Automatic Litterbox Central

ku4zs wrote:I'm using the regular CG pellets, but probably will get some of the ebay ones.

I put the sensor under the bowl this time, instead of in the hopper where all the poopy goodness is at. Should really only be urine under the bowl. Hopefully the stainless steel screws don't corrode over. If they do I will try to see what metal they use in bathroom stalls, those have to be able to stand up to airborne urine (ammonia, etc.)

I don't understand how you did this placement. Is it in from the side or stuck through the bottom (top if the bowl is out). Maybe a picture of it.

2cats2dogs wrote:

ku4zs wrote:I'm using the regular CG pellets, but probably will get some of the ebay ones.

I put the sensor under the bowl this time, instead of in the hopper where all the poopy goodness is at. Should really only be urine under the bowl. Hopefully the stainless steel screws don't corrode over. If they do I will try to see what metal they use in bathroom stalls, those have to be able to stand up to airborne urine (ammonia, etc.)

I don't understand how you did this placement. Is it in from the side or stuck through the bottom (top if the bowl is out). Maybe a picture of it.

If you remove the CG head unit, the cover over the hopper, then the large plastic cover that goes around the bowl and hopper (the largest single piece other than the base), its the one you have to remove to remove the hopper assembly. Then, lift the litter bowl out. There is a pretty large gap between the litter bowl and the outside of the base unit. I duct taped the stainless screw probes to the side there.

I will take some pictures once I make the instructable.

I have a schematic from your description, but I can't figure out how to upload this jpg image to a message. I've tried IMG but that does not work. I've put it on my web site but do not want to link to it

2cats2dogs wrote:I have a schematic from your description, but I can't figure out how to upload this jpg image to a message. I've tried IMG but that does not work. I've put it on my web site but do not want to link to it

Create an account on Photobucket (it's free) and upload it on there. It will give you the proper IMG links at the bottom of the piccie.

This is a schematic from the description in this thread. Hopefully it can be verified as correct.

You are missing two resistors, there is an 82k resistor between the base of the two standalone resistors and their connection to the collector of the Darlington Pair. Also, your image is low resolution, when I zoom in it is all pixelated and I cannot read the values of the components. Can you make one that is readable?

I was working on a schematic in paint, primitive I know, just hadn't finished it.

This one should be better.

This is a much better one, resized and blows up good and is fully on the page

2cats2dogs wrote:This is a much better one, resized and blows up good and is fully on the page

This one looks right, except you have the IR led wired backwards. What software did you use? I was looking for some easy to use schematic building, then PCB routing, software.

Otherwise, this is the exact circuit I have. Understand, though, that the wall wort I am using is putting out 19.5v. I dunno if the majority of them do, but if you find one that actually does 12v, then resistor values will probably need adjusting.

Also, just to update... This thing has been installed for 2 weeks now. The CG runs at least twice a day, sometimes more when I do a manual run. I have had zero 3 beep issues, no overflows, pretty sure CG is filling properly on all 3 fills, and smell from the unit has dropped significantly (due to it sometimes not filling all three times when the sensor is dirty, producing wonder urine potpouri).

I will do some checks on the integrity of the stainless screws this weekend and will also probably do the instructable.

Looked at my hand drawn one and the IR LEd is correct on that. The software is KICAD (open source... google it and then run the tutorial or you'll be lost). The Leds come in verticla and I rotated it wrong on this. How I output it is to PLOT to CLIPBOARD and then I save it as a BMP. I then upload it to Photobucket.com and edit it to 75% of size... I think that is the setting I used.. oh, yes.. I also cropped it to only use the actual schematic and not the entire page. Mine is working but when we take a month in Ireland later this year, we don't want the neighbor to come in to 3 beeps. I currently change the sensors every two weeks and the last one did not fix it.. I finally used Rainx on the IR Led and Sesor in the PRoc and that fixed it (for 4 days now). I don't have time to change the schematic now as I am going out of town until Monday, now.

What is J2 on that schematic? It looks like the +12 terminates in to it as well as a connection to ground?

zeropanic wrote:What is J2 on that schematic? It looks like the +12 terminates in to it as well as a connection to ground?

That's the incoming +19.5v and gnd from the 12v wall wort. You don't have to combine that into a single connector like it is displayed.

Thanks!

I ended up making mine with a spare PSOC micro-controller I had laying around. Basically I have a regulated +5v supply that supplies power to the PSoC and to one of the stainless steal screws. The other screw is attached to an analog input pin and 1MOhm resister connected to ground. This creates a voltage divider which the PSoC can read in via the ADC. I modified my hopper and screwed both screws through the middle of the housing of the hopper (where it kind of flanges in then out) and adjusted the 2 screws to the same height the light pipe was. When water hits the contacts, I measured about 3.5-4V across the terminals which the PSoC programming in turn does the LED switching (IR LED, EMPTY Status LED, Full Status LED).

By going the PSoC route, I have the option to add additional features like a cartridge reset (i2c support built in) or what not later on.

zeropanic wrote:Thanks!

I ended up making mine with a spare PSOC micro-controller I had laying around. Basically I have a regulated +5v supply that supplies power to the PSoC and to one of the stainless steal screws. The other screw is attached to an analog input pin and 1MOhm resister connected to ground. This creates a voltage divider which the PSoC can read in via the ADC. I modified my hopper and screwed both screws through the middle of the housing of the hopper (where it kind of flanges in then out) and adjusted the 2 screws to the same height the light pipe was. When water hits the contacts, I measured about 3.5-4V across the terminals which the PSoC programming in turn does the LED switching (IR LED, EMPTY Status LED, Full Status LED).

By going the PSoC route, I have the option to add additional features like a cartridge reset (i2c support built in) or what not later on.

Very nice. It occurred to me that an Arduino could do something similar using analog inputs and programming in a setpoint. That way you could output via ethernet or serial port the CG usage, include a resetter, and various other things. For example, if you want the bowl to fill up higher, then let the Arduino have a timer started after the water hits the sensors.