Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So steve - the level system is the one on the right yeh?

register your chooks as single mothers on a pension and centerlink will send someone out to open and close the doors for them

Been very silent on the hydraulic ram suggestion steve - what do you think?

I think I will wait to hear back from Dicko on his views regarding reliability of the ram and the valves - then I have to start making some decisions. Will have to check out sources of windscreen wiper motors - I'm not a good scrounger so may need to buy new. Even if I did scrounge one, my luck would have it die straight away anyway .

sounds like the story of my life, VB
last week my car broke down on me
bad luck
at first sight
but as it was a scrounged car I bough for 500 € last year
and drove around with it for a year without major problems...
no new car could have made this kind of return on investment
not even counting the stress of driving a new car around, the extra insurance needed(??) and all that culprits could do to it and how they are more inclined to do this to new cars than to an old soddie like mine...
... scrounging pays
if a window or windscreen motor has lasted for 20 years on a car before the car broke down, you can expect it to last a few more years opening/closing hen pens
and if it doesn't you haven't lost much

frank

Sorry for the wait V.B.

Being highly active in the Scout association, kills off most evenings, and self employment takes care of a high percentage of the daylight hours as well

Last I recall prior to the crash of '08, I had put together a reply with some simple explanations on how it all operates,.

Then I got busy, Then i had a blank screen, etc. etc...

Just one ram,
One single valve, (I was trying to find one on Ebay for you to look at when I got busy) which has a 12v solenoid coil on each end to switch from open to closed,
and a simple timer to operate it.

As one of the earlier posts mentioned, Closing speed,
It can be adjusted to a level that it could take longer than 5 minutes to close if you wanted. (No headless chooks)

Pressure also stays on when the solenoid turns off, so the door is held firmly in the open or closed position as long as there is air in the tank, protecting against foxes.

Reliability:( I cant remember if I already said this) This type system is used extensively in the manufacturing industry due to its ability to survive hundreds of thousands of cycles in harsh environments

To take the "Greenly-ness" one step further, you could ditch the compressor and pump up a storage tank with a bike pump

I'll try to get time later today to put together a simple wiring/Pneumatic diagram,
but with more Scout stuff tonight and a "finally Snowballing" work load, it may take a while.
(Maybe Kuda could put his 20 cents in!)

I ALSO have air powered "Rotary Actuators" which are a pneumatic version of the motor with the arm that Steve has drawn!
it will swing the arm 90 degrees and then hold there indefinitely until you tell it to go back the other way.

Dicko

Thanks Dicko - no massive urgency on the schematic mate.

I looked for thoe sorts of valves a while back for another purpose and was unsuccesful. I'm sure they sell them somewhere, but the question as always is going to be where and the cost. I'll need to make sure I can source everything I need for a reasonable cost before I start. Otherwise I'll be selling it all on a chook forum as an 'unfinished project' .

BTW, denpending upon how much air is used in each cysle, the idea of having a storage tank may be a good one. There are those compressors you can buy quite cheaply these days with a detachable tank. If this would do plenty of cycles, may be an option if I want to do away with the air pump and the battery :-)

Valves can be hard to find, You just need to know where to look.
Try scrap metal merchants, they pull out a lot of old machinery, a lot of it pneumatic.

The tank on a $100 GMC compressor from B would probably hold about 20-30 cycles,
You could even just connect the whole thing in to the air lines and run an extension lead to it once a month and turn it on for 2 minutes!

this thread has reseeded a thought I had last year for the wheeliebin competition!
It was regarding a system with a small GB hanging off a pneumatic ram that automatically dunks it in the FT every hour,:shock:
but I never had the time to play with the idea

Maybe I'll keep looking for that valve just to see what the wife says when I unveil it

Dicko

at the very least the pneumatic version will sound way cool

VB, if you go this version then i'd suggest getting a supercheap compressor (proper one), whack it in your garage and run a line to the chook shed. sounds like a good option and once the bug has bitten you can use the spare ones you buy from dicko for all sorts of cool stuff! Buy a walnut tree and make a pneumatic walnut de-husker. etc. etc.

Steve - I already have a Kmart bought 2.5HP compressor, so running an air line to the chook pen would be a fair option - though ti would be fairly long to skirt the big concrete pad that is at the front of my shed :-/.

I'm kinda keen to do this pneumatic type setup now, but it sounds like the valve may be the sticking point - maybe I should consult with the king (F&F)

Let me know if you find any Dicko.

I never answered your question regarding the door. I expect it would be about 50cm by 50cm. Preferably it would be aluminium plate I guess - so wouldn't weigh too much. The ram would have to be long enough to lift the door the 50cm. Got anything suitable

This may be a naive question - but couldn't any 12 volt solenoid valve be used, subject to appropriate PSI rating (even one that is normally used for water?). If so, what sort of PSI would one be looking for?

What about this http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Valve-Solenoid-t ... 286.c0.m14

Bit more than I'd like to pay - but it's a start.

Same things available from China for cheaper - but would they arrive

they cant be that hard to find, can they?

what about the 12V inline solenoids used as the liquid cut off to LPG converters? and lpg workshop shop should have one and the LPG. an'd they'd have to be rated well over the 400kpa you'll be using

nah, the ebay one would be way oversized i reckon..................maybe get it for the chicken guillotine project next season.

1/4" or 3/8" would be enough wouldn't it dicko?

In that case - maybe F&F is my man