Pictured below is the controller board we made for an automatic motorised scarecrow used to scare pigeons and crows from an orchard.

This scarecrow has two arms. As a motor turns, the arms flap up and down which scares birds away. We designed this device so that the orchard owner can set a motor running time of 1,2,3,4,5…etc seconds, and then a waiting time of 5,10,15,20..etc minutes before the scarecrow operates again. User programmability is important to enable optimal settings to be found to make the scarecrow as effective as possible.

If a motorised scarecrow is left with its arms up or out to the side, they can catch the wind which can lead to the scarecrow being damaged during bad weather. Our controller protects against this. When the motor running time countdown has finished, the motor continues to run until a microswitch detects that the arms are in the down position. The motor then stops.

Crows are dawn and dusk feeders, whereas pigeons are day feeders. Therefore the scarecrow is only required to operate from the start of dawn until the end of dusk. To that end, this controller includes a light detector, and the operator can calibrate the ambient light level above which the scarecrow will operate.

If you need any kind of timer controller, email neil@reuk.co.uk with details of your requirements.