Was tending to issues with my (multiple) feeder timer issues yesterday,
And being an IT developer the last 40 years I thought, ‘man, there’s gotta be a better way’,
Then BAM an idea hit me for something, that Would be a better way, and I thought, hey , I could build this… it’s actually do’able

Got back inside, jotted some notes down on the idea, then got ta thinking, ‘ surely, someone has already done this’
So I asked my partner Google, and , dang, sure enough, someone has beat me to it:

You fellas ever hear of the FeedSync timer?
I searched that term here, and got no matches.
I think it’s priced fairly enough, will prolly grab a couple once I can confirm real-world results.

Anyone tried one? How do you like it.? Any issues or quirks with it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-5j3EBmV5M

that looks pretty slick ... I wonder how far away the timer and phone will connect???

Hmmm. More gadgets means more chances things will go wrong or not work. My "The Timer's" have worked perfectly for years

This thing has no buttons or screens to wear out or get water into.
Those screens and buttons cost money - and you already got a screen & all the 'virtual buttons' you could ever want on your smartphone!!

It's essentially a microcontroller (and a relay) with wifi & bluetooth connectivity.

Building your own:
The microcontroller boards that are available to the hobby community these days for about $10 are MORE than ample to act as a software-controlled feeder timer ( Read UPDATEABLE) !!
There's already sdk's out there for them for smartphone connectivity, and activating a relay.
Throw it and a 50c relay on a board with a dollar worth of aligator-clip wires, a $2 plastic case and BAM - only thing left is the software load.
What does it cost them to make a copy of the software for each one they make ?

Heck, you could put a socket to plug in a remote photoresistor ($1),
and a temp-sensor ($0.25),
and this thing could 'auto-track' on sunrise/sunset without having to set the times manually,
and 'automatically' run the spinner longer on colder days, like right now, when the deer are really hitting the feeders.
Some of the microcontroller boards also have a ribbon-cable socket for a remote ccy camera!
Add a SD card and camera module and now it also has GameCam function Too !
or point the camera down and it can 'monitor' the ground to ascertain that the corn is not getting hit and 'reduce' or even stop the spin time.
I'm guessing theres gotta be cheap microcontrollers out there right now that also include cell-radio and sim socket . . . .

Hmmmm, I better stop myself now before I start another project I won't ever finish;
maybe the OpenSource community already has a project going on something like this - Hey Google .....

Build it

The Timer will let you down

I might very well have to!

Lookey there, Google found me an open source project suitable for starting with IS out there already, using just the microcontroller I had in mind!

https://github.com/arthurmacedo01/ped_feeder

Anybody want in, early, before the stock goes public?

Take it two steps further...sim card for unlimited remote connectivity, sensor that will tell you how much corn is in it and a sensor to tell you last time it's actually thrown corn.

I looked at this and didn't think I could get the monthly cost down enough where folks would actually pay for it. Good luck to you!

I can tell you from personal experience the feedsync timer was not a great product for me. You had to mount an external antenna that got snapped off by animals, you have to upgrade to a 5watt solar panel or eat will eat your battery up in no time. Even with upgraded panel I was replacing batteries every 3 months. I switched back to a regular timer and haven’t looked back once.

I have one currently. Range is about 100 yards unobstructed. I have absolutely zero problems with mine. I can activate spinner and set feeder times and duration. It does not have options on days fed. 7 days a week only. As far as I know ASF no longer produces the FeedSync. And very hard to find.

I never understood why these cell camera companies don’t produce feeders that work off the cell cams. You can control the camera from your phone hundreds of miles away, seems it could easily talk to the feeder that’s 30 feet away.

I would love to remotely throw extra before my arrival and turn days off that I don’t need

I'd love to just have some cell service at a couple of my blind/feeder locations but then again I go to the lease to get away from it all. I've yet to find a fail safe feeder, timer, motor, battery etc. Eventually all will faulter but I've had good luck with The Timer and Eliminator plate. Deer hunting's gone hi tech and this year got fed up with camera's not operating consisent to enjoyed season back to basics with anticipation of what deer may show.

That's the main thing I don't like about The Timer...it's every day or none. My Spintech timer can be set to throw any day.

I have one the only problem I had with it was you can only change times on 15min increments. I don’t like that. I wanted the option to set it to say 7:09 but it’s only 7/715/730/745. I know small world problems. But it bugged me.