Brinsea ChickSafe Coop Door Opener Review

I was surprised when I received the Brinsea coop door opener in the mail for this review. The box was very small and fit inside my mailbox. I opened it to find the unit itself which is the Premium model ChickSafe, a small silicone weather strip seal, 4 screws (that hold the face plate of the unit on) and the instruction brochure. So I decided to mount the opener on my big coop that the Easter Eggers live in. The Premium opener has to be used with a pop door that slides up and down easily and does not weigh more than 4 pounds. I also found out that Brinsea sells a 9x12 aluminum pop door with runners that can be used with this unit if your current door will not work or you do not have a door yet.

We marked the location for the ChickSafe above the pop door making sure that the the draw string in the unit was lined up over the eyelet in the center of the door and also up high enough so the door would open fully. My husband got 4 screws to mount the unit to the coop because they were not included. Once it was mounted, we tied the draw string to the eyelet on the door and put the silicone weather strip in place to help keep water and moisture out of the unit. I put AA batteries (not supplied) in the battery pack, plugged that in and pushed it into place so that the face plate could be mounted onto the unit with the 4 screws that were included. Now we were ready to test it out.

We calibrated the door as instructed so it would open and close the proper amount. You push the button with the “up” arrow and the door opens, push the “down” arrow and it closes, we were very happy about that.

So after reading the instructions, there are 3 different ways to use this opener.

One is manually, by just pushing the up and down arrows to open or close the door as needed.

Two is to set the timer so that the door will open and close at the time you wish.

And the third way is to use the light sensor. This feature only works for closing the door in the evening.

Plus you can mix or match which ever ways you want it to open and close everyday.

One thing that I noticed was it was a little hard to see the white arrows on the up and down arrow buttons at dusk so I was very pleased to see that they improved the graphics on the new openers by adding black lines to the arrows. That will really help you see which button to push at dusk if you need to manually close the door.
The blue digital display was easy to read and lights up when you push the arrow or the menu buttons. There is also a red LED light that flashes every 30 seconds when the door is closed or it will remain permanently lit when the batteries need to be changed.

Brinsea is also having a new instruction brochures printed to help with ease of installation and understanding all the features and functions even better.

Here are some of the features of the Premium Model

All-in-one design - No complicated wiring or cabling

• Suitable for 5 to 120°F
• Fully featured digital display for ease of use
• Integrated timer and light sensor for total control
• Manual control with a simple press of a button
• Configurable fail safe mode - program the door to close even if it's still light
• Easily adjustable light sensitivity
• Long battery life
• Low battery warning indicator
• Door closed indicator visible up to 100 yards away
• No minimum or maximum door heights
• Suitable for both external and internally mounted doors
• 4 Lbs door lifting capacity
• Low maintenance
• Full 2 year warranty

When I was doing a little research for this review, I was looking at the Brinsea.com website and I saw that there is another ChickSafe Door opener called the Extreme. Here are the features for the Extreme Model.

All-in-one design - No complicated wiring or cabling

• Military grade electronics with double conformal coatings
• Suitable for -20 to +120°F
• 9 Lbs door lifting capacity
• Fully featured digital display for ease of use
• Integrated timer and light sensor for total control
• Manual control with a simple press of a button
• Configurable fail safe mode - program the door to close even if it's still light
• Easily adjustable light sensitivity
• Long battery life
• Low battery warning indicator
• Door closed indicator visible up to 100 yards away
• No minimum or maximum door heights
• Suitable for both external and internally mounted doors
• Optional door kit available
• Low maintenance
• Full 2 year warranty

I was very pleased with the ability of the Premium ChickSafe coop door opener. It was well suited for our needs. It is a small unit that does not take up a lot of space and does everything it is supposed to do. It opens and closes slow enough to keep the chickens from being injured by the door.

If you would like alittle peace of mind if you happen to be out late or working late, you will be relieved that your birds have been closed into their coop for their own safety. I have heard those sad stories about working late just to come home and find that something got in the coop and injured or killed the chickens because the door was still open.

I also really like dealing with the Brinsea company. Whenever I have a question, I know that I can call or email them and get a quick response back. Thank you Brinsea!