Chicken Fever

Hey Dave – thanks for the code and schematic – I altered both to use an Arduino Motor Shield to drive a cordless screwdriver that opens and shuts a horizontal door on my coop. The code works great with one exception, I am hearing a clicking noise from the Arduino to the cordless screwdriver after the coop door has either opened or closed. I am ASSUMING that this is the reed switch debouncing, because it “clicks” at the same cadence set in the code, and I changed the delay in that section of the code and it clicks to whatever I set the delay rate to.

How do I stop this? I think this constant debouncing of the switches will wear any battery/motor/arduino out over extended periods of time…maybe not?

It does NOT happen if I get a ‘TWILIGHT’ reading, only after the coop door opens or closes.

Any help greaty appreciated – I am an Arduino newbie. Below is my altered code. Thanks!

***********************************************************************************************************************
// libraries

#include // load the SimpleTimer library to make timers, instead of delays & too many millis statements

/*
* Copyright 2013, David Naves (http://daveworks.net, http://davenaves.com)
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
* modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
* as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3
* of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
* along with this program; if not, see

*/

/*
* I’m hoping that if you use/modify this code, you will share your
* coop project with me and the world (pictures, whatever)
* I’m big on sharing.
* Cheers,
* //D
*/

//pins
const int photocellPin = A0; // photocell is connected to analog 0
const int closeSwitchPin = 6; // close reed switch is connected to pin 6
const int openSwitchPin = 7; // open reed switch is connected to pin 7

// vars

// photocell
int photocellReading; // analog reading of the photocell
int photocellReadingLevel; // photocell reading levels (dark, twilight, light)

// reed switches open and close with coop door

// open switch
int openSwitchPinVal; // open switch var for reading the pin status
int openSwitchPinVal2; // open switch var for reading the pin delay/debounce status
int openSwitchState; // open switch var for to hold the switch state

// close switch
int closeSwitchPinVal; // close switch var for reading the pin status
int closeSwitchPinVal2; // close switch var for reading the pin delay/debounce status
int closeSwitchState; // close switch var for to hold the switch state

// just need 1 SimpleTimer object
SimpleTimer coopTimer;
// ************************************** the setup **************************************

void setup(void) {
Serial.begin(9600);

// welcome message
Serial.println(” Checking doCoopDoor: every 1 minute for light levels to open or close door”);
Serial.println();

// coop door

// coop door motor
pinMode (12, OUTPUT); // Initiates motor pin for channel A
pinMode (9, OUTPUT); // Initiates break pin for channel A

// disengage the motor brakes
digitalWrite(9, LOW); // Disengage the Brake for Channel A

// coop door switches
// close switch
pinMode(closeSwitchPin, INPUT); // set close switch pin as input
digitalWrite(closeSwitchPin, HIGH); // activate close switch resistor

// open switch
pinMode(openSwitchPin, INPUT); // set open switch pin as input
digitalWrite(openSwitchPin, HIGH); // activate open switch resistor

// timed actions setup
coopTimer.setInterval(60000, readPhotoCell); // read the photocell every 1 minute

}

// functions

// operate the coop door

// photocell to read levels of exterior light

void readPhotoCell() { // function to be called repeatedly – per cooptimer set in setup

photocellReading = analogRead(photocellPin);
Serial.print(” Photocell Analog Reading = “);
Serial.println(photocellReading);

// set photocell threshholds
if (photocellReading >= 0 && photocellReading = 15 && photocellReading = 25 ) {
photocellReadingLevel = ‘3’;
Serial.print(” Photocell Reading Level:”);
Serial.println(” – Light”);
}
}

//debounce close reed switch

void debounceCloseReedSwitch() {

//debounce close reed switch
closeSwitchPinVal = digitalRead(closeSwitchPin); // read input value and store it in val
delay(100);
closeSwitchPinVal2 = digitalRead(closeSwitchPin); // read input value again to check or bounce

if (closeSwitchPinVal == closeSwitchPinVal2) { // make sure we got 2 consistant readings!
if (closeSwitchPinVal != closeSwitchState) { // the switch state has changed!
closeSwitchState = closeSwitchPinVal;
}
Serial.print (” Close Switch Value: “); // display “Close Switch Value:”
Serial.println(digitalRead(closeSwitchPin)); // display current value of close switch;
}
}

// debounce open reed switch
void debounceOpenReedSwitch() {

openSwitchPinVal = digitalRead(openSwitchPin); // read input value and store it in val
delay(100);
openSwitchPinVal2 = digitalRead(openSwitchPin); // read input value again to check or bounce

if (openSwitchPinVal == openSwitchPinVal2) { // make sure we got 2 consistant readings!
if (openSwitchPinVal != openSwitchState) { // the switch state has changed!
openSwitchState = openSwitchPinVal;
}
Serial.print (” Open Switch Value: “); // display “Open Switch Value:”
Serial.println(digitalRead(openSwitchPin)); // display current value of close switch;
}
}

// stop the coop door motor
void stopCoopDoor(){
digitalWrite (9, HIGH); // engages brake
analogWrite (3,0); // motor is on zero speed
}

// close the coop door motor (motor dir close = counter-clockwise)
void closeCoopDoor() {
digitalWrite (9, LOW); // disengages brake
digitalWrite (12, HIGH); // turn on motor close direction
analogWrite (3, 255); // enable motor, full speed
if (closeSwitchPinVal == 1) { // if close reed switch circuit is closed
stopCoopDoor();
Serial.print(” Coop Door CLOSED “);
}
}

// open the coop door (motor dir open = clockwise)
void openCoopDoor() {
digitalWrite (9, LOW); // disengages brake
digitalWrite(12, LOW); // turn on motor open direction
analogWrite(3, 255); // enable motor, full speed
if (openSwitchPinVal == 1) { // if open reed switch circuit is closed
stopCoopDoor();
Serial.print(” Coop Door OPEN”);
}
}

void doCoopDoor(){

if (photocellReadingLevel == ‘1’) { // if it’s dark
if (photocellReadingLevel != ‘2’) { // if it’s not twilight
if (photocellReadingLevel != ‘3’) { // if it’s not light
debounceOpenReedSwitch(); // read and debounce the switches
debounceCloseReedSwitch();
closeCoopDoor(); // close the door
}
}
}
if (photocellReadingLevel == ‘3’) { // if it’s light
if (photocellReadingLevel != ‘2’) { // if it’s not twilight
if (photocellReadingLevel != ‘1’) { // if it’s not dark
debounceOpenReedSwitch(); // read and debounce the switches
debounceCloseReedSwitch();
openCoopDoor(); // Open the door
}
}
}
}

// ************************************** the loop **************************************
void loop() {
// polling occurs
coopTimer.run();
doCoopDoor();