Automatic Litterbox Central

gee8mao wrote:At the rate that I saw, I would say to expect maybe a pound every 2 months - maybe every quarter at best - for two cats.

gee8mao wrote:

CatGenius wrote:

gee8mao wrote:Any update on your progress thus far?

I'm sorry for this late response: I'm working really hard on the software and even though I read this forum almost on a daily basis before, I now don't log in that often anymore. Most people involved signed up for beta testing, so they know what's going on.

I've been somewhat of an "avid reader" of this CatGenie forum for some time, and I'm REALLY (really, really, really, really, really, really) looking forward to learning when your firmware will go live so that I can even actually order a CatGenie 120 for my two pals.

I'm glad to hear that. I seems that most people are just waiting silently, unfortunately

My goals are to use a certifiably non-toxic sanitizing solution in a refillable cartridge and to use 0.12g 6mm BBs, so this firmware seems to be the answer to the refillable cartridge dilemma that was born with the 120 (especially following your second video evidencing cartridge bypass - does your programming still query the CG to deploy solution?).

I've been looking at laboratory glass beads, usually used to smoothen the bubbles in a boiling liquid. They sink, are available in 3mm balls and they are smooth, so they won't pick up any dirt. Don't use BBs; They're too big, like the LitterFree pellets. See also: catgenie/topic3371.html
CatGenius does deploy cleaning solution, but for now it does not support the original RFID tag as I do not yet know the meaning of all data fields in it.

Thanks for the response and the tips for 3mm glass beads! I'll try to find an economical price point for those beads since they seem to run about $25/lbs, and would seem to me to be denser than the PVC litter that is peddled for the CG.

How many pounds do you think a CG should take without danger of becoming too heavy and wearing down the internals? Because I think that cats would be more accustomed to "piddling" around in 3-4 lbs of litter.

Regarding the cleaning solution, it seems to be the consensus that no one understands all the fields in the RFID tags, but referencing some of the home-brew CG60 solution setups that we've seen, that seems to be the way that everyone wants to go (which doesn't seem to be all that bad). So if your firmware altogether ignores the RFID tags in the cartridges, then users (like me in the future) will be able to self-monitor and refill the cartridges with cleaners like Simple Green. That's ultimately what I'm hoping for since the majority of the expense in owning a CG seems to arise with the cost of the solution (especially if we want to eventually run it at cleaning after every visit).

Thanks again and please keep up all the hard work - we're rooting for ya!