DIY Smartphone Controlled Chicken Feeder

Hi readers, In this Instructables i will show you how I made this Smartphone Controlled Chicken Feeder, This is a very interesting project as we are applying hobby electronics to some real-world applications.

If you own a pet say it is a cat or a dog you might know those pets need food every now and then! It's the same with almost every animal.

I domesticate 2 chickens and due to my busy schedule, I was feeling difficult to manage my time to feed them again and again, even though they get plenty to eat on the farm they need to be fed with something extra too right?

So I made this smartphone-controlled feeder that dispenses the food whenever you slide a button on your phone.

This device can also be used to dispense food to cats, dogs, and other pets if you make minor modifications in the feeder slot area.

In my case since I will be filling the feeder with rice it works pretty fine, if you are adding larger-sized treats for your pets you might need to increase the size of the feeder area tap.

With this being said let us head over to build part of this project, you can also watch the video given at the end of this instructable.

Supplies

NodeMCU

You may think why I used this board.

Its because it is a low-cost microcontroller based on the ESP8266 Wi-Fi module, which allows for easy integration with smartphone applications.

Micro Servo Motor

This is used for precise rotational control that dispenses measured amounts of chicken feed.

Smartphone

The phone controls the feed as per the command given to the pet feeder.

Container

Top container(plastic bottle) stores the feed whereas the Bottom or base container(used date box) shows the chicken feed.

Power Supply

I will be using my 4000mah power bank as a power source for the NodeMCU and servo motor, this ensures using this device for long hours.

Hot glue

To couple things up

Step 1: Circuit Diagram

The circuit is very simple for this project.

We are using the Nodemcu board and the micro servo is directly connected to this board.

There are 3 pins on a micro servo, Positive, negative, and Signal.

Positive is connected to the 3v pin of Nodemcu, negative to Gnd, and signal to the D1 pin of MCU.

I will be using jumper wires to make the connections, with these simple steps our circuit will be completed.

Step 2: Arduino Code

After the circuit connection, connect the board to Arduino IDE via a USB cable.

If you did not use Nodemcu before make sure to select the type of board by going to tools-board and Nodemcu.

Install the libraries ESP8266 and servo.

Enter your wifi credentials, I used wifi(portable hotspot) from my mobile.

Select the type of port and click on upload.

After the code is uploaded to the board switch on the mobile hotspot, with the USB cable still connected to Nodemcu it will automatically connect to the mobile hotspot.

Go for connected devices on your phone and note down the IP address of the Nodemcu board.

Paste the same IP address on the browser and you will see a slider, Adjust this slider to move the servo.

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Step 3: Building the Body

I cut the slots in the base container that holds most of the things, the 2 slots were made on the lid part so other things can be added later.

To make the servo holder where the feed tap happens, feed tap means opening and closing of the servo mechanism to supply and stop the feed.

I made a hole taking the size of the plastic bottle(where the feed will be stored).

The size of the cap is marked and later cut, now the inside of the cap is also cut.

In the end fix the cap whose base was removed on the servo holder, seal the edges with hot glue.

Step 4: Building Feed Tap Mechanism

Micro servo is the part that controls the feed rate when the slider on the smartphone is moved.

The horns of the servo should be attached properly to avoid any spillage of the feed, so I added a screw to the horn that keeps the horn intact with the shaft of the servo.

Later from the leftover piece of servo holder, I made the feed blocker, just glue this to the servo horn and add hot glue to make it firm.

Add this to the inside of the servo holder, I wanted to elevate the servo to keep it leveled, so I made use of a small disc and to the top of it, I added a micro servo.

Make sure to check for the servo positions before gluing.

Step 5: Assembly

Now we can move to assemble all the spare components together.

Start by gluing the servo holder to the base of the bottom box, you can use hot glue for this purpose.

Now to avoid spilling internally I added a piece of cardboard that also in return slides the feed to the corner of the bottom box so that chickens can easily feed over them as it becomes more visible.

I glued the piece using hot glue and behind this part, I have placed the power bank and the Nodemcu board.

The box I used had a simple clip mechanism that will allow me to open and close the lid whenever I need.

In this way, I can plug and unplug the power supply from the power bank whenever necessary.

Step 6: How to Use

Using this chicken feeder is very simple.

Before topping up with the feed connect the power supply from the power bank to the Nodemcu board

If your mobile hotspot is on the Nodemcu board will automatically connect with your phone.

Open the IP address in the browser

Move the servo slider gently, now the feed tap will open, now you can load the feeder with food.

In my case, I filled it with rice.

Attach the feeder, and keep your device where your chickens live the most.

I have only 2 chickens so one full bottle is enough for a couple of days.

This was all about making your own chicken feeder, if you have any questions ask me in the comments. Thank you.

Step 7: Video of Smartphone Controlled Chicken Feeder

You must definitely check this video that shows how happy my chickens were with their new food-feeding device!

You also can watch the same video with this link if your browser doesn't load videos directly https://youtu.be/pzYsQFiOU3g

Have a great day and thanks for reading.