Using LowATO to trigger Feeder

[rrodriguess]

Hi

I modified an Eheim Automatic Feeder pretty much as the instructions in http://wamas.org/forums/blog/13/entry-4 ... ontroller/.

Now I would like to use a free ATO (LowATO) to trigger it. I used an 5v to 3.3v stepdown in the modification. I read somewhere that ATO port can send 0-5v.

Assuming that the Feeder is always on (by any power supply), how can I trigger the feeder, lets say, 6pm?

Best regards
Rafa

[Sacohen]

You can have a relay that is triggered by the ATO port or any outlet on the RA Relay to close the circuit on the Eheim Automatic Feeder. Basically the same as pushing the feed button on the feeder.

The code I'm using to trigger the feeder is this.
It's set up to use port 3 on my RA Relay.
In another section of my code I have "Feeder" defined as port 3 on the RA Relay.

I'm not sure what would need to be changed to have the LowATO trigger it.

Code: Select all

static unsigned long feeding = 0;

if ((now()%SECS_PER_DAY==64800)) //if it is 6 pm
{
ReefAngel.FeedingModeStart(); //START FEEDING MODE
}

if (ReefAngel.DisplayedMenu==FEEDING_MODE)
{
if ( feeding == 0 ) {
feeding = now(); //set the time of the start of feeding to variable feeding
}

if ((now()-feeding>=60) && (now()-feeding<=61)) //if between 60 and 61 seconds has past
{
ReefAngel.Relay.On(Feeder); //TURN FEEDER RELAY ON
}
else 
{
ReefAngel.Relay.Off(Feeder); //TURN FEEDER RELAY OFF
}
} else {
if ( feeding > 0 ) {
feeding = 0;
}
}

[rrodriguess]

Steve

Tks for the suggestion. The way I intended to do is quite diferente from the way you have done.

I put an 5v to 3.3v stepdown on the manual button's circuit. So I expected to get up to 5v from input and I thought ATO port could send it.

I dont know if I made myself clear...

Rafa

[cosmith71]

I'm not sure I understand your approach, either. Are you wiring the ATO directly to the switch with no relay? I think that's been discussed before and there were issues with it.

Here's a big long thread on the autofeeder. It uses the I/O module but you could probably use the ATO port as well.

http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.ph ... uto+feeder

To use LowATO as an output, you need something like this.

In setup()

Code: Select all

pinMode(lowATOPin,OUTPUT);

Then to trigger it, you would use this:

Code: Select all

analogWrite(lowATOPin, 255);

255 would give you the max output. 0 would be minimum.

[rrodriguess]

That's it, that's the code. I am going to use a relay to be able connect the LowATO to the feeder's manual button.

Thank you all for the help.