This is a chicken door automation designed for our two Eglu Cube and one Eglu Go chicken houses. Operated by an ESP8266 microprocessor featuring a RESTless API, it can be easily integrated into a home automation system.
- can be added (almost) without modifying the chicken house
- controls a motor to open / close the door
- controls a light to attract chickens to move in
- supports several commands using a RESTfull API:
- door status
- open door
- close door
- light status
- turn light on
- turn light off
- button to open and close the door manually
- displays door status using two LEDs
Besides this repository, the 3D printable parts are provided on Harry's Prusa Prints.
The plan is provided in plan.svg
. It combines an ESP8266 with a stepper motor driver, two LEDs for status display and a button allowing manual operation. In addition, a 12V LED can be added.
Start with setting up your Arduino environment. When using the electronic parts I have used, here are the basic steps to follow:
- install support for your ESP8266 board
- install RemoteDebug library required for our own libraries
chickendoor is based on the Bolbro library my projects are based on. It comes with a number of convenience functions including WiFi, preference, time, web server, and log handling.
- copy
library/Bolbro
to your Arduino library directory; on macOS, this is~/Documents/Arduino/libraries
- restart Arduino IDE afterwards
Now, you are ready to compile and flash the sketch. chickendoor
requires a customization to work:
- rename
chickendoor.ino.customize
tochickendoor.ino
- edit the call to
Bolbro.addWiFi()
to add the local WiFi to connect to - search for other entries marked with "customize" and change as required
By adding a WiFi made up from an SSID and a password, it will be considered as a connection point of your local network. In case you have more than one, call addWiFi()
multiple times. The best one will be choosen.
Finally, the sketch:
- compile and flash
chickendoor
See the 3D Model description for instructions how to operate the system.