Automatic Litterbox Central

I recently got a CatGenie 60 from eBay with the intention of modifying it.

I decided to mount the Arduino inside the CatGenie PU instead of inside the cartridge, so it would be an 'always full' system. I connected a continuous siphon into a bottle of Simple Green and I will need to check the bottle.

I simply opened up the PU, slid the spades off from the rear of the cartridge slot, and soldered my wires on. If I weren't so lazy, I could have bought some male spades of the correct size but I'm not overly worried about warranty (if you were, this would be a 'neat' way to do things.)

I decided to cut the EEPROM off a used cartridge, because I was having issues with the notorious pin contact problem. I soldered wires from the Arduino to the EEPROM, and from the EEPROM to the spades.

I hot glued all the solder joints, then wrapped the EEPROM in electrical tape, then wrapped electrical tape around both the Arduino and the EEPROM to make a neat little bundle, leaving only the USB connector exposed. I was able to tuck it in next to the cartridge slot, and it sits there fine.

I may end up modifying one of my cartridges so that it sits flush with the top of the slot, put a 1/4 od connector on it and mount the Arduino in there with some sort of plug (maybe I will get those spades..,) but for now I'm more than happy with the setup.

I loaded on one of the 240 refill sketches, and was having issues with it beeping every now and again and complaining that the cartridge was empty. I looked through the code, and I'm not a fantastic programmer but I made some modifications to it:

#include <EEPROM.h>

#include <Wire.h>

#define CG (B1010000)
boolean resetSuccess = false;
int isReset = 13;
//set to the number of refills you want to program into the cartridge:
int numberRefills = 240;

int byteArray []= {01, 01, 01, numberRefills, numberRefills, numberRefills, numberRefills, numberRefills, 240, 8, 8, 8, 33, 33, 33, 240};

void setup()
{
pinMode(isReset, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(isReset, LOW);

Wire.begin(); // join i2c bus (address optional for master)
}

void loop()
{

if (verifyCartridge())
{
// do nothing, we're already full.
} else
{
if (Wire.receive() == 0)
{
resetCartridge();
resetSuccess = verifyCartridge();
digitalWrite(isReset, resetSuccess);
} else
{
// do nothing. I don't want to reset until we're empty. That way we get a warning beep when it's close to empty.
}
}
}

void resetCartridge()
{
for (int i=3; i < sizeof(byteArray)/2; i++)
{
Wire.beginTransmission(CG);
Wire.send(i);
Wire.send(byteArray[i]);
Wire.endTransmission();
delay(4);
}
}

void movePointerTo(int deviceAddr, int memoryAddr)
{
Wire.beginTransmission(deviceAddr);
Wire.send(memoryAddr);
Wire.endTransmission();
}

boolean verifyCartridge()
{
boolean success = true;
movePointerTo(CG, 3);
Wire.requestFrom(CG, 3);
while (Wire.available())
{
if (Wire.receive() == numberRefills && success == true)
{
// looking good so far
} else {
success = false;
}
}
return success;
}

The differences between this and other sketches I've seen is that you need only change the numberRefills variable to set the refill value, rather than a few parameters. Not groundbreaking, but handy.

I have also set this sketch up such that it will not reset the cartridge until it has 0 cycles remaining. The reason for this is that I want a warning beep every 240 cycles so that I know to check my bottle of Simple Green. I'm definitely the sort of person to forget about it.

If I have any problems, I'll post them here, but so far so good after 5 days running 2 to 3 times per day.

If anyone wants pictures, let me know.

Actually, forget the modified program. I actually had a wiring issue (wire broken halfway through its run) which was confusing me as to the state of the EEPROM, causing the beeping.

So use one of the older sketches... haha!

I also found out that a USB B connector fits well through the vent holes on the rear of the PU, allowing me to have a permanent USB cable hanging out the back of it, and the cable itself even clips into some small grooves, holding it in place when i'm not using it! Almost feels like it was intended.

after reading a few of these threads i think a perfect solution would be for petnovations to make the cartridges refillable in the first place making the catridges more 'green' and saving money. i have to cat genies mainly because my older cat does not like my 2 kittens and will not poop in the same box with them, so i like the catgenies but the litter is terrible, it gets everywhere. i have one box sitting in the bathtub of my spare bathroom and a lot of the litter is caught there but not all and the other one is in my laundry room and the litter from there is really bad and i even have a special rug there that is supposed to catch the litter and it does but not all.

i really am glad i found the catgenie but i would like a shorter cycle with the cat activation, less expensive and refillable cartridges.

i do refill mine with a soultion of 50% water and 50% generic febreeze, if i catch the cartridge before it gets half empty it works well, if you use the febreeze straight it is too sticky, i hope petnovations is reading, i love your product despite some pitfalls but the cartridges need some changes for expense and the enviroment

where can i get one of the devices pictured above