TLDR:
On my screened back porch, I want to hook up a button my dog can push, which will raise a piece of wood/small door attached to an actuator, then lower it after a few seconds and a second button on the outside for the dog to get back in.
Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on where to find something that already exists or to build what I am wanting to do here which is essentially having a dog door or a wooden panel connected to an actuator that raises and lowers when the dog pushes one of those buttons similar to the ones you’ve seen people use to allow their dogs to talk.
My dogs have a “potty” button that they push to go outside and we let them out.
Out of my back porch, it is screened in, and we have to open a second door to let them out. My idea was to put essentially a hole in the screen portion by the steps (and obviously frame it in) and have a panel that raises and lowers when my dog pushes the button from the inside…it would raise to go up and then close behind her after a few seconds, and then she would do the same on the outside by pushing another button to open it again to get back in.
I’ve looked online and found some things that are obviously automated with collars and things like that, but since my dogs already know how to push the button and they don’t really wear collars, I feel like this would be better for our situation if they could just open and close it themselves 😂
I can generally figure stuff out, but I’m not necessarily an electrician, so I’m not sure about figuring out how to wire up a button to an actuator.
Though I do have experience with actuators that I have wired into a power wheel style battery and solar panel with solar charge controller for my chicken coop windows which open and close automatically.
So maybe there’s something similar in that that I could do.
The difference there is those windows are just automated on a time through Alexa whereas this would be with the button so wouldn’t really be wired up at all the same. I guess the button part is what I wouldn’t be sure about…
And getting the actuator to both raise and lower in one motion and/or having a delay between the two motions for safety.
On my chicken coop window actuators you have to push the button one way for the actuator to go out and push another button for it to go in so obviously this would need to do both with one push. Pretty sure my dog won’t close it herself lol
Any thoughts appreciated.