Automatic Litterbox Central

I've had my SmartScoop for about a year, and recently got one of the new tester boxes.

My story about what I've gone through with my original one is documented in threads here.

Currently, besides the tester model, I'm running a SmartScoop that has the upgrade motor SmartScoop was sending out with the upgrade kit, prior to sending out the tester models.

I have been having a lot of problems with the SS not going through it's whole cycle correctly. The biggest problem I was having was it would stop dead after getting to the end of the tray and lifting the rake. After that, it wouldn't put the rake back down and reverse itself.

I did a total tear-down of the box for cleaning. That's when I discovered the problem.

If you take a close look at the motor, inside the ridge that rides along the tray edge is a small black wheel held on by two silver prongs. This is the microswitch that gets triggered and makes the various different parts of the cycle happen.

Upon close inspect, I discovered my microswitch/wheel was completely packed with solidified litter dust & debris. I mean packed SOLID. The wheel couldn't move.

To clean it, I unscrewed the 4 screws that hold the motor casing together.The first thing I did was dump out the loose litter that had ended up inside there.

Then I took out the two tiny screws holding the microswitch to the casing. I used toothpicks and q-tips with alcohol to clean that out.

Upon re-assembly of the entire thing, I now have a box that for over a week now has run almost without a single glitch. The only time it bogged down was when I let it get overloaded - my fault, not the SS's.

Tip: If you're going to do this, take the 4 screws out of the casing. But BEFORE OPENING THE CASING, flip the motor upside-down so that the screws end up falling out onto a table or the floor. Set it down, and then lift off the top. If you just unscrew the screws and then lift off the casing before flipping it upside down first, some gears, a small silver bar and possibly a latch will come falling out. If you flip it first, these items stay in their proper position.

I've already sent a note about this to SS.