Problem with auto closer

When I bought my first coop it came with an automatic door.  I had to return the digital timer twice.  The third was OK until the batteries went and when I put new ones in it wouldn't work.  I sent it back but because it was over 12mths old they would not replace it.  A new one cost £25 plus postage so I said forget it!!!!   Now, as I have more coops anyway, I have to shut them all so I am not that bothered, disappointed with the automatic door though!!!

When I bought my first coop it came with an automatic door.  I had to return the digital timer twice.  The third was OK until th ebatteries went and when I put new ones in it wouldnt work.  I sent it back  but because it was over 12mths old they would not replace it.  A new one cost £25 plus postage  so I said forget it!!!!   Now, as I have more coops anyway, I have to shut them all so I am not that bothered, disappointed with the automatic door though!!!

Maybe a good name for it would be chuckaway

I dont have any problems with my automatic pop hole opener, she gets up for work at 4am, goes outside, pulls the string, it opens, my automatic opener is my wife (bless her  )

Never failed, come rain or shine  and is never late  (well never really late)

I couldn't have chickens without our door opener, both my wife and I work late so it just isn't an option to have anything but.
I'm surprised you've had so many issues with yours, what model do you have? We run one of these:
http://www.chickencoopsdirect.com/automatic-chicken-coop-door-opener.htm
Do you use rechargeable batteries? Could that be the cause of the low battery light? (they are 1.2V instead of 1.5 so...)

I'm very interested in what experiences other people have with them as I have a background project to build my own that would be more useful for a wider variety of coops than the one we have so I'd be interested in feedback. (The project is actually about controlling it from a raspberry pi (chicken pi), the door opener is just one part of the project that involves webcams and remote controls and doing image recognition so the software counts the number of chickens in the coop and closes the door when they're all in but I digress ;-))

 

I got one and have had it for over a year now and its still on the batteries it came with.

Mind you its not on a timer it is set by the light sensor a few chooks were caught out at the start, but now when they hear the faint wiz of the motor they are in like a shot