, as you go here. That's the whole idea behind having you do the project. It would seem that the finished work is less important that the paths you took to accomplish the work. Just my opinion of course.

that's the prob man... i dunno which mirco should i use... can u intro any micro to me? simple one is more than enuf.

JaCk50n said:

ok.. i've an idea. is about using a stepper motor to control the round feeder plate. The round feeder plate, there are 2 holes on it for the food drop from the container. hope u can get my idea. by using the micro controller to set the time and the stepper motor speed, every 6 hours the stepper motor will spin 180 degree, the food will drop from the 1 of the hole then close again. I really got no idea how to design a circuit to let it work. plz help

Click to expand...

Next time you're at a pet store take a peek at the auto feeders on the market. You can see how they solved some of the problems you will face. Some of them might not even have occured to you yet.

The stepper motor idea sounds workable. Don't spend all your time on the mechanical design of this. If it were me I would not pay anymind to whether or not it was a _good_ auto feeder (meaning it feeds properly!)

You should focus on the design of controlling the motor. As suggested, a PIC is a nice place to start. You can also find reference designs on the web for controlling steppers. Steppers are a litttle more involved than small DC motors. A PIC can easily generate your phasing signals. Writing code to do it will be much easier than trying to build a discrete logic state machine.

If you do a good job with the electrical design, you should qualify for a good grade on the project. If the feeder barrel actually feeds food well, that's just a bonus. I agree with Steves