Automatic Litterbox Central

I purchased my SmartScoop earlier this year. There are posts with me lauding and praising it elsewhere in this forum.

I followed the others here and requested and recieved an upgrade kit shortly after. It worked great - for a while. Then the motor started having trouble moving forward. It would make a POP noise as it approached the front of the box, and would go too far forward, pushing the rake into the front of the box and making it unable to lift the rake up.

Here's what I believe happened. At the time I received my upgrade, I had a littertrained rabbit who would spend a lot of time in the box. He was 8 years old and basically failing. The automatic rake would approach him, and instead of hopping out of the box when the rake touched him, he'd stubbornly remain. But instead of backing off, the new stronger motor would try to force him out of the box. Eventually, I believe this put strain on the plastic gearing that makes the rake go upwards, and either threw the teeth/cogs out of alignment and off-timing, or broke the same. I put my original motor back on.

I contacted SmartScoop about this a few weeks ago. April, their rep, asked me a few questions. I was getting a little frustrated as she kept repeating that the rake safety door/latch has to be closed to ensure proper operation. I'm not an idiot. Once I set up the box that latch was closed and there was no reason to open it. And once this problem developed, that's one of the first things I checked.

She asked if there was a sticker on the inside of the replacement motor. Initially I said no. She said that somehow I'd been sent an older, less powerful motor with the upgrade, and sent me another new one.

I set that up about 2 weeks ago. And then 2 days ago, the same problem developed. I had to have my bunny put to sleep a month or so ago, so he was no longer a factor. But I think the same thing happened, but with either a cat who didn't get out of the box quick enough, or some "just right" litter pile-up at the front of the box.

I contacted April again. I told her about this. Once again, her response was to tell me that this happens when the rake safety door/latch isn't closed. Grrr... In any case, they'll send me a new motor again, but now I have to pay shipping which is appx. $6.00. I'm willing to do so because I believe in this product after having struggled with LitterMaids for years.

I did send another response to her today telling her of my suspicion that I removed that sticker when I first set the box up and that the first failing motor was the more powerful one. I also told her my theory as to why the more powerful motor is failing. I believe it's a design flaw (as bad as the LitterMaids were, at least when they reached an obstruction, they BACKED OFF). I haven't heard back from her yet.

I still love this box. When the new motor is functioning properly, it's perfect. I just hope they take me seriously and look at this obvious design flaw.

This is strange to me. I am on my 2nd stronger motor and mine always back up and then try again if they meet an obstruction. Believe me I hear it at night if it get a clump it can't lift right off when it reverses and tries again 5 times before shutting off. I don't know why yours isn't doing this as well.

How mine works is it goes forward... if it hits something it can't lift right off, it backs up and goes forward again.. repeat this 5 times before it decides it is no go and shuts off to save the motor and starts flashing red.

I posted on the thread about the upgrades that I think the litter I was using killed my last motor. Tidy Cat seems to be working well even though I consider it a crummy litter so I am using that for now.

Dawn

Mine does this too. It binds with the end of the box and the rake gets stuck. Ca't get it to work at all. This is with 2 upgraded motors. I think it's design flaw as well.

I've been communicating with April at SS customer service about this. She has also joined the forum, and I encourage others to submit their issues/concerns/comments to her here.

I'm on my 3rd upgraded motor, going on 2 weeks now. So far, so good.

I will mention, however, that when I removed the old motor, there was an accumulation of litter dust & granules under the rake arm under the rake safety door. I cleaned it out and plan to keep an eye on that area. I don't think it was enough to push the rake into a poor enough misalignment to cause the problems I've been having, but everything's worth a try.

I'd rather do a little extra maintenance than go back to those horrible LitterMaids. My last LM is sitting broken in the basement. Good riddence.

Camille

My motor just broke too - same thing. It was when I ws using a clay litter. I guess it was too heavy because my cts like to pee at the front of the box. They are sending me a new motor and I guess I will stick to WBCL since it doesn't cement up as hard. The box is the best I have tried but still needs a lot of work for sure.

The problem you're experiencing isn't necessarily the fault of the motor. Mine did the same thing and how I fixed it was:

Separate the motor from the bin
Turn the bin (waste receptacle) over, and take out the screws holding the gear that drives the rake.
Clean the heck out of the entire assembly, and then reseat the gear ensuring that the opening for the rake stays at the top.

Just doing this has greatly improved the Smart Scoop for me, though it still breaks litter (Arm and Hammer MultiCat), still stalls out quite a bit, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to install the new anti-poo-flinging lip.

I've also had to do this cleaning/reseating about once every two weeks, which is quite a pain, but still less of a pain than doing the litter every day.

Seems like automatic litter boxes on the market now are like flying across the country--it's a huge hassle to get through all the hoops, but it still beats driving.

I'm on my 5th motor I think it is, but here is hoping on this one. It is a totally different colored housing so I think it is a new motor type. I am also signed on as a tester for the new box and have high hopes for it! They admit they have had problems getting the motor just right, but really do seem to be working hard on it. I LOVE the fact that they let us know they are having problems and don't try to pretend the box is fine and it is somehow our fault not the box as I have seen many types of businesses do when their is a problem with their products. I really like how the box works when it is working and hope the new version will fix all the problems we have been having with the first one. Just hang in there guys, and hope our search for litter box nirvana is close to an end

Dawn

I also signed on as a tester. Have you heard any word on when they will be sent? I thought we got an email saying the end of Nov but I can't remember. I really want to use this box but the flinging poo is an issue (along with some others) but I agree the CS is much better and they are working on it.

I haven't heard yet about shipment of the new boxes for testing.

I'm anxiously awaiting. We decided a couple months ago we need to add a 2nd automatic box, but we don't have the $$ to buy one. Getting a tester to use along with our original (still going strong about 4-5 months into the new replacement motor) will be a blessing.

I am just so dissapointed with this litter box. I am on my second one and it too has broke. I haven't had no where near as much problems with my LitterMaid as I have with the smart scoop.