Rooster coops aren’t simply cozy houses the place the fowl can relaxation at evening, they’re additionally very important safety from predators. In the USA, for instance, coyotes are a severe risk to chickens and homeowners need to put actual effort into protecting them at bay. A sturdy coop can present good safety, however the proprietor must herd to birds out and in every day, closing the door to lock them inside when it’s darkish. That’s a problem, so lcamtuf constructed Rooster Squisher 3000. It’s an automated coop door that doesn’t squish chickens.
Over the summer time, lcamtuf and their spouse constructed a extremely severe hen coop. They stay in an space with legit predators, together with grizzly bears and mountain lions, and chilly winters, so that they went all-out with the coop. It has double partitions, double-pane home windows, an electrified perimeter fence, and even electrical shops inside for lighting and heating. By automating the door, lcamtuf can make sure the chickens stay secure, even when they aren’t dwelling to shut it up at evening.
Rooster Squisher 3000 is an actuator that opens and closes the coop door. It could possibly accomplish that on the contact of a button or mechanically primarily based on mild ranges. Importantly, it has tunable stall torque settings. That’s the place the gadget bought its title, as a result of lcamtuf can improve the torque simply sufficient to reliably open and shut the door, however not a lot that the door poses a danger to the chickens.
A small DC motor with a worm gear swings the door through sliding rod, which eradicated the necessity for a posh linkage. An aluminum mission field homes the electronics. An important element is a Microchip AVR Dx 8-bit microcontroller (particularly, the AVR16DD14). It displays mild ranges by way of a regular photoresistor and drives the DC motor by way of a DRV8231, which has current-sensing to allow stall torque settings. Aside from that, it’s simply energy and buttons.
The Rooster Squisher 3000 management field mounts simply above the coop door, the place lcamtuf can entry it when overriding the default light-dependent habits. And until the native predators learn to press the buttons, the chickens ought to stay secure and sound by way of the evening.