I currently have a chook shed with an electric door, multiple feeders and lights.
It is away from my house so it has a weather proof box nearby to control automation.
The box has a solar panel and MPPT going to a 12V 100 Ah AGM battery.
The MPPT has 2 USB outlets.
There is wifi reception at the chook shed.
Currently all switching is controlled by 12v time clocks mounted on a plywood backing board. This is very effective, but the cost of a new timeclock every time (and the space they take inside the box).
No item is more than 3A at this stage.
As I have some limited python experience I have decided to go down the raspberry pi path to control this.
I have installed successfully raspbian stretch in a virtual box and tested some scripts
I am thinking I need:
1 Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
Case
8 Channel Relay
connecting cables
Infrared Remote Control
Questions:
Can the relay have a separate power input?
Do I need a mounting board for this or is mounting on the plywood adequate?
Can the remote control be received by the pi and used to control a python script?
Is there anything else that I need?
