X10 enabled cat litterbox?

[MindBender]

Perhaps Pete doesn't have a cat, but if he does I'm deeply disappointed that he doesn't have one of these:
http://www.epinions.com/LitterFree_Self_Washing_Cat_Box
(And even without having a cat they're fun to look at!)
The company went out of business, but I still have one. This company bought the rights and will introduce a later-and-greater version soon:
http://www.catgenie.com/
Both the old and the new version have a <b>big</b> flaw: They don't flush on demand. The new unit has a sensor, but it's only used to postpone a flushing cycle if the box is occupied (so it's solving a non-existing problem because the occupation usually doesn't last when the flush cycle starts). The older box doesn't have a sensor at all. I have mounted a sensor in my old box, and I've been meaning to programm a PIC chip for it or tie an eZ80 board into it to make it web-enabled, but since I'm installing X10 I might as well use that.

Now are the questions:<ul><li>I want the box to start a cycle 5 minutes after the cat has left the box. The best way to achieve this is to set a timer at the rising edge of the sensor. If the timer was already running, it must be reset at this edge. If the time exprires, I want the box to start a cycle, stop the timer and set it to 0. Can any domotica software handle this? Can the CM11 perform this task autonomously, using a macro?</li><li>I'm planning to use 4 inputs: The cat-sensor, the cycle in progress LED, the error led and the pause led. I only need one output, potential free, to start the cycle. Which single unit is most suitable?</li><li>If an error occurs, the error LED blinks. Won't that saturate the X10 bus?</li></ul>

[Bwired]

Hi,
This would be great together with a catcam[:D]. I'm not that good in building my own electronic devices from scratch. If I have the shematics I can probably build the device but I'm way out of your And Han Alink league. I would use the build in sensors from the catbox and put them on known X10/A10 devices. The Xanura SAX15 http://www.bwired.nl/images/how/SAX15.pdf (2 potiontial free inputs and 1 potential free relay output) Or in combination with the Xanura AIX http://www.bwired.nl/images/how/AiX.pdf (4 potential free inputs). You have direct status control over X10 for all the sensors and are able to switch your own events. I'm not exactly sure if you can put a macro for this purpose in the CM11a. I use my computer and the Bwired Homecontrol system for all these events. Downside, my computer has to stay on! It's always on because Bwired and this Forum is running on it. But a smart controller like the Comming Home Control Box or a fanless minipc like the NEO http://www.hpsindustrial.nl/ could do the job.

www.bwired.nl Online Domotica, Home Automation house.

[MindBender]

Well, sometimes simple solutions are the best ones: At first I wanted to write my own firmware for this litterbox, but reverse enginering the controller takes a lot longer than I can survive without this catbox (though somebody will send me a spare controller, so that option is still open)

For more information about the LitterFree or CatGenie litterboxes, check out this forum:
http://www.litterbox-central.com/forum/index.php
There's very much useful information on it. And I have written many posts in both these boxes sub forums, under the same nick.

The SAX15 is a good solution: The bare essential inputs are just the cat-sensor and the error LED. The only essential input is the 'start'-button. Though the SAX15 it's not a cheep unit...

I'm not using the CM11 macros because they're close to useless. I'm already running a PC here 24/7, a dual Pentium III XEON (2x 550MHz, 1GB RAM, 1200GB disk) and I'm sure it can take care of these extra tasks. Unfortunatly HomeSeer wants to run its own webserver, which makes it incompatible with my operating system: Windows 2003 Small Business Server.

[Bwired]

Homeseer should run on Windows 2003 server. Homeseer will try to install MDAC but a newer MDAC is present on Windows 2003 server, just ignore the error and it will rum. Homeseer has it's own webserver which is standard running on port 80. Just set the port to 81 and it won't interfere with the Internet Information server from windows 2003. I have multiple webservices running on different port on my Dual XEON server.

Pieter Knuvers
www.bwired.nl Online House in the netherlands. Domotica, Home Automation.