Install instructions

[jade2020]

Hi,

I'm interested in your project. Would you be able to give me a few pointers on how to get started with the project?

Thanks

[chrisdimaio]

Sure. Where do you stand at the moment? Do you have a raspberry pi?

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On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 11:32 PM jade2020 ***@***.***> wrote: Hi, I'm interested in your project. Would you be able to give me a few pointers on how to get started with the project? Thanks — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAL7FQ4TWC2XQPF74FAA4YLTPW4OBANCNFSM45TKT2ZA> .

[jade2020]

Thanks for your response.

I don't have a pi yet but will be getting the pi zero W in the next couple of weeks. Currently working out how to get electric power and wifi from the house to the coop which is about 100ft away. I wanted to start testing the raspberry pi setup in parallel.

[chrisdimaio]

Okay, so you need an actuator, relays, and a power supply and a few other things. I’ll put a list of parts together this weekend. I should ask, are you an adult? And if so how comfortable are you with electricity? You will be working with 12v dc 5amps and 120ac. So please proceed at your own risk. I’m not an expert. Also the actuator I used for this project is extremely powerful with a push/pull of 300+ pounds of force. I used these so that predators couldn’t pry open the door. So watch your hands and fingers and design your door in such a way that minimizes the chance of catching a chicken. As far as WiFi is concerned, the addition of the RTC (real time clock) eliminates the need for WiFi. The system only requires WiFi (and access to the internet) to keep time when an RTC isn’t present. However, you won’t have access to the api without it. The very first step would be getting the software running on your raspberry pi. Get a multimeter if you don’t have one. You can test the output pins with it and it will be helpful when debugging your wiring later on in the project. A couple cheap led lights can be helpful too. You can wire them to the output pins and they will light up when you tell the software to open/close. These output pins are what control your relays. The relays in turn control your actuator. When you have your raspberry pi you will need to install the Raspian OS, pull the code down from GitHub and configure System D. This should be enough to get you started.

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On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 9:05 PM jade2020 ***@***.***> wrote: Thanks for your response. I don't have a pi yet but will be getting the pi zero W in the next couple of weeks. Currently working out how to get electric power and wifi from the house to the coop which is about 100ft away. I wanted to start testing the raspberry pi setup in parallel. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAL7FQ7UXPR6FJLNQXOCHWLTP3T4FANCNFSM45TKT2ZA> .

[jade2020]

Hi,

I've got the pi zero, actuator (was a headache trying to figure out which one to get and how much to spend!), relays and I've got electricity supply to the coop.

Can you advise on what the next steps are? Did you get a chance to put together install instructions?

Thanks,