Fixing a broken smart cat feeder with ESP32 • Hacker News Board

Re: Fixing a broken smart cat feeder with ESP32

#51

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Feb 03, 2024, 8:25 AM UTC

kramerger wrote: post #34

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #2

It's a nice high-level writeup of getting a flakey piece of consumer electronics back in service, though he used an ESP8266, so I am not sure about the title.

I think the author is not an embedded guy and assumed that ESP32 is the generic name given to these sort of devices. Either way, I am sure this was a fun project and he achieved what he wanted to do. But if this happened to me I would probably try to reverse engineer the device to free it from PetNet cloud. It would be fun and cool and interesting and I would probably never finish it..

[deleted]

Re: Fixing a broken smart cat feeder with ESP32

#52

Post by twisteriffic » Sat, Feb 03, 2024, 8:06 PM UTC

paradox460 wrote: post #48

twisteriffic wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine had no smarts in it at all. The programmability from the factory was a plug in timer similar to a block heater timer, but that wasn't with the unit when I bought it. If you supply power, the auger turns until the power is disconnected. As in the motor is wired directly to the power cord, with only a thermal cutout in line. The timer I use allows you to set interval in minutes and duration in seconds. They're com…

Something like this was actually my plan for a feeder if I couldn't get the one in the article to work. Except instead of a purpose built catfood dispenser, it was an old BBQ wood pellet feeder I found on the local craigslist-equivalent for $20. Basically a big metal bin with a powerful auger and chute out the side of it

It's pretty much that, but in a more compact form.

If I hadn't found this one I'd planned on using the auger system from a chocolate fondue fountain, just placed on its side.

Re: Fixing a broken smart cat feeder with ESP32

#53

Post by shiroiuma » Mon, Feb 05, 2024, 1:57 AM UTC

ginko wrote: post #36

shiroiuma wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that sentence shows me that this guy isn't an engineer at all, he's just a hacker. If he made his own automatic litter box (the rotating drum kind) for his cat, he'll also not see the point of all those sensors that "aren't really needed", and one day he'll come home to find his cat chopped in half.

This take is unnecessarily negative. OP could be very aware of the limitations of their chosen approach and use the feeder accordingly.

Perhaps, but I didn't see anything to that effect in his text. His comment about there being "too many" sensors that he didn't even know the function of, or seem to appreciate the presence of at all, seems to contraindicate your assumption.

Consumer electronics are generally made cheaply, so they don't put sensors in there for no reason at all. Usually there's a very good reason they're in there.