Comments on: CatGenie hacking

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:31:09 +0000

Has the company contacted you with a cease and desist yet? It seems that all the other people who have hacked their cartridge had gotten this and I guess got scared off and removed all videos and other related materials stating that it was removed due to the companies threats of a lawsuit. Which I don’t understand because they do this with ink cartridges all the time.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:10:50 +0000

Amazing, good find! This was the one last recurring cost of the cat genie that kept it from greatness…

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:58:17 +0000

That’s a lot of cats

By: doctorhash

doctorhash — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 04:01:13 +0000

Ok, well someone posted the patent which shows the schematics and drawing for the cat genie. Although they describe how the cat genie is suppose to work as with most patents the drawings are all first concept drawings and the electrical schematics although close to what the cat genie was eventually released as are not exact and they leave out certain aspects like the sanisolution cartridge. It is mentioned but the circuitry on the cartridge is never shown, it sounds like the method they originally wanted to use to detect the soloution level was different from what they wound up actually doing. I think they discovered if they did it with some sort of level sensor (which is how they describe it) all the user would have to do is refill the cartridge. I also found another way to reset the cartridge by buying a EEprom programmer for the 24LC00 EEprom they are using on the cartridge. What you do first is connect up the 4 wires used on the programmer needed to communicate with the EEprom to a new/full cartridge, read the memory which will give you a series of 3C which is 60 hex save that data. Then once a cartridge is disabled just connect up to it in the same manner and write the full data you read and saved from the full cartridge to the EEprom. Wha-la cartridge reset. Requires a computer to do it though.

By: doctorhash

doctorhash — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:46:45 +0000

OK,
I got the Arduino, loaded and compiled the sketch and downloaded it in to the Arduino. The program is acting different than is referanced in the Hack instructions. In the instructiuons you say “Slide the cartridge into the holder. The LED will illuminate almost immediately – reset was successful. Slide the cartridge out, and in a couple of seconds the light will go out – its ready to reset another one.” I haven’t yet reset a cartridge. Ok when I download the program and reset the board the LED stays on and never goes out. I would assume that since the LED will go on almost immediately that means the LED is suppose to be off and will turn off after the cartridge is removed and be ready to reset another cartridge. Looking at the sketch I see where Resetsucess is set to false then resetsucess = verifyCartridge(). The only thing I can think is since I have not reset a cartridge yet, verifyCartidge()is somehow set High changing the state of resetSucess, or is set high because there is no cartridge to hold either pin 4 or 5 low when the program starts. The program apears to be working correctly only problem is I don’t have a spent cartridge to reset yet so I wont know for 15 days or so if the Arduino protyping board is working correctly.

By: Thor

Thor — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:10:40 +0000

Looks like the whole idea is getting commercialized. The price seems a little high, but they were going on Ebay for around $250. I guess it’s better than $15 to $60 bucks every month.

http://www.dlharnden.com/Store/display_item_detail.asp?system=0&prodid=1&categid=1&subcategid=1&itemid=18602-001&wprodid=18602

By: Doctorhash

Doctorhash — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:54:05 +0000

Well, I thought about that and I think from what i have seen the cat genie uses the count stored in the I2c chip in part to perform the cleaning routine. So resetting it to zero every time may inhibit its ability to clean. I will know the answer to this soon.

By: ed3

ed3 — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:43:04 +0000

Why not use an empty cartridge to “trick” the Catgenie and just extend the fluid pump intake to an external container of one’s choice? Preferrably a container easier to refill with larger capacity…

By: jim

jim — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:11:36 +0000

It would be nice to sell a hacked cartridge that never needs reseting and just has a cork in it… of course the lawsuit might be a pain in the ass

By: strider_mt2k

strider_mt2k — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:05:45 +0000

Kittens, cats, sacks, wives.

How many were going to st. Ives?

By: cde

cde — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:22:01 +0000

Also, on further googling, someone else seems to have found it as well.

http://www.litterbox-central.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1080&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=80738777350ffc2dc90d628773d1d8a7&start=75

Same answer. Simple eeprom-based countdown. Only bytes 4,5,6 (Starting from 1) matter. And I made a mistake, his code actually sends all 16 bytes to the eeprom, not just 2. His code can be cut down if he just overwrites bytes 4, 5 and 6 instead of all 16. But its damn minor.

By: cde

cde — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:16:37 +0000

@ therian: From his blog (I searched for catgenie i2c and happened upon his blog)
http://maddeningscientist.blogspot.com/2008/05/catgenie-cartridge-hacked-sort-of.html

Seems he found out what the catgenie uses on the cartridge (A super small i2c serial eeprom, 16 bytes of data), and also compared that to a new cartridge. Looking at the arduino code he posted on instructables, it has the eeprom address hardcoded, and he sends two bytes of data to it.

Actually, I tend to like his idea of setting up an microcontroller to continuously report a cartridge as full as the better idea, instead of resetting each cartridge when it empties. It makes the need for a microcontroller realistic. Otherwise, what he is doing, rewriting an standard 24xCxx eeprom can be done directly from his computer with a minimal amount of parts (Serial port, two diodes, four wires, plus programming software, free). No need for a 35 dollar microcontroller.

By: Caleb Kraft

Caleb Kraft — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:44:48 +0000

there are some obvious cat counting inconsistencies here. I have reported them and they will be looked into by the federal commission for cat counting fraud.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:38:43 +0000

@macegr: I think maybe he meant the cats powering the house, not by their raw materials, but by doing work. think, cats running on treadmills. Otherwise, he’d have to get more cats. But then again, with your plan he wouldn’t have to get anymore catfood.

By: macegr

macegr — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:39:34 +0000

Did scottsea misread his own instructable? he said he had four cats here…?

I think that after three cats, the number doesn’t matter anymore. they are legion.