My Auto door solar setup for multiple coops

[bobbieschicks]

Our main coop has had an Add-A-Motor opener with our wooden door, a solar panel and 12v battery since we built it years ago. It functions well enough that I decided I wanted to replicate it for the other two smaller coops I built over the summer. The trouble was I didn't want to buy and maintain three separate solar setups.

My solution... set up my current solar powered system to run 3 openers with 1 timer using a multi connection port. I still don't know if this will be possible because one door kept sticking (due to swelling from all the recent rain) while I was testing it, so tomorrow I will work on fixing that door and then test my 3 in 1 solution. But presently I have two coop doors working off the one timer and the multi connection port so at least I'm 2/3rds of the way there.

I set up an area that's under protection on the side of the coop as the system control area and housed it all inside a plastic box with locking lid. I screwed it to the wall in case the chickens get wild on that side and decide to try and fly up on it.

Tonight two of the coops had their doors close at 5:30pm. Tomorrow morning they are supposed to open at 7am. With freeze warnings tonight I'm hoping they still open up without incident. I'll let you know if I get all three to run at the same time and how well it works.

I will also add a picture of the finished product once we get some sunlight on that side of the coop.

 

[cavemanrich]

Is your battery sufficient to pull all three units? You can just add an extra battery, tandem (parallel) so it gets charged up . On less than IDEAL charging days, the extra backup might just get you over the hump. Use olive oil to lubricate door guides. Easy on quantity, and as often as needed. Its better than Non eatable petroleum lube. Bees Wax is another good option.
WISHING YOU BEST...

 

[bobbieschicks]

Thanks for the idea. I plan to work on the third door today once it warms a bit outside. My battery is 12v but I don't know how much power the Add A Motors require other then they run on 12v.

The two doors worked great this morning except I will need to adjust the open time earlier since it's brighter now earlier.

 

[bobbieschicks]

So apparently I changed the wrong event on the timer and the doors closed again this morning after their 6:30 am opening. :/

But I couldn't get the timer to open them again when I went back out there at 7:30am. I checked the connections and the timer and the fuse was fine. So I got out the power cord and plugged it in and tested the motor itself. Both motors opened their doors without problems on AC current. So maybe there is insufficient power to run the motors in the colder weather?

My DH said it's too cold for the battery to work (temps are dropping today they were 45F when the doors opened and 43F now). I don't think it's that the battery can't work when it's cold, but perhaps it doesn't run at 100%. That makes sense to me.

I guess I'll dig out the voltage meter and check to see if there's power to the motor before I start buying more batteries and/or more solar panels.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Found one issue.

The load negative wire had become disconnected at the charge controller. So I repaired it and put it in place. I used the volt meter to test the solar, battery, and load wires at the controller and they read 12v range. I will need to test the timer output next, but my hands were turning blue messing with it all.

It's a cold day today so I'm probably not going to deal with it again until next week when it warms back up into the 50s.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Wow. Wasn't expecting it to work this evening, but the doors closed at 5:15pm after I changed the timer. If it opens tomorrow at 6am on its own I'll be very happy.

I noticed the cmp-12 charge controller "charge" light was flickering all day. I noticed when I changed the timer tonight it was not lit.

 

[cavemanrich]

Here are some things to think about...
I'm NOT sure, since I don't have your setup, but the flickering may mean that the charging was weak today. Was it overcast?
Adding another battery you would connect it parallel, so your voltage would remain 12 vols. Only if connected in series, would you get 24 volts. At that point, all your things would cease to work. Very likely that electronics in your components would get fried as well.
Adding or replacing, with a larger battery like a garden tractor type, would also work. You would still retain 12 volts. Your reserve capacity would be increased. Think of a larger battery compared to a smaller one like a sponge. The larger one will hold more water than a small one.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Oh yes it was overcast most of the day today. Yesterday it was as well and rainy.

Thank you for the suggestion about the battery. I've been researching that today to see if I got a bigger sized 12volt battery if it would be able to hold a longer charge. I'm still learning about solar and how ac/dc electricity functions.

My setup is:
Add-a-motor opener
American Hunter 12v timer (White one from 6 years ago)
12v 7ah Power Patrol Battery
CMP-12 10A 12v Charge controller
Newpowa 10watt 12v polycrystalline solar panel
Pilot multiport (connector removed and hardwired)

I've connected the solar panel and battery directly to the charge controller. The load goes to the timer from the charge controller. The timer then goes to the multiport which connects to the add a motor openers. Presently I have just two buttons turned "on" and those two doors are the ones that worked tonight.

 

[bobbieschicks]

 

[bobbieschicks]

The box with all wiring.