Rabbit Shack/Chicken Coop Automation Project

Hardware Pictures:

The unit for each location are identical.  Here are a few pictured of the unit for the rabbit shed:

Before installation:

Unit installed:

This is a picture of the unit installed in the rabbit shed:

This is a picture of the unit installed in the chicken coop:

AC Output (labels were updated after picture was taken):

AC Input and temperature sensor cable:

5VDC input, Power switch and power LED:

Here are a couple picturee of the unit in the house:

Nextion Display:

I used three Nextion displays for this project.

1 NEXTION NX8048P070-011C-Y 7” Intelligent display (rabbit shack)

2 NEXTION NX8048P050-011R-Y 5” Intelligent displays (chicken coop and house)

I used the Easy_Nextion_Library for the displays because it was the easiest for me (based on my limited experience).  I did make one change in the EasyNextionLibrary.cpp file - I commented out the _serial->begin(baud) line (line 24 – see below) and initialized the object in my code.  I was having trouble assigning the Nextion display to Serial2 when I also had to assign the serial pins.  Getting the Nextion display to work with the ESP32S3 was the biggest issue I had in this project. 

void EasyNex::begin(unsigned long baud){
  //_serial->begin(baud);  // We pass the initialization data to the objects (baud rate) default: 9600
  
  //delay(100);            // Wait for the Serial to initialize
  
  _tmr1 = millis();
  while(_serial->available() > 0){     // Read the Serial until it is empty. This is used to clear Serial buffer
    if((millis() - _tmr1) > 400UL){    // Reading... Waiting... But not forever...... 
      break;                            
    } 
      _serial->read();                // Read and delete bytes
  }
}  

Here are the Rabbit Shack Screens:

Main Screen:

This is the Main Screen and displays the current temperature, date/time of last reading, and the four primary devices (fans, heat lamp, and heated water bowl).

BUTTONS:

Setpoints: moves to the set point page

Aux Devices: move to the Auxiliary Devices page (vent & ceiling fan)

Force Read: Forces an immediate read (system is set for 1 min cycle).  I have the displays set to enter sleep mode after 5 minutes and when they awake the screen isn’t current.  You select Force Read to get an immediate update.

System Reset: You press this when you want to set the unit back to the original defaults contained in the code.

About: moves to the About page where I display the ino and HMI filenames

At the bottom of the page there are indicators for traffic and temp sensor/ESP NOW status.  The TXh (transmit to house), RXh (receive from house), TXd (transmit to display), and RXd (receive from display) will blink green when there is data moving between the EST32S3 and the house or display.  Easy way to make sure everything in communicating.

The Comm Link shows green if there messages are being sent to the house successfully.  The link shows red if there is an error.

Temp Sensor shows green if the sensor is working properly and red if there is an error.

Setpoints Screen:

The current setpoint is displayed in the Current Value column.  To change, you select the box under New Value and a pop-up numeric keypad (available in NEXTION editor) is displayed and you can enter a new value.  To commit the changes you select the Update Setpoints button.

Auxiliary Devices Screen:

About screen:

This screen is from the Nextion editor, so the ino field is blank.  With the About screen I don’t have to guess when version of the software/display files I am using (as long as I remember to update the data in the ino and HMI files).

Chick Coop Screens:  These screen are very similar to the rabbit shack.

The About screen is from the Nextion Editor so the ino field is blank.

House Screens:

The house uses all of the same screen that are used by the rabbit shed and chicken coop units expect the main screen below:

Code:

Each of the Arduino files are very large (approximately 1700 lines of code).  I will paste them in a files so you can download.  I would create a github page, but I have no idea how to create/update/use/manage one.

Impressive!

@huckohio 

While you stated you're not an electrician..or a programmer, your project reminds me of the type of workmanship I have seen ( and done) in industrial process control applications.. very well done!

PS.. I bet the wife is happy too, that she doesn't have to trudge out to the bunny-chicken shacks in the winter...lol

regards,

LouisR

@inst-tech 

Thank you.  You're very kind. 

And yes, she's very happy that she doesn't have to worry about the devices being on or going out at night to check.

@huckohio Very impressive.

Lesson Learned:  Never place the control box within jumping/flying distance from the chicken's roosting bars.  They will jump, roost on the box, and crap all over it!  😣 

@huckohio Yep.. those darn chickens aren't grateful for any of your hard work now are they..lol

Maybe placing a wooden box around the control box with a door on it would help to at least keep the control box clean for maintenance checks or further expansion. Of course relocating the control box is also an option, but a lot more work..As you say, lesson learned!

Hope everything is going ok, winter is now upon us, although, where I'm located, we don't get much cold, and almost never any snow..We're on the Gulf coast, Mobile,Alabama. It's the rainy season right now, with temps in the upper 50's and lower 70's. Winter down here is Jan. & Feb. By middle of March, it'll be spring again..

Keep us posted on how the controls survive winter.

Regards,

LouisR

@Inst-Tech

I placed a couple boards to block access. All is well - didn't think they would jump/fly that far in the coop.

All is well in Ohio.  No cold weather yet...didn't realize that Thanksgiving is next week.

Will keep you posted.  So far the all devices are working well.  This morning we had the Heat Lamps and Water Bowl Heaters running.  By 1600 the fans were running to cool the shed down.  Crazy weather.

Take care

Mike

After you gave me the link for this project, I was able look at the code.

Well done. Nice, solid code. Well documented, easy to follow, nicely laid out. This will serve as a good reference point for comparison to my approach. I'm going to try to adapt it to get it running on my workbench.

A couple of questions.

How is the physical maintenance working out? The units aren't exposed to the elements directly but do they have condensation issues, or wear and tear concerns? How often do you check them for damage?

I have noticed ESP-NOW RX/TX failures. I don't have a reliable app yet to give numbers but it's more frequent than I thought. How often do your see a com failure?

I got an unsolicited note from the Bunnys United Group Society (BUGS) with a protest that Bunnys don't get air conditioning like chickens. I don't know what that's about.

I'm sure you realize this but my guilt complex demads I admit to it. When I started reading this, in my head, the voice assigned to you was a neutral voice. Then while reading about the Bunny Shack my head suddenly and (I swear!) untentionally, changed your voice to Elmer Fudd. And, of course, when I got to the Chicken Shack it changed to Foghorn Leghorn.

Now I can't stop it. Sorry.

I forgot to ask some questions,

What version of esp32 board are you using?

You mentioned PCBWay,

Posted by: @huckohio

↑

Here is a picture of the PCB that I designed and was manufactured by PCBWay.

If it's not too inquisitive, can you give me a ballpark idea of the cost for the PCB and tell me something about your experience doing it? I have a debilitating soldering affliction and will need this sort of assistance if my bluesky project gets to that stage.

@tfmccarthy

Well, at least it wasn't Daffy Duck!! 😆 

Let me see if I can answer all your questions:

Maintenance: The units are located inside the Rabbit Shack and Chicken Coop.  Only maintenance issue was keeping the chickens from craping on the box.  We use a product called PDZ to keep the smell down in the coop and it is a fine power.  The control box is sealed, but the temp sensor needs to be cleaned (using canned air) every few months.  With the units inside they are exposed to higher temps (upper 90 to +100 degrees) and I've had no issues.  They are exposed to humidity and we can get pretty high dew points in southern Ohio, but I've had no issues with corrosion or oxidation.  

ESP-NOW: I added an LED to each unit that tells me if I've had a TX/RX failure.  I have them, but not frequently (the shack/coop are approximately 200 feet from the house).  I am not sure, but when developing I wondered if I was getting message collisions when each unit tried to transmit back to the house at the same time.  Didn't really dig into it because the problem was very intermittent.  When I see the error condition I press the "Force Read" button on the HMI and the unit will try to establish the comm link again and that usually clears the error.  Missing an update to the house is not a critical issue.  I haven't really been watching the comm link since early spring.  We're back there each morning and I can see everything is working.  

BUGS: Spam.  Rabbits are always whining about something.  

Mike

@tfmccarthy 

I used the ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N8R2 board.  

The PCB for this project we're ordered in May 2023.  The cost was $29.94 total.  It's 5 boards for $5.00 (for the size I ordered and only 2-sided) and the rest is shipping.  I use KiCad 6.0 to create the schematic and PCB layout.  It's pretty easy to generate the GERBER files PCBWay requires.  Working with PCBWay is pretty painless.  The order is completed quickly, the shipping from China takes the longest.  I did try a company stateside, but the were more expensive and it took longer.  

Mike