Sometime the hacking topics come in waves. For instance, we were tipped off about this pair of automatic fish feeders just an hour apart from each other. Maybe it’s that time of year when people are about to go on Holiday and want to make sure their marine pets don’t go hungry?
The feeder on the left is a true hack. It’s built from a pair of servos and a pill bottle. An ATtiny85 drives the motors. One is mounted to the other, allowing the cap which catches and distributes the food to move along two axes. When it rotates into place under the pill bottle it bumps against a stick to open a flapper releasing more food.
On the right is a feeder that precisely doses the food. That’s because it includes a separate chamber for each feed. A worm gear drives the hopper, with screw heads pressing against a leaf switch for position feedback. This one is well designed and built to last.
Darn. This would be great if I had a pair of ‘automatic fish’.
Now add a light that flashes or a beeper before the food is released. and when you come back for vacation you can see if the fish have learned the connection between the sound / light and the food dispensing.
Wow. I’m assuming the large transformer in the RHS feeder is used for more than just the feeder. I tired making one of these using a simple container attached to a electronic clock. It was too imbalances to drive the food container around.