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 US, for instance, coyotes are a severe menace to chickens and house owners must put actual effort into holding 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 trouble, so lcamtuf constructed Rooster Squisher 3000. It’s an computerized coop door that doesn’t squish chickens.
Over the summer time, lcamtuf and their spouse constructed a very severe hen coop. They reside 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 retailers 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 might probably accomplish that on the contact of a button or robotically primarily based on gentle ranges. Importantly, it has tunable stall torque settings. That’s the place the gadget received its title, as a result of lcamtuf can enhance 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 fancy linkage. An aluminum undertaking field homes the electronics. A very powerful part is a Microchip AVR Dx 8-bit microcontroller (particularly, the AVR16DD14). It displays gentle ranges by a regular photoresistor and drives the DC motor by 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 except the native predators learn to press the buttons, the chickens ought to stay secure and sound by the evening.
