Automatic Litterbox Central

My guess on the weight limit is probably has something to do with size of the cat (length) vs usable defecating space and/or the ability of the pan to rotate with more than 12 lbs. in it.

Large cats that are too long may not be able to fit in the usable area of the pan. The designers may be figuring that any cat over 12 lbs is likely to be too long and end up going outside the pan.

or....

Since the pan rotates directly on the base (no wheels or bearings between pan and base), more than 12 lbs of weight may cause too much stress on the motor due to the friction between the base and pan bottom. If you look at the bottom of the pan, you will see a ring of gear teeth that are raised up from the pan. That ring is what the weight of the pan + litter + cat rests on the base.

In regards to number of pans, we have always followed the rule of one pan for each cat. Since we have two cats, we have two SC's. I usually top off the litter once a week and do full replacement of litter every 10-14 days for both. One thing I have found is a higher litter level is better, but you need to watch out for the litter buildup in front of the ramp. The 'rotate the ring' procedure seems to work quite well in this regard.

I wasn't too sure how this would work for Mr. Scrappy. He is a digger ; in fact he tends to over cover his leavings. He has never had an auto system so I was wondering what new problems I may have. I have great results to my pleasure as well as a chuckle.

Mr Scrappy took to it with next to no transitional time. I left it unplugged for the first day and then plugged it in that night. (While he was out prowling our 2 acres) When he came back in during the wee hours(husband works early am hours) he went to investigate the machine again. He never noticed it moving while he was in it ; however, he did notice the grains of litter moving and tried to attach the conveyor. The noise of the clumps landing in the bag did get his attention away from the conveyor long enough for him to see what might have made the rattling noise from the bag. It took him about ten minutes to decide it was nothing he could attack and play with and since then has chosen to ignore the workings.

I still deal with a bit of litter on the floor since he goes to such extreme in covering his leavings; nothing my floormate can't vacumn up.

He has had one very soft stool and the system has handled it well but then I figure that is due to the litter and his great cover up technique. I love the results and hope it proves a long lasting machine.

Well it IS small, rated for cats "under 12#"

The area availabe is ~9"x16" Narrow bu usable for the cat it rated for.

None of mine are that tiny...

Hi, I'm new here (I'll go to introduce after this post).

I'm very interested in this thread and wonder how things have worked out for people that have been using the Simply Clean for a while now. Did it keep performing the way it did at first? Are there any tricks or modifications you did to make life easier? Did it stand up to constant use?

Thanks

Carol

Welcome Carol.

I am still extremely happy with mine. As far as I can tell they are still working the same today, as when I first got them 8 months ago. I really like that I get to reuse my plastic grocery bags. And I have found a couple of tricks/modifications that I think are recommended, but they are pretty simple, and don't have to be done.

I like that I pretty much don't have to do anything but remember to empty the bags and add new litter. I have let it go past where the bag was full without anything bad happening, just had to carefully scoop the clumps off the top of the conveyor. Every couple of weeks I will spend a couple of minutes manually scooping the box to fish out any small bits that have been missed.

Modifications/Tricks:
1) The box will squeak after it has been used for a bit, but this can be easily fixed with some graphite or dry film lubricant on the places where plastic rubs on plastic. I think it is the central hub that is most important, but I haven't been able to confirm that yet.
2) I put the unit on a timer so it runs for 35 minutes 6 times a day. This allows enough time for the entire exposed area of the pan to be rotated around. I don't see any reason to have it run 24/7, it reduces the amount of wear, and it seems to do better if you let stuff build up a little.
3) I put pieces of duct tape to disable the 2 sensors (lid and bucket removal). This allows me to remove the lid and watch the operation, and fixes issues where I once didn't get the bucket all the way in place and once where a large clump pushed the lid up just out of place, and since I have the timer, I didn't notice either of these for a while.
4) Use a good clumping litter. I use Scoop Away - Unscented.
5) Keep the litter filled to the line. Box seems to work better with too much, rather than too little litter.

Weaknesses:
1) It has a hard time with small round droppings, they roll instead of move up the conveyor, and they can get shredded, but a clump will generally help it along. This is another reason I use the timer.
2) It sometimes makes a pile of litter on the outside of the pan, near where the conveyor starts. Not sure why this happens, but I just scoop what I can back into the box when it happens.

Strengths:
1) Very Quiet (given mod #1)
2) Doesn't waste litter.
3) Easiest mechanical litter box I have dealt with.

Bill

Thanks so much for the quick response. I ordered my Simply Clean last night and I'm looking forward to getting it. I'm hoping it will work well with WBCL but if not I'm not locked into that particular litter. I'll post my thoughts on the unit once it's here and my kids have used it for a few days. I don't anticipate a problem switching them over since they are just babies and not real fussy at this point.

Carol

I am in love, this Simply Clean is just the neatest thing. Today I am switching the kids over completely, it's doing exactly what it said it would and so far I haven't had to scoop anything. The two boys are using it with no problems. The WBCL works fine in it, I've put it on a timer for twice a day for the moment. My kids want to sit and watch it when it's on so I'm still experimenting with times they are napping or occupied but that will work itself out. I'll keep updateing how things go but just from the first few days I can tell this is my solution. I now feel like I can go away and not worry that someone hasn't cleaned the litter box.

Carol

It's been a week now since I've had this unit, I still love it but have a couple questions/problems.

1. How did you disable the cover to the conveyor? Did you cut the plastic item that presses on the sensor and duct tape it in? Right now I have one of my 10lb hand weights holding it down.

2. I'm finding that the ring that clips on the outside of the box won't stay in place. Am I using too much litter? The conveyor seems to high to keep it in place all thought I think that solves your problem of the litter pile that spills out.

Other than those two issues which I consider minor, things are going well, the boys are using the box without complaint. One thing I wish they had was a dome for it , I'm trying to get my husband to maybe fashion something just to keep the litter inside when they dig. If we come up with anything I'll post it.

Thanks

Carol

Hopefully I can help you out here.

1) I put a piece of duct tape about as wide as the sensor hole, over the hole and then put the cover on. This pushed the tape down into the hole, and has held the sensor switch down just fine for 8 months now. I also taped across the sensor for the bucket. Also you shouldn't need a 10lb weight for normal operation.


2) Are you saying that the distance from the edge of the bowl to the conveyor is so great that the notch of the ring doesn't get hooked? Sounds like you may not have part of the conveyor hooked into place correctly. The support for the conveyor (at the top near where the ring should be caught) has a bit that needs to be slid into a hole when the conveyor is in the upright position, before the conveyor is rotated down and fastened into place with the 2 screws.


Bill

Thank you Bill!!! The pictures helped tremendously, the conveyor was not seated correctly over the area the rim should connect and I never would have known that without seeing it. That also was the cause of one screw not being tightened down enough. All is fixed now and in good working order. The kids used it anyway and it worked probably just fine but I'd rather have it correct incase there is something it would have damaged later on.

Oh and the boys don't care if it's running or not, they've used it both ways.

I've also found a little trick to move along all the "little" pieces, I pour a strip of water across the litter making a long clump, that seems to clean out any little items left on the conveyor. I've only done that a couple of times, it might waste a little litter but it's worth it not to fish them out.

Thanks again for your help, it's greatly appreciated.

Carol

Another update since I corrected the problems and disabled the sensors. Things are working even better than before, seating the conveyor correctly helped with moving waste along the conveyor. The boys seem to be very happy with it and my husband hasn't complained about "the box" smelling. The novelty has worn off for me so now I'm only checking it to make sure there is enough litter and changing the bag. If I walk by and see they've used it I'll over ride the timer for 30 minutes but other than that I don't even think about it. It's so nice not to be constantly worried about having a clean litter box. I'm using the WBCL for mulit cats, it seems to work very well with this machine.

I haven't done a complete change of litter since I set this box up, I've added but that's it. Have you found that's all you need to do or are you doing periodic complete litter changes? I'm guessing that might need to be done once in a while to give the box itself a good cleaning and to clean out any litter that's made it's way into working parts.

Thanks
Carol

I have done a couple of litter changes/cleaning since I have had the boxes. The usual reasons are
1) I tried a different (cheaper) litter and the litter ended up getting icky with lots of tiny clumps.
2) I let the litter get too low, and clumps stuck to the bottom.

Cleaning is about a 10 minute task. Disassemble. Vacuum all the litter out of the base, and the conveyor. Wash the bowl with a hose. Dry and Spray the bowl with something non-stick. Reassemble.

Probably ends up happening every 2 to 3 months.

Sounds like it might be worth my time to try WBCL. I have been trying different unscented litters because my wife is sensitive to whatever they normally use in scented litters. Can you tell me how WBCL smells when you first put it in the box?
Bill

Thanks for the cleaning info Bill, I'm probably good for another month or so going by your experience.

WBCL, I use the multi cat formula because it seems to clump better and they don't break up. As for the smell, it's not perfumed, more a natural type smell, my husband has a sensitive nose and it doesn't bother him. It's not a heavy smell, I had to put my nose right to the tub I have it in to actually smell it. It's probably worth a try, my guys seem to be fine with it.

I also have a bag of the Arm & Hammer High Perfomance litter, that has much more of an odor so I don't use it in the SC but put a little in the grocery bag to help with any odors that might build up, I don't know if it helps or not.

Carol

I did a complete clean last week and I have a couple of issues. First , when I emptied the box I found very flat clumps stuck to the bottom, I'd sprayed the nonstick food spray on the bottom so I didn't expect them. From what I can figure they are cut off by the metal bar at the bottom of the conveyor, I thought it was suppose to scrape along the bottom of the pan but mine seems to ride about half inch up from the bottom of the unit. I'm not sure if there is a remedy for this other than manually scraping the bottom the day I change the waste bag.

The other problem seemed to crop up when I reassembled the unit, the next day it developed a clicking noise. I thought maybe I'd reassembled it incorrectly so I took it apart, cleaned around the motors and the base and reassembled, it still continues to click. This does not seem to affect the way the unit works but it is annoying and I don't know if there is something inside that's not right. The clicking seems to be coming from the conveyor area or under the box. Any thoughts on what this might be?

I'm going to call Petsafe tomorrow, I don't believe they would be open today but maybe I'll try. I still think this unit is just great even with little glitches, heck nothings perfect

Oh and another trick I read about here on this board was the aquarium charcoal in with the waste, I tried sprinking a little in the waste container (I have a gold fish) and it seemed to keep down the odor very well. Even hubby said it didn't seem to smell and believe me he's the first one to let me know if I haven't changed bags soon enough.

I took the whole thing apart one more time and it still clicked, so yesterday I called the company and they are sending me a new unit. I'm very surprised, they didn't ask where I'd bought it, just wanted to know when and my address to send the new unit to. I'm very impressed

Carol