Automatic Litterbox Central

2cats2dogs wrote:Hardest part is the stainless steel screws. I just can't find them.

Any of the hardware stores will have them. Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, True Value Hardware. A marina store will have them as well as AutoZone, O'Reilly's, and Advance Auto...

I got my stainless screws at Lowe's. It's in the big blue drawers on the hardware isle.

Here is my first kit, built for a member here who PM'ed me first. I added the blue poster putty, just tear it in half, put each half on the screws covering the nut, and stick it to the side of your box. It's easier to deal with and place where you want it than duct tape.

ku4zs wrote:Yea your sensor doesn't really look dirty. But, if you take the sensor out, clean it, and the unit does it's first fill properly then stops filling for the rest of the cycle, you can assume that the sensor is involved. If it was entirely hardware, doing a sensor clean should have no effect on the results, but you say it does. It could be a combo of both, as well.

I was thinking the same, but the problem has been getting worse. Right now it is at the point where I can't get it to even do the first fill. It always gives me the 1 beep error when I put it back together after cleaning the sensor. I'm hopeful that the new PU will fix this but it isn't scheduled to arrive until Wednesday.

Designed a board with KiCad and submitted to BatchPCB, should be here in a few weeks. (10 boards actually)

ku4zs wrote:Yea your sensor doesn't really look dirty. But, if you take the sensor out, clean it, and the unit does it's first fill properly then stops filling for the rest of the cycle, you can assume that the sensor is involved. If it was entirely hardware, doing a sensor clean should have no effect on the results, but you say it does. It could be a combo of both, as well.

CG says they are having LED problems. My 60 went several months before the first 3-beep and sensor cleaning, but as it got older, the time seemed to get shorter and shorter. I then traded it for a 120, which went 4 weeks before the first error, then was down to about 3 days between errors and the sensor looked pretty clean (unit was 3 or 4 months old at this point) and I called and they swapped the PU with the admission that "the LED's don't seem to be lasting, they are supposed to last 10 years...".

Setec Astronomy wrote:

ku4zs wrote:Yea your sensor doesn't really look dirty. But, if you take the sensor out, clean it, and the unit does it's first fill properly then stops filling for the rest of the cycle, you can assume that the sensor is involved. If it was entirely hardware, doing a sensor clean should have no effect on the results, but you say it does. It could be a combo of both, as well.

CG says they are having LED problems. My 60 went several months before the first 3-beep and sensor cleaning, but as it got older, the time seemed to get shorter and shorter. I then traded it for a 120, which went 4 weeks before the first error, then was down to about 3 days between errors and the sensor looked pretty clean (unit was 3 or 4 months old at this point) and I called and they swapped the PU with the admission that "the LED's don't seem to be lasting, they are supposed to last 10 years...".

That could very well be the problem. I had the exact same problem with a LitterMaid. They have an IR LED and sensor across the box to sense when a cat has done some duty. I noticed one day that our box was not cleaning after a cat had left. Got my cellphone, turned on the cam, and notice the IR LED was dark, burned out in a few short months. Replaced it with one from radio shack and worked again, like a charm. That one continued to work until the day we removed that box.

If their IR LED is slowly loosing brightness that would explain the unit becoming more and more sensitive to slightly dirty water sensors.

Quick question. When the bowl is full of water, should the light be on or off?

Thanks

Combat Medic wrote:Quick question. When the bowl is full of water, should the light be on or off?

Thanks

What light? The IR LED? It should turn off when the bowl is full, then on when the water drops below full.

ku4zs wrote:

Combat Medic wrote:Quick question. When the bowl is full of water, should the light be on or off?

Thanks

What light? The IR LED? It should turn off when the bowl is full, then on when the water drops below full.

That's what I thought. Cool. Thank you.

If you are talking about the ORIGINAL CG IR led, that LEd NEVER goes off. THe glass water sensor being interrupted when the bowl is full of water activates the Sensor. FOr the NEW solution to the problem, the LEd is off when full, as stated.

2cats2dogs wrote:If you are talking about the ORIGINAL CG IR led, that LEd NEVER goes off. THe glass water sensor being interrupted when the bowl is full of water activates the Sensor. FOr the NEW solution to the problem, the LEd is off when full, as stated.

Yea, sorry I should have been more specific. Well, I got my basic one working. This is much nicer then the original.

Combat Medic wrote:

2cats2dogs wrote:If you are talking about the ORIGINAL CG IR led, that LEd NEVER goes off. THe glass water sensor being interrupted when the bowl is full of water activates the Sensor. FOr the NEW solution to the problem, the LEd is off when full, as stated.

Yea, sorry I should have been more specific. Well, I got my basic one working. This is much nicer then the original.

Excellent, you just used the darlington pair to drive the IR LED directly? That's what I did on my version 1 (the one where the probes corroded over in a day). I found it to be very convenient to have the red/green LEDs to see what the board is doing.

My BatchPCB boards will hopefully be here tomorrow, and I have everything needed to make 3 kits, then I have to wait for more power supplies.

ku4zs wrote:

Combat Medic wrote:

2cats2dogs wrote:If you are talking about the ORIGINAL CG IR led, that LEd NEVER goes off. THe glass water sensor being interrupted when the bowl is full of water activates the Sensor. FOr the NEW solution to the problem, the LEd is off when full, as stated.

Yea, sorry I should have been more specific. Well, I got my basic one working. This is much nicer then the original.

Excellent, you just used the darlington pair to drive the IR LED directly? That's what I did on my version 1 (the one where the probes corroded over in a day). I found it to be very convenient to have the red/green LEDs to see what the board is doing.

My BatchPCB boards will hopefully be here tomorrow, and I have everything needed to make 3 kits, then I have to wait for more power supplies.

That's it exactly. I also used two stainless bolts for the probes. The only other problem that I ran into was that the camera on my iPhone wasn't showing the IR LED very clearly so I thought it wasn't working.

I would really like one of those kits when they come in. I've already got the 12v Enercell wall wart from RadioShack that I could transplant over if you want to leave that out.

Combat Medic wrote:That's it exactly. I also used two stainless bolts for the probes. The only other problem that I ran into was that the camera on my iPhone wasn't showing the IR LED very clearly so I thought it wasn't working.

I would really like one of those kits when they come in. I've already got the 12v Enercell wall wart from RadioShack that I could transplant over if you want to leave that out.

I can sell you a kit without a power supply, then. I only ordered 3 to start with, but I have 10 boards coming from BatchPCB. I can make a full kit, minus the power supply, for you. I have 10 more power supplies coming.

Also, "nicer" cameras won't see the IR led, or not very brightly anyway. They have IR filters, since you don't typically want to picture light that "you" can't see anyway. However, cheap CCD cameras like what is used on cellphones do not have the IR filter, so they work well in testing IR LEDs.

And you can test your phone on a TV remote. If that remote is working but you don't see it on the camera, then the camera won't dhow the cat genie led (or your new one).