(AT)tiny Fish Feeder

In this tutorial I'll show you how to make an automatic fish feeder. This is what I use to feed my pets while I'm away and it works pretty well!

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How does it work?

The ATtiny85 controls 2 channels of servos (4 (in parallel) on one channel, 2 (in parallel) on another channel) which will open the gate of each one of the food containers. If you want, you can easily change this configuration by modifying the Eagle Layout I made.

The Feeder will operate on a DC power supply from 6 to 9V.
(Be aware that using a higher value of supply voltage will result in need of heat dissipation for the voltage regulator)

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I am sorry for the bad image quality (all were HD but it seems that while uploading they get compressed).
This is my first tutorial, any help is appreciated.

I hope you like it!

Step 1: Get the parts

To make this device, you will need the following:
- 1 Microcontroller : ATtiny85 / ATtiny45
- 1 DIL8 Socket
- 1 Resistor (330 Ohm or 220 Ohm, it's for the LED)
- 1 Voltage Regulator 7805 (look for a low dropout voltage regulator if powering with 6V, LM2940CT-5.0 is fine) 
- 1 DC power adapter
- 2 Capacitors (10microFarad is fine, they're for the voltage reg.)
- 1 to 6 Servos (Small ones preferably)
- 1 to 6 Servo extention leads
- Some wire
- Some thin balsa wood
- Transparent plastic tube (This is the food container)
- Metal wire (aluminium wire)
- Glue
- Double sided sellotape or velcro
- 1 Project Box (70x50x25 mm)
- 1 SPST Switch
- 1 LED
- 1 Self-adhesive PCB Mounting Pillar (if you plan to use one make sure that it's small enough to fit inside the box)
- 1 Barrel Jack
- 1 Male pinhead connectors row
- Stuff to make your PCB : Copper board, etchant, laser printer, iron, soldering equipment, etc.

Appart from this list and if you don't have an AVR programmer, you will eventually need the components of the following tutorial:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Program-an-ATtiny-with-Arduino/
Those are required to program your ATtiny with an Arduino Board!! (and that is how I programmed it)

Comments

[gahapp3]

Useful new way to feed your fish. This automatic fish feeder is excellent for people who have busy lifestyles and still want to properly take good care of their fish and tanks. It's available at zeromartz.com

[Bongmaster]

put a lid on that thing :0 last thing u want is him to jump out X3
he may never try but u dont wanna chance it

[gab3iel]

Actually there's a plastic top with a small hole to let the air flow and that lets you feed the fish, but I didn't put it when I took the picture! Anyway, thanks for the comment, people must know that fishes can jump! hehe

[WakeUpWolfgang]

I have a fish pond that we raise goldfish in. During the winter we bring them inside and we have had 10 inch goldfish jump out of our holding tank and die

[gab3iel]

That is sad... A friend told me that some of these pond fishes can survive really low temperatures, even with a frozen water surface, but I guess that this might depend on other factors such as time exposed to the cold, etc..

[Guibom]

The site you linked to actually has an Arduino library for servo control... it works pretty well...

http://www.cunningturtle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/servo8bit_arduino_example.zip

[gab3iel]

I remember giving it a try and not succeeding for some reason. Conflicts with something, I don't remember if it was because I had more than one servo, but there was something that did not wok for me. I can't state it does not work, but for me it didn't.

[frikkie]

it sucks! lol just kidding. just an question.did you try to fit the mechanical parts inside the cover/lid of the tank?
but otherwise it still a nice instructable.

[gab3iel]

Thanks! There are some gaps on the cover so you can bend the wires and clip them there and the whole thing won't move. Placing everything inside the aquarium might not be the best idea because humidity could ruin the food and there is not much space under the cover..

[Osquar]

I would suggest that since there are so many i'bles on how to make PCBs and if you have one that you prefer, that maybe you'll link to it?

Otherwise a nice one :) shame I don't keep fishes anymore

[gab3iel]

I'll make that instructable ;) I found a way that works every time without problems. As you can see on the pictures the PCB looks really nice hehe. I gathered information from many instructables and from youtube videos and picked the best techniques.