Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Automating your cats?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Automating your cats?

    Looking at my repetitive chores to see what can be automated, I'm looking at the cat feeder and the litter box.

    Are any of those self-cleaning litter boxes worth a look at? Would pay more for something that works good.

    How about a cat feeder. Something that can starve them if a zwave update breaks a link. 😜
    -Tim

    HSPro - 3.XXX - Dell mini W7 x32
    Way2 Call
    Elk M1 Gold
    UPB HAI switches
    HAI RC2000 Thermostat

    #2
    I had a self cleaning litter box. It was junk. The house always smelled like cat waste. For the record, my house it tighter than average so smells tend to linger.

    John Straube:

    Cats are IAQ problems and you'd have to pass them through the HRV to solve that problem. But they're not really a cat anymore after that.
    Originally posted by rprade
    There is no rhyme or reason to the anarchy a defective Z-Wave device can cause

    Comment


      #3
      I had a CatGenie at one point. it worked well except that when it clogged it was the worst ever job to clean. also one of my cats didn't like it and would pee in it then poop on the floor next to it.

      for the cat food i am planning on doing a food level sensor but thats about it.
      HS3 Pro on Windows 8 64bit
      53 Z-wave nodes(46 devices, 7 remotes), 15 DS10a's, 10 ms16a's, 9 Oregon Sensors, W800, RFXCOMtrx433, Way2Call, 3 HSTouch Clients, 2xRussound CAS44, Global Cache GC100-12,10 Rollertrol blinds(+ zwave) ,3 Squeezebox Radios and 1 Squeezebox Boom,DMX Arduino via ethernet,Rain8Net,3x Echo Dot's


      Check out my electronics blog here:
      https://www.facebook.com/RaptorsIrrationalInventions

      Comment


        #4
        I suspected the auto litter boxes were not quite ready for prime time.


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
        -Tim

        HSPro - 3.XXX - Dell mini W7 x32
        Way2 Call
        Elk M1 Gold
        UPB HAI switches
        HAI RC2000 Thermostat

        Comment


          #5
          Pillar automatic pet feeder is great. We've had ours for 7 years. Paid for itself during our first long vacation. No cat sitter needed. We use it everyday and do no have to refill very often.

          Sent from my LGLS660 using Tapatalk
          John
          Hardware: i5-6400T w/16GB RAM & SSD w/HS3Pro, Z-Net, Harmony Hub x2, Echo Dot x2, Ocelot
          Plugins: Z-wave, HSTouch, BLBackup, Harmony, GTS CPUXA, UltraMon3, Nest
          HSTouch: Multiple Android Devices; 5 x ToteVision MD-1001 10.1" Win 7 Tablets
          Devices: Cooper RF9501 x4, RF9517 x6, RF9534 x1, RF9540-N x7, RF9542 x1, RF9542-Z x2, RFHDSCG x1, RFWC5 x5; Intermatic HA02 x6; FortrezZ MIMOLite x3; Leviton VRPD3-1LW x4, VRR15-1LZ x6; Nest Tstat & 9x Protects; Dragon PD-100 x3, PA-100 x3

          Comment


            #6
            I purchased a Litter Robot "Bubble" Model 7 or 8 years ago. It's worked flawlessly since I purchased it. I empty the the wast drawer once a week and add one scoop of litter.

            Only problem I ever had was when I let the drawer get too full. Had to clean the drum cogs. I just noticed there newest model added a "full drawer" indicator.

            I rank it in my top 10 items that make my home life easier. Although it seem expensive at 4 bills, it has been worth every penny!

            Forrest

            Comment


              #7
              I forgot to mention, I haven't automated it yet, but I've thought about a couple of things I could do by plugging it into an "energy meter" outlet:
              - Turn on a Z-Wave switch for the exhaust fan that's in the laundry room that the litter box is located in.
              - Count the number of times it activates to give me a notice of when the drawer is full. I currently empty it every 7 days but it could go longer. Each cat uses it twice a day, so I could set up a temporary event to notify me at 32 activation's and then in increments of 4 until I determine the max activation's for the waste drawer to be full. Then the permanent event would trigger after XX activation's

              Forrest

              Comment


                #8
                Wow. That's some machine. http://youtu.be/oUSdvYriphw
                -Tim

                HSPro - 3.XXX - Dell mini W7 x32
                Way2 Call
                Elk M1 Gold
                UPB HAI switches
                HAI RC2000 Thermostat

                Comment


                  #9
                  I have an easier solution - a cat flap, Cat poops in neighbours garden!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by IanIreland View Post
                    I have an easier solution - a cat flap, Cat poops in neighbours garden!
                    That's a good way to lose your cat. It's also illegal in plenty of places. Would you like it if your neighbor threw his poop in your yard? I hope you were just joking. Sure, some of it probably can't be avoided with cats, thus the term, "as difficult as herding cats," but I think it's wrong to make it your go to solution.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by IanIreland View Post
                      I have an easier solution - a cat flap, Cat poops in neighbours garden!
                      You do that, then I have to do this. It gets ugly
                      Attached Files
                      -Tim

                      HSPro - 3.XXX - Dell mini W7 x32
                      Way2 Call
                      Elk M1 Gold
                      UPB HAI switches
                      HAI RC2000 Thermostat

                      Comment


                        #12
                        What's a good feeder? Food and water? Besides my 10 y/o I mean...
                        -Tim

                        HSPro - 3.XXX - Dell mini W7 x32
                        Way2 Call
                        Elk M1 Gold
                        UPB HAI switches
                        HAI RC2000 Thermostat

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by email68 View Post
                          What's a good feeder? Food and water? Besides my 10 y/o I mean...
                          The pillar pet feeder http://www.perfectpetfeeder.com/ I mentioned earlier is top of the line. It was expensive when we got it 7 years ago, but - as we were leaving for a week with nobody to watch our cats, paid for itself that week in what we saved in kenneling costs. We've used it every day since then and it only needs refilling every few weeks. It also lets you program up to 6 feed times per day, which is a good way to keep a cat or dog from eating too much in one sitting (one of our cats would eat until he got sick if allowed to, resulting in a big mess). It has a battery backup as well.

                          For water, a simple gravity feed watering bowl is great. The one we have is just a 1 quart or so bottle inverted in a bowl like a water cooler. Cost maybe $5. It gets refilled about once a week and is far superior to the electronic "filtering/waterfall" models we tried in the past - much cheaper too.
                          John
                          Hardware: i5-6400T w/16GB RAM & SSD w/HS3Pro, Z-Net, Harmony Hub x2, Echo Dot x2, Ocelot
                          Plugins: Z-wave, HSTouch, BLBackup, Harmony, GTS CPUXA, UltraMon3, Nest
                          HSTouch: Multiple Android Devices; 5 x ToteVision MD-1001 10.1" Win 7 Tablets
                          Devices: Cooper RF9501 x4, RF9517 x6, RF9534 x1, RF9540-N x7, RF9542 x1, RF9542-Z x2, RFHDSCG x1, RFWC5 x5; Intermatic HA02 x6; FortrezZ MIMOLite x3; Leviton VRPD3-1LW x4, VRR15-1LZ x6; Nest Tstat & 9x Protects; Dragon PD-100 x3, PA-100 x3

                          Comment


                            #14
                            The secret is to toilet train your cat... We were going to do that with our kitten at our old house, although it's really hard to do when you only have one bathroom and it would have been horrible to have a litter box in there during the training period.

                            There are some crazy cat people out there, and it'd be super cool to have a toilet trained cat...also you never have to leave the lid down like your wife always asks.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              how many cats? RF tag them then you can know which is using the litter box the most... have a cool gauge for it too.

                              also have them access doors around the house.. lock them out of some during certain times.
                              HW - i5 4570T @2.9ghz runs @11w | 8gb ram | 128gb ssd OS - Win10 x64

                              HS - HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.435

                              Plugins - BLRF 2.0.94.0 | Concord 4 3.1.13.10 | HSBuddy 3.9.605.5 | HSTouch Server 3.0.0.68 | RFXCOM 30.0.0.36 | X10 3.0.0.36 | Z-Wave 3.0.1.190

                              Hardware - EdgePort/4 DB9 Serial | RFXCOM 433MHz USB Transceiver | Superbus 2000 for Concord 4 | TI103 X-10 Interface | WGL Designs W800 RF | Z-Net Z-Wave Interface

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X