Due to a lack of sunlight I have been powering the bird feeder with a 240V extension which I bring in under cover each night.
Decided it’s time once again to power the feeder with the solar panel setup.

I built the feeder 2 years ago for a special bird… his name was Bluey a Rose-ringed parakeet and he would fly in everyday – morning and afternoon – and sadly close to completion of the feeder – he disappeared?

I used a hinged food storage box to house the controller and SLA battery.

Controller is screwed to the hinged top of the mounting box and connected to a 12V SLA battery.

Battery was a bit down from the last time it was used during construction of another project and although it’s a cloudy morning system has already topped up the battery. Front yard faces east so the system gets 1/2 a day plus a bit more as the sun moves over the other side of the two story roof.

With Bluey gone we now have Cockatoo Charlie flying in everyday. The heart of the feeder is a servo actuator known as a ‘wi-fi water valve’ which is compatible with Amazon Alexa.

That’s Charlie.