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Activity picking up, reliability improved

A project log for Vending Machine for Birds

Simple, inexpensive bird feeder that dispenses peanuts in exchange for dropping stuff in a hole. A vending machine for clever birds.

stephen-chaseyStephen Chasey 01/13/2025 at 17:590 Comments

10 deposits today. 2nd most deposits in one day since mid October!

The dispenser timed out for the first two deposits, but the jackdaws didn't give up and on the third deposit the dispenser resumed dispensing reliably. Still an active failure mode, but it happens rarely (around once in 100 deposits), recovers by itself and does not seem to discourage the birds - they keep trying until it works.

The adjustments I made to the deposit sensor in December seem to have eliminated the occasional missed deposit. The machine has been running for more than a month on its own. All I have done is refill the peanut hopper once.

They should run out of caps/butts by the end of the week. I'll leave it until the end of the month to see if they manage to bring something on their own.

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