Jeffrey wrote:Every 3-4 months is longer than the little robot which needs cleaning each 1-3 months, so that's a plus for the genie.
Can you explain how the process goes? Is it designed to take apart easy for cleaning or do you have to register each skrew and tiny bit that comes out when taking it apart?
How hard is it (also time-wise)?
At the risk of stating the obvious: The longer you wait, the more time it will take you to get it clean again. Last time I waited ~8 month and I can tell you: That was too long
. There seems to be some kind of mineral build-up inside the box. Most of it is just lime from the tap water, but I think there are also some non digesting residues in the dry food. It took me 1.5 hour before I had removed everything. But normally you'll be done in 30 minutes.
Taking the unit apart is very easy: The processing unit is held in place by gravity alone. You can just take of off and put it aside. The top rim is clicked, but doesn't take much more effort. From there you can take out the bowl and the hopper to rinse them off. So yes, it is build with this in mind.
A new cleaning cartridge was recently introduced that should clean the CatGenie just as well, without the effort of doing it yourself. I've got one, but I didn't need to use it yet.
I think that scooping only is enough after each visit and full cycle just 1-2 times a day for 2 cats. Is this estimation right, or do I miss something?
I fully agree, but standard firmware doesn't support these features. Probably because it is not in the manufacturer's interest to reduce cleaning agent reduction. Besides that, a cleaning cycle takes ~40 minutes including drying, while scoop-only takes just ~6 minutes. So scoop-only with a combination of a full wash interval seems ideal. (BTW, there is no correlation between the duration of a cat's visit and the business it did because the sensor jitters as the cat moves around in the box)
(I must admit that the custom firmware/domotica integration is realllllly cool! Can you flash your unit easy or did you need special hardware for it aka solder stuff to your unit voiding warrenty?)
Overwriting the original firmware can be done without soldering, but because you need to open your unit and foreign software can potentially harm the hardware, doing so
will void your warranty for sure. Of course the standard software is protected against reading, so we cannot back it up. But this also makes it impossible to verify if the original firmware is still installed. So if you're morally ok with it, you could erase the unit, set the configuration flags to their original value and claim warranty as if it were a dead unit.
Here's the link to the Oxy clean story -->
http://www.litterbox-central.com/litter ... der#p17553 This stuff containes Sodium Percarbonate which apparently breaks down the hairs and stuff. They pour it in the bowl and hopper, let it soak for 2 hours and than start 2 cycles and there done. Now we only have to find a product in the Netherlands which contains Sodium Percarbonate like the Oxy clean stuff. I read also somewhere that the machine was totally clean when took apart after 9 months of usage and using that oxy clean/mr. fresh or other cleaning product was used on a regular basis.
Alternatively you could sink declogging agent, but I'm a bit more old fashion. I'd rather clean it mechanically than risking the integrity of all kinds of rubber seals and washers.
Is there a potential that the whole thing will leak or is it made good enough that that will not happen?
Theoretically; Yes. The water valve is controller by the water level detector. If water is detected, or something is wrong with the sensor, the valve will remain closed. But this mechanism can be overridden by software. The electronic design could have been better. But I'm sure the original firmware has implemented this properly.
There's always a risk in running alternative firmware, but I didn't have any floods other than the one that was my own fault: I had a leaking faucet, dripping water down the hose, ending up in the box. Over night the box dripped half full and CatGenius firmware doesn't have a mechanism in place yet to deal with spontaneous errors.
I'm getting more and more exiting about it!
Well, I can tell you: This is the most fun I had with a catbox, ever
. (and it's not even made for that)
BTW: Other automated cat boxes, such as the LitterRobot, fully rely on clumping cat litter. For my cats clumping litter didn't clump enough to take out the waste without leaving behind too much residue. Your results may vary, of coarse.
