How To Fit An Automatic Door Opener To A Devon Hen House

Before you begin you are going to need the following tools for the job:

• A suitable Philips screw driver.
• A thick piece of cloth or towel to cover the VBS unit box to simulate night.

If you are attaching a Devon Run to the front of your Devon then you'll need to follow these instructions here.

Step 1. Positioning the VBS box.

If you just have a Devon Hen House on its own then the set up is really quite straight forward.

The door opener unit simply needs to be secured to the front panel as shown in the following photos.

Note that the unit is slightly off centre. The reason for this is that you actually want the cord to be exactly centered above the door so that it passes through the hole in the bottom of the housing unit without much friction.

Unscrew the front of the door opener unit and secure it to the Devon using the 4 screws supplied.

Step 2. Unwind the cord so it is fully extended.

With the door opener securely screwed to the front of your Devon attach the batteries supplied.

Next cover the entire unit with a heavy duty peice of cloth to simulate darkness and then pulling very lightly on the cord to simulate the weight of the door.

(You have to pull lighly to simulate gravity in order to activate the motor.)

If you don't have a thick cloth then you can override the light sensor by ‘connecting’ pins 3 and 4 with something metallic, a screw driver or coin while at the same time pulling gently on the cord.

With the cord fully unwound the motor will cut off automatically. Once the cord is totally unwound and the motor has cut off remove one of the batteries.

Step 3. Secure the supplied screw eye hook to the pop hole door.

Secure the screw eye hook into the middle of the door handle.

You can choose to locate it at the front or at the top of the handle as show in the two photos below. Take extra care to ensure that the hook is straight, and centred directly below the small hole in the bottom of the housing unit.

Step 4. Attach the face of the VBS box and test the door.

With the batteries connected, the VBS unit fully secured and closed up tight use a towel or thick cloth to block out the light and test the opening and closing of the door.

How the door opener uses a tiny bead to activate the motor cut out lever.

How The AXT Door Opener Works

Final Important Points:

You can adjust the light sensor if you find that the door is closing too early or too late. It has been factory set in such a way so that the pop up hole closes as soon as it starts to get dark.

If you find that your hens are getting locked out then using a screwdriver, gently turn the white arrow controller clockwise.

This will make the VSB close when it's darker and open when lighter.

Don't forget that nearby foreign lighting sources can interfere with the door opener's light sensor so make sure your coop is free from any other light sorces.

We recommend that on a regular basis you check that the pop hole door is free from debris and that it runs smoothly.

Remember to make sure that the screws that are used to secure the door handle to the pop hole door are countersunk on the back so as not to obstruct the door in any way as this will prevent it from opening smoothly and may damage the motor.

Please bear in mind that during wet weather wood typically absorbs the moisture in the air and expands. This may temporarily effect the opening and closing of your a pop hole door. So too on frosty mornings.

And finally while it is great to be able to have a lie in over the weekend or not have to worry about your chickens before you leave for work please remember that the onus is on you as their keeper to make sure that they are safe and that the door opener is working at all times.