Home Automation for Pets

[BraveSirRobbin]

This thread was started as a suggestion HERE in order to keep that one on topic.

This sounds like it could be a lot of fun, so describe all the crazy things you do for your pets with your home automation system.

One of the first ideas submitted by PaulD (in that original thread) was:

Heated dog bed on back porch for those days when I put my dog out back because I will be gone most of the day. I can activate it via a button on my touchscreen or operate automatically on a schedule. Includes "off" command when outside temperature warms up enough.

I have a collie and placed a camera in my laundry room so I can keep an eye on her (can see it from my mobile phone). This is her favorite sleeping position btw (crazy collie). I have another in the side yard (among others) as there is a dog door in that room that leads to that area as well. (Yea, I know this isn't nearly as cool as Paul's submittal, but I thought I would just give this thread a start)

So please feel free to post what you do for your pets! B)

 

[FrankMc]

This thread was started as a suggestion HERE in order to keep that one on topic.

This sounds like it could be a lot of fun, so describe all the crazy things you do for your pets with your home automation system.

One of the first ideas submitted by PaulD (in that original thread) was:

Heated dog bed on back porch for those days when I put my dog out back because I will be gone most of the day. I can activate it via a button on my touchscreen or operate automatically on a schedule. Includes "off" command when outside temperature warms up enough.

I have a collie and placed a camera in my laundry room so I can keep an eye on her (can see it from my mobile phone). This is her favorite sleeping position btw (crazy collie). I have another in the side yard (among others) as there is a dog door in that room that leads to that area as well. (Yea, I know this isn't nearly as cool as Paul's submittal, but I thought I would just give this thread a start)

So please feel free to post what you do for your pets! B)

Hi Guys
Although not in service at the moment , i previously used my diy automatic feeder for my pigeons...
http://www.hobby.armaghelectrical.com.au/page49.html
Frank

 

[electron]

I learned the hard way that you also should monitor your cat's litter box (i.e., a motion sensor) and set of an alarm when there hasn't been any activity in a day or so. This could help prevent serious kidney damage and other related issues. If your cat's litter box is located in a room with an exhaust fan, I suggest automating that as well

 

[damage]

here's an clip from a screencast i did that demo'd some parts of our HA system. this clip shows our automated dog feeder in action via our HA gui http://bit.ly/9ctTow the TTS audio is dubbed in for effect - it's what was pushed out of the garage MP3 player to the backyard speakers.

the feeder is this one http://bit.ly/aJRCVn - i wired a wall wart directly to the motor that dispenses the food, bypassing the timer and have that connected to an appliance module. there is also a flywheel inside that spins around while food falls out, making a contact closure every revolution - this is used to measure how much food has been dispensed. i cut out the bowl part of the feeder, attached a funnel to it that connects to some PVC pipe and out the garage vent. i had to barricade the pipe with wood when our dog was a pup because he would yank it off and run around the yard with it or gnaw on it.

no heated dog bed for this guy. he had a really nice large dog pillow which he proceeded to eviscerate one day i was at work. the stuffing was all over the yard and filled 3/4 of our garbage can when it was finally all gathered up.

 

[hucker]

If you have chickens and want to have eggs in winter it is a good idea to give them 14 hours of light so they think it is summer. Using the HA sunrise/set information and a upb contolled dimmer it is simulated summer all year in the coup with the energy savings of only being on when needed.

 

[damage]

i wrote an app called Noise http://bit.ly/7g9IOr that monitors noise levels on a pc input. i have a mic located near the side of the house where our dog will go to bark when he hears someone up front. based on certain conditions, if my app detects a certain noise level, the HA system will push TTS to the garage MP3 player scolding our dog. if a short period follows with no noise, it pushes out TTS praises. he stops almost immediately when he hears the TTS voice, because from my previous post, he knows the computer can feed him

 

[znelbok]

no heated dog bed for this guy. he had a really nice large dog pillow which he proceeded to eviscerate one day i was at work. the stuffing was all over the yard and filled 3/4 of our garbage can when it was finally all gathered up.

I had a beanbag outside one day and left it out there - came home in the afternoon to find beans everywhere - it looked like it had snowed.

Eventually we worked out the best way to clean it all up was to vacuum the grass

The only automation I have for my animals is a solenoid valve for watering the horses. I press a button on the shed wall to turn the tap on for x minutes (need to have the manual start). CQC will also be integrated once I write the driver for the PLC. I am going to extend this to the dogs as well with a second valve.

I have also looked into automatic horse feeders, I dont actually need one, its just because I am lazy.

Slightly related, because I have a farm, and electric fences, I have a fence monitor that reports fence voltage and I can tell through CQC the voltage and when there is a problem from say stock pushing on the fence and creating a short.

Just the other day, the voltage dropped and that prompted us to go have a look and we found a tree down over the fence - it works for its purpose.

 

[drozwood90]

i wrote an app called Noise http://bit.ly/7g9IOr that monitors noise levels on a pc input. i have a mic located near the side of the house where our dog will go to bark when he hears someone up front. based on certain conditions, if my app detects a certain noise level, the HA system will push TTS to the garage MP3 player scolding our dog. if a short period follows with no noise, it pushes out TTS praises. he stops almost immediately when he hears the TTS voice, because from my previous post, he knows the computer can feed him

Now that's neat!

Any way I can get a mod to that software, so it can trigger a command line, instead of firing off a xPL?

--Dan

 

[damage]

mattel has gotten into pet automation with their puppy tweet dog tag. http://bit.ly/9Bnuzk someone will probably hack this to make it useful...

 

[damage]

i wrote an app called Noise http://bit.ly/7g9IOr that monitors noise levels on a pc input. i have a mic located near the side of the house where our dog will go to bark when he hears someone up front. based on certain conditions, if my app detects a certain noise level, the HA system will push TTS to the garage MP3 player scolding our dog. if a short period follows with no noise, it pushes out TTS praises. he stops almost immediately when he hears the TTS voice, because from my previous post, he knows the computer can feed him

Now that's neat!

Any way I can get a mod to that software, so it can trigger a command line, instead of firing off a xPL?

--Dan

i get a lot of these requests since almost all my apps are xPL based, but supporting forked code is a pain. i'll put it in my queue and let you know when i get around to it.

 

[gatchel]

I have a Wattstopper motion (CX-100) and relay module set up temporarily to monitor when the cats use the litter box. It is connected to an old Honeywell HEPA filter to filter the air for 4 minutes after the motion has stopped. This helps keep the dust down in the room where the litter boxes are located. ( I hate dust.)

It's not HA per say because it's not connected to my Elk but it is automatic... It works well and allows me to enter the room without tripping the fan unless I walk in front of the litter boxes.

 

[electron]

This is a great thread guys! If you haven't posted yet, please talk about how you monitor/interact with your pets!