Automatic Chicken Coop Door 🐔 With Solar Power and Battery Backup

This is an improvement on my last chicken coop Instructables. This time, we are using the custom Eggxit controller board with battery backup, solar power, emergency stop buttons, and an 18" door.

Automatic chicken coop door are essential. Our lives are toooooo busy to be trusted to open and close a door everyday at the same time. There are a lot of automatic doors available that work off of a clock or photo sensor, but not many that work off of a schedule from your phone and even fewer that notify you when the door closed, opened, or won't respond.

Not only that, but you can get the status on the door and manually close it from anywhere in the world. Well, as long as you have a signal that is. If this interests you, then check out this Instructables and reach out to me with any questions.

As usual, I have a video to go along with this build. Please enjoy!

Supplies

There are quite a few parts for this build. Total build price with shipping and tax was $370.

So yeah that is expensive but should do everything you want and fit any custom size door from 4" up to garage door size. You can modify the code to use different sensors and even use motors instead of a linear actuator.

Here are the parts I used for this build:

Eggxit Board Controller
30W Solar panel with controller
WiFi Garage door controller
Electrical Box
Emergency Stop buttons
Battery backup switch
12V 7AH Battery
12V AC/DC Power Supply
18" Actuator
18 gauge 2 conductor wire for the actuator
16 gauge 2 conductor wire for the solar panel
Stainless steel momentary push button

Step 1: What Door Style Are You?

First, figure out what type of door you want to install. Should it be mounted on the outside or inside, swing style, guillotine style, barn door style? Or do you want something totally new and creative?

Most people go for the barn door style mounted on the outside of the coop. This is a door that moves like a common porch door, left to right or right to left.

For this build, we chose to go with the guillotine style door that moves up and down. We also decided it would be best to mount the door on the inside because we had so much room and there was a second outside door incase the automatic one broke.

Planning for the door type matters because it will determine where and how the actuator will be mounted.

Step 2: Measure Once, Cut Twice??

After knowing the door style, the second thing we did was measure where all the components could go. If I didn't know the components size, like what size electrical box I should get, then I measured for available room.

Most importantly, get the size of the door, this will tell you what size actuator you will need to get.

Second most importantly, is to ensure there is enough room for the actuator. If you have an 18" door, then you will need about 40" of room for a fully extended actuator. verify the actuator length fully extended before buying.

If it won't fit, maybe try changing you door style?

Step 3: Electrical Box

There are hundreds of project box styles, shapes and sizes. Be sure to get one that is weather resistant, IP65 or more, and big enough to fit all of your components with a little bit of breathing room. The box I chose was 7.5 x 5.5 x 5 in size with weather tight stripping and grommets for the wires exiting\entering the box.

To ensure the box I purchased would fit all of the parts, I got all of the part dimensions then drew the box in Fusion 360 with the parts inside so I could visually see where they might go. Alternative is to just buy a box and return it if it doesn't work.

Next is to place all the components in the box without mounting them just to ensure everything is at its best location. Image all the cables you will have to run and try to find the easiest path for all of them. This might take some time. For this install, I had to mount components to the lid to find the best path for everything.

Once you know where everything should go, mark the locations then drill a hole for the mounting. Almost all components have mounting holes except the battery and AC power adapter. For these I printed mounts to keep them secure to the box.

This project used AC as the primary power source and the battery as backup with a solar charger. Alternatively, you could use battery only but I would get a larger battery than a 7AH if you do, unless you have reliable sunny days.

Step 4: Program and Connect the WiFi

With the Eggxit door controller, you can customize it to do whatever you want. Or just use the default program. But if you wanted to add lights, sensors, or anything else, its probably possible with the Eggxit door controller.

So this step would be to program any modifications you want, otherwise, it is ready to go. Just connect your garage controller to our phone.

If you want an Eggxit door controller, I sell them for $39, please contact me at jason.altice@codemakesitgo.com.

Step 5: Vent, Button, and Grommets

For bigger holes I had to use a stepper bit. This was used for the momentary push button and I used a 2" hole saw for the vent. The push button allows you to open and close the door manually.

The reason I "needed" a vent is because if the battery gets overcharged it could leak a small amount of hydrogen gas. 4% mixture of hydrogen gas can be explosive in a sealed box. So it is recommended to vent it even though the chance of a sealed battery leaking enough hydrogen is very low. I went on the safe side since this electrical box will be on the inside of the chicken coop.

Step 6: Mounting the Box

Next part is pretty obvious, mount the electrical box. I used clear sealant in the drilled out holes to ensure they were water tight. Other than that there isn't much to this part.

Step 7: Hodor, the Door

To create the door channel I used an 8' piece of wood siding to create the door channel. Then I placed a flat piece over top to lock the door in place. This worked really well but you have to use a 1/4" piece of plywood for the door because that is how deep the channel is. Cut to size then nail in place. Remember to cut these twice as long as the door height is.

I then attached a custom made print that allows me to attach 6 screws into the plywood instead of just the two large bolts. This allows the door to slide flush against anything behind it.

Once the door is cut to the correct size, slide it into place and ensure it moves freely. The actuator is very strong and it will cause damage if the door gets stuck on something,

LinearMount V2 v1.3mf
Download

Step 8: Actuate the Actuator

When mounting the actuator, ensure the actuator is fully extended to find where it is needs to mount. The actuator SHOULD be attached to the top of the door if doing the guillotine style. It is always better to push the door closed and pull it open because the door could shift and get bound up otherwise. Again the actuator is very strong and it will most likely break something if the door gets stuck. Yes, I've tested this before and the actuator mount was ripped off the door.

If the actuator was installed while it was fully extended, then it should be safe to test at this point.

Step 9: Door Close Sensor

Next you will need to mount the door sensor to provide feedback to the garage door controller that the door has closed. This is a very important step if using the garage door controller, as it will think it is always open otherwise.

I created nice mounts that align the sensor perfectly for a 1/4" difference in height.

Step 10: Solar Power!

Because one of the components was a solar power controller, we need to install the solar power panel. The version seen here is a 30W because it came with nice stands that could withstand some strong winds. Although, the battery does not need a 30W charger. The controller will monitor the battery voltage and will not over charge it so I think it is ok.

The instructions say to always have the battery connected first, then the solar panel.

Step 11: Power Connection

Because all of the cables go through grommets, some may need to be cut. This was only true for the AC cable because it can't fit through the grommet otherwise. I used this nice watertight AC cable connector that allowed me to cut the AC cable without having to install a junction box. I used this because I had an AC outlet inside the coop. If you do not, then possibly you will have to do something else to get AC power to your chicken coop.

In this case I used AC with battery backup. If you are only using solar and a battery then you will not need this. However, I would recommend getting a larger battery than a 7AH if going battery only. 7AH powers the box for about 2 days.