Automatic Litterbox Central

kittymom wrote:I don't quite understand how this works. Other than, it should stop the 3 beeps from happening. Questions so I can decide if I want to buy...

Would it help my other problems too?

One problem is that around 10% of the time, the sensor is slightly dirty and the CG thinks it should not fill with fresh water. Once I clean it, it'll almost always work just fine.

Another problem is that occasionally it'll leave too much water in the end. And not because it's not draining. So apparently the sensor is misjudging the water level and when it drains it think it's done, when it's not.

Secondly, I am worried about the wires, can I tape them against the plastic base of the CG so my cats won't chew or pull at them? And worried about the board getting damaged from water or any other reason.

And I am also wondering about the lights. So once CG has completed a cycle, I should see if the LED is showing red? A red LED being the substitute for the beep-beep-beep and telling me something's wrong?

The sensor works by mimicing the operation that the original plastic sensor provides, which is a changing IR light source. The light source changes because when water touches the plastic sensor, it blocks the reflections of IR light back up to the CG unit. This sensor simply turns and IR light on and off in the same way. It will fix your problem of not filling the bowl with water from time to time. As far as leaving too much water, I am not sure about that one. If that problem is because of your sensor then it should. Yes, you can tape the wires down everywhere you want. I recently got my board wet from having to do an external (back yard + garden hose) cleaning and it did not work properly when I plugged it back in because it had some water on it. I just gave it a few hours to dry and it was fine, though a hair dryer probably would have sped that up. The lights on the board just indicate the status of full/not full. When your CG is filling with water, the green light should be on, then when water hits the probes, the red light should come on. Then as it is draining, the green should come back on. Take a look at this video of a prototype I made, it will show the operation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XImzPzCiAyM

Thanks... great mod.

Mine is working as advertised. It should install in minutes if you have a newer hopper. Unfortunatelly, I still have the old style hopper that has to be completely dismantled to remove the water sensor. I had to cut some of the hopper to get the eraser to fit. But everythings reassembled and working perfectly.

willy282 wrote:Mine is working as advertised. It should install in minutes if you have a newer hopper. Unfortunatelly, I still have the old style hopper that has to be completely dismantled to remove the water sensor. I had to cut some of the hopper to get the eraser to fit. But everythings reassembled and working perfectly.

I didn't think any of those were still around. Do you have the new blades? If not, I think it was a really cheap upgrade to get a whole new hopper with the new blades. I would highly recommend this. My unit is my second CG, my first one was back in 07. Sent it back for refund under 90 days because of the clogs. This one, which came with the new hopper and blades, has never clogged on me from poop, though several times because my cats ate some baloons or string.

Pictures get bonus points!

I receive your package today ... I'm testing right now ... Crosses fingers ...

Final result ....














IT'S W O R K I N G P E R F E C T ! ! ! !

Thank you very much !!!

Xavier wrote::shock: Final result ....














IT'S W O R K I N G P E R F E C T ! ! ! !

Thank you very much !!!

That's great to hear. May your days be Cat Genie beep-free! Pictures get bonus points.

ku4zs,

Hey man, just an update. I installed today after a full clean out (wow, yuk) of the CatGenie. On the first run, the device worked flawlessly as described. Unit filled and once the water reached the probes, red light and the unit stopped filling.

Now the problem...

The second run was started and I went into another part of the house until I heard the 2 BEEPS OF DEATH (yes 2 not 3). Error 2 describes no or little water. I investigated and ran the unit again, this time supervised from the beginning. In fact, the unit was filling only about half way and would stop shortly after the water had stopped filling, no red light either. This told me that the water was not even reaching the probes.

My thought process...

Is it possible that the probes are too high? If so, why would it work the first time?

Is it possible the water fill process is timing out? Does the Cat Genie have some kind of reasonable expectation of when the water should have hit the sensor and when it doesn't it pops error 2.

Have you had any other instances of the 2 Beeps of death from anyone else?

I have addressed all of the problems presented by Pet Innovations around error 2 in the Users Guide.
-Not a Water Pressure Issue
-Not a lack of Water
-Not a premature drain through a improperly run drain hose

I'm currently still troubleshooting the problem and I will let you know if I come to any new results. Please let me know your thoughts when you get a minute.

Thank you sir!

Check your probes. They got wet and are talking to each other. They must stay dry.

2cats2dogs wrote:Check your probes. They got wet and are talking to each other. They must stay dry.

I talked with him by email a few days back. He has his probes too high up, and the fill timer expires on the CG before it hit his probes and gave the 2 beep error. Just move 'em down.

CatGenie is doing something about this, I don't know what, but they sent out an email targeting 120's sold in a specific date range and stating that they can fix the problem.

Setec Astronomy wrote:CatGenie is doing something about this, I don't know what, but they sent out an email targeting 120's sold in a specific date range and stating that they can fix the problem.

That's good, are they replacing the head unit with one that has a working IR LED? There are still a lot of 60 units out there with the same problem, though. I still think the electronic sensor works better than their plastic one. It is much less sensitive to getting dirty (just have to make an electrical connection, doesn't involve optics) plus the user can adjust sensor height if they want to use a little less water than the CG typically uses.

If it wasn't a big change for them, I'd suggest they replace their 'stock' system with an electronic version.

I don't know what they are doing, apparently involves running some tests over the phone and they wanted the S/N. I was hoping maybe they had bought you out or licensed your solution

Was just about to order one of yours and then I got this email...which said something about "this email will cause high call volume so if no one answers, leave a message". To their credit they called back very quickly, but me and my Genie were physically separated so it will have to wait until later.

Setec Astronomy wrote:I don't know what they are doing, apparently involves running some tests over the phone and they wanted the S/N. I was hoping maybe they had bought you out or licensed your solution

Was just about to order one of yours and then I got this email...which said something about "this email will cause high call volume so if no one answers, leave a message". To their credit they called back very quickly, but me and my Genie were physically separated so it will have to wait until later.

Haven't heard from them. I am curious, though, if they have decided to use something similar. Let us know what you find out. Likely, they probably are just going to replace the head unit, and possibly have a new water sensor plastic piece.

I think they are just going to replace the PU with one that has a working (better?) LED, as you said, although the email says "we can take care of that for good" (the 3-beep error). Apparently I've got to pass some test first as far as the hardware and how often I have to clean the sensor.