🧠 The Smartest Feeder Controller Ever Made

WildCore feeders aren't just timers on motors. They're intelligent systems that think, adapt, and keep your wildlife fed—even when pirates eat the antenna. Here's how.

🎯 Intelligent Status System

Unlike basic feeders that just say "online" or "offline," WildCore feeders analyze multiple factors to give you actionable intelligence about their health.

🟢 Green (All Systems Go)

  • Battery ≥ 5.7V
  • Signal strength good
  • Checked in on schedule

Translation: Your feeder is happy, healthy, and doing its job perfectly.

🟡 Yellow (Warning)

  • Battery 5.0V - 5.6V
  • Weak cellular signal
  • Missed 1 check-in

Translation: One issue detected. Not critical yet, but worth checking on.

🔴 Red (Critical Alert)

  • Missed 2+ check-ins
  • Battery < 5.0V
  • Multiple issues

Translation: Pirate bear alert! Something needs attention NOW.

💡 Why This Matters: Most feeders just tell you if they're online. WildCore tells you if they're healthy. You get early warnings before problems become emergencies.

⏰ Adaptive Check-In Intelligence

📊 What is a "Check-In"?

A check-in is when your feeder connects to the WildCore servers and updates your web portal with current information including:

  • Battery voltage (tells you if battery is healthy, low, or critical)
  • Cellular signal strength (helps you optimize antenna placement)
  • GPS location (Pro model only)
  • Recent events (feeds completed, errors, schedule changes)
  • System status (healthy, warning, or critical)

Check-ins also let the feeder download any schedule changes or commands you've sent from the portal. It's a two-way sync that keeps your dashboard accurate and your feeder up-to-date.

Your feeder is smart enough to know when it needs to check in. It's not wasting battery with unnecessary wake-ups.

Mode 1: Scheduled Operation (Normal)

Check-in time: At each scheduled feed time

When your feeder has a schedule (like 6:30 AM and 6:30 PM), it wakes up at those exact times to feed and check in. Between feeds, it's in deep sleep conserving battery.

06:30 AM → Wake up, feed animals, check in, sleep 06:30 PM → Wake up, feed animals, check in, sleep (Repeat daily)

Smart: If it misses a check-in, you know something's wrong because it should have woken up to feed.

Mode 2: Setup Mode (New Feeder)

Check-in time: Every hour on the hour

When you first register a feeder, it doesn't have a schedule yet. So it checks in every hour waiting for you to configure it.

09:00 → Check in (no schedule yet) 10:00 → Check in (still waiting) 11:00 → Check in (got schedule! switching to Mode 1)

Smart: You don't have to wait until tomorrow morning to configure a feeder you set up at 2 PM.

Mode 3: Hibernation (Off-Season)

Check-in time: Once daily at 12:01 AM

During off-season (winter, vacation, etc.), put your feeder in hibernation. It wakes once per day just to say "I'm alive" but doesn't run the feed motor.

12:01 AM → Wake up, check in, report status, sleep for 24 hours (No feeds executed during hibernation)

Smart: Saves battery during months when you don't need it, but still monitors battery and signal so you know it's ready when you are.

💡 The Intelligence: Your feeder adjusts its behavior based on context. New? Check in often. Scheduled? Check in at feed times. Off-season? Just a daily heartbeat. This is adaptive intelligence, not a dumb timer.

🎖️ Mission-Critical Design Philosophy

Here's the most important thing about WildCore feeders:

🦌 FEEDING ANIMALS IS THE #1 PRIORITY 🦌

What This Means:

  • Cellular goes down? Feeds continue on schedule.
  • Can't reach the server? Feeds continue on schedule.
  • Pirate raccoon eats the antenna? Feeds continue on schedule.
💡 The Design: Your feeder stores its schedule in local memory (SPIFFS flash storage). Even if disconnected for a week, it keeps feeding on schedule. When connectivity returns, it uploads the event log of everything that happened while offline.

The Event Log Buffer

Your feeder maintains a 64-entry ring buffer of events in RAM (PSRAM):

[12:00 PM] Feed completed (4s) [12:01 PM] ERROR: Check-in failed - no cellular [06:00 PM] Feed completed (4s) [06:01 PM] ERROR: Check-in failed - no cellular [Next day 06:00 AM] Feed completed (4s) [06:01 AM] Cellular connected (-72 dBm) [06:01 AM] Server check-in successful (Uploads last 20 events to server)

When the feeder reconnects, you see the complete history. You know your animals were fed even when communications were down.

🐻 Hibernation Mode Explained

Think of hibernation like telling your feeder "I don't need you until August." Perfect for:

  • Months when wildlife patterns change
  • Vacation or extended time away
  • Seasonal property closures
  • Battery conservation during off-season

How to Hibernate a Feeder

From your dashboard, you can set a hibernation end date. Example: "Hibernate until April 1st, 2026"

What Happens During Hibernation:

Daily Check-In at 12:01 AM

Wakes once per day to report battery voltage, signal strength, and GPS location (if applicable). This way you know it's still alive and ready.

Scheduled Feeds Suspended

The motor doesn't run. Scheduled feed times are ignored. The feeder just sleeps.

Automatic Wake-Up

On the hibernation end date, the feeder automatically returns to normal operation and resumes scheduled feeds.

💡 Pro Tip: Hibernation is perfect for "set it and forget it" scenarios. Set hibernation to end a day before you return to the property, and your feeder will be ready and waiting.

⚡ Why WildCore is Different

Let's be honest about what makes these feeder controllers special:

❌ Other Feeders

  • Simple timer (feeds if battery alive)
  • "Online" or "offline" only
  • Fixed check-in interval (wastes battery)
  • Lose schedule if power lost
  • No event history
  • Can't tell if it missed a feed

✅ WildCore Feeder

  • Intelligent status (green/yellow/red)
  • Adaptive check-in timing
  • Mission-critical feeding (continues offline)
  • Schedule stored in flash memory
  • 64-event ring buffer
  • Knows when to expect check-ins
  • Hibernation mode
  • Early warning system

🏆 The Bottom Line

You're not just getting a feeder. You're getting an intelligent system designed by engineers who understand that wildlife feeding is serious business. Your animals depend on it. Your feeder knows that.

🔬 For the Technical Folks

If you're curious about the actual engineering:

Hardware

  • MCU: RISC-V single-core, WiFi 6 + Bluetooth 5.3
  • Cellular (PRO Model): SIM7670 chipset (4G LTE Cat-1)
  • Cellular (MINI Model): WiFi-only operation, no cellular hardware
  • Power: 6V SLA or alkaline lantern battery (voltage monitored in real-time)
  • Storage: SPIFFS flash filesystem for schedule and configuration persistence
  • Memory: Event log ring buffer (64 entries) stored in RAM
  • Protection: Boot loop detection, low voltage protection, brownout recovery

Software Intelligence

  • Firmware: Custom C++
  • Time Sync: Cellular network + HTTP time sync + local RTC with drift correction
  • Schedule Engine: Multi-slot scheduler (up to 8 daily feed times)
  • State Machine: Adaptive behavior modes (scheduled/setup/hibernation)
  • Failsafe: Watchdog timers, boot protection, voltage monitoring, error recovery
  • OTA Updates: Over-the-air firmware updates (WiFi for MINI, cellular for PRO)
  • Web Interface: Built-in WiFi access point for local configuration (MINI & PRO)

Cloud Intelligence

  • Backend: PHP 8+ with Enterprise SQL DB on dedicated Linux server
  • Status Algorithm: Multi-factor analysis (battery voltage, signal strength, check-in timing)
  • API: RESTful JSON endpoints for device-server communication
  • Security: Device IMEI authentication, prepared statements (SQL injection protection)
  • Logging: Complete transaction logs for debugging and auditing
  • Database: Tracks check-ins, schedules, events, firmware versions, and device registry

Ready to Experience the Intelligence?

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