Fish Feeder Using Arduino

This instructable was created in fulfillment of the project

requirement of the Makecourse at the University of South Florida (www.makecourse.com)

Components Needed:

1 x Arduino Uno R3 board

1 x Full-size breadboard

1 x USB Cable (provided with the Arduino board)

1 x USB Power Adapter (for powering the Fish Feeder)

Blu-tack

Any small container (hotel shampoo bottle or old fish food bottle) to put the fish food in. If wanted, can use 3D Printer to print own food container.

1 x 10k Resistor

1x IR Receiver

1 x IR Remote

1 x IIC 1602 LCD

1 x SG90 9G servo

1 x IIC Cable

5 x 10x3/4" screws

Female to female cable

Breadboard Jumper wires.

Equipments needed:

A computer with Autodesk Inventor and Arduino IDE software installed.

Power drill (to drill holes for the fish food container)

3D Printer

Screwdriver

Step 1: Print the 3D Parts

The parts that need to be

printed is the container for the fish feeder. Here is the STL file of the box and the lit, it is ready to be 3D printed.

I used the Markerbot Replicator 2 to print the parts and it took around 8 hours to print all of the parts. The printing setting is 100% scale so it is life size.

Step 2: Writing the Program for the Arduino

The attached Arduino sketch contains the program that control

the Fish Feeder. Load the program using the Arduino IDE. Make sure you have imported the IRremote library and the LiquidCrystal_I2C to the Arduino IDE. These library can be found on http://arduino.cc/.

To use your own remote control to control the fish feeder, please change the case setting of the remote control by open the Serial Moniter, select serial port to 9600 and as the pressed any button on that remote. A number should appear. Take that number and replace my own number with the number that you just obtained in the Arduino sketch to reprogram the Arduino sketch to work with your remote control.

Step 3: Wiring the System

Use the diagram above and follow it to wire the components

of the fish feeder to the Arduino board. Remember that the IR receiver should be plugged in the pin 11 and the Servo to pin 9. Also, use the 10k resistor listed above to complete the circuit.

Step 4: Assemble the Finished Product

Put all of the components into the box. The cutouts are made
to be the exact size for a perfect fit.

The large rectangle in the front is use for housing the LCD display. Use a little force and gently push the LCD from the inside out. It should snaps right in. Notice a small hole/cutout near the LCD cutout. That hole is for the IRreceiver. Please make sure the IRreciever goes through that hole and face outwards to the signal can be transfer without any interference.

Turn to the right side; the first slot is for the servo. Same as the LCD, just snap the servo from the inside out and it should perfectly fit the outer housing. Then use blu-tack to attached the fish food container with the servo. Please remember to use a power drill to drill holes for the food container. The hole shouldn’t be too small, be generous with the size as the bigger the hole, the easier for the food to drop down but don’t make it too big as it might cause all of the food to fall down.

The last port is for the USB Cable to goes through for powering the fish feeder.

Use the image attached as a guide for the exact position each component.

To make the fish feeder more stable, use glue and glue the bottom of the Arduino boards and breadboards to the housing.

Close the lid and secure it by using the screws mentioned above.