Littermaid owners, please read!

First of all, this is NOT an advertisement. I'm just relating to all my fellow
lazy humans that hate to handle the LB everyday about a "discovery" I just
found.

I've owned several littermaids over the past 7 years, b/c the damn things keep
breaking, but even though its cost prohibitive, I keep buying a new one b/c I'm
lazy and Hank likes a clean place to do his business.

The most annoying thing about the littermaid (to me at least) is the damn thing
going off at 2am and getting stuck on a tough clump -- and then the rake goes
back and forth until I get out of bed and correct it. I was browsing on ebay
and stumbled across this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=29 853

It's basically a more powerful transformer that does indeed have A LOT more
power then the standard transformer. The seller claims it has worked for 1.5
years with no problems, and I'm willing to accept that claim, but I don't know
about their claim of having triple the power is accurate (see my calculations
below).

The thing costs $40 shipped, which is a bit pricey, so since I bit the bullet
and bought one, I'm going to share the technical specs so if you want to find
your own elsewhere (for a lot less $$$ I bet) feel free to do so.

Booster (24V 600ma) vs. Littermaid (12V 500ma)

-----
Power calculation follows:

the booster generates 24V *.6A = 14.4 Watts
littermand std generates 12V *.5A = 6 Watts

14.4/6 = 2.4, so the booster is 2.4 times more powerful than the one that comes
with the littermaid.

I don't know why LM uses such a "weaker" adapter, but production costs and
safety might come into play. Please don't blame me if your kitty gets hurt in
the thing if it goes off while he is in it.

In ,
Mike composed with style:

Please don't blame me if
your kitty gets hurt in the thing if it goes off while he is in it.

If you have to post this disclaimer, it is all the more reason not to
mess with it. Two minutes or less per day or even twice a day is not
worth the chance that a cat will get hurt. Do it the old fashioned
way.

In ,
Mike composed with style:

Please don't blame me if
your kitty gets hurt in the thing if it goes off while he is in it.

If you have to post this disclaimer, it is all the more reason not to
mess with it. Two minutes or less per day or even twice a day is not
worth the chance that a cat will get hurt. Do it the old fashioned
way.

In article "Cheryl" writes:
In ,
Mike composed with style:

Please don't blame me if
your kitty gets hurt in the thing if it goes off while he is in it.

If you have to post this disclaimer, it is all the more reason not to
mess with it. Two minutes or less per day or even twice a day is not
worth the chance that a cat will get hurt. Do it the old fashioned
way.



Sliced cat is NOT the next best thing after sliced bread.


-- cary

In article "Cheryl" writes:
In ,
Mike composed with style:

Please don't blame me if
your kitty gets hurt in the thing if it goes off while he is in it.

If you have to post this disclaimer, it is all the more reason not to
mess with it. Two minutes or less per day or even twice a day is not
worth the chance that a cat will get hurt. Do it the old fashioned
way.



Sliced cat is NOT the next best thing after sliced bread.


-- cary

"Mike" wrote in message
...
First of all, this is NOT an advertisement. I'm just relating to all my
fellow
lazy humans that hate to handle the LB everyday about a "discovery" I just
found.


It'll power through the kitty, too.

You do realize that a simple trip to Radio Shack will yield the same product
for about $10 instead of $35?

"Mike" wrote in message
...
First of all, this is NOT an advertisement. I'm just relating to all my
fellow
lazy humans that hate to handle the LB everyday about a "discovery" I just
found.


It'll power through the kitty, too.

You do realize that a simple trip to Radio Shack will yield the same product
for about $10 instead of $35?

Life itself comes with no disclaimers. I personally don't think this is any
MORE dangerous then the regular littermaid for your standard kitty, but then
again, I'm no engineer.

In article , Cheryl says...

In ,
Mike composed with style:

Please don't blame me if
your kitty gets hurt in the thing if it goes off while he is in it.

If you have to post this disclaimer, it is all the more reason not to
mess with it. Two minutes or less per day or even twice a day is not
worth the chance that a cat will get hurt. Do it the old fashioned
way.

Life itself comes with no disclaimers. I personally don't think this is any
MORE dangerous then the regular littermaid for your standard kitty, but then
again, I'm no engineer.

In article , Cheryl says...

In ,
Mike composed with style:

Please don't blame me if
your kitty gets hurt in the thing if it goes off while he is in it.

If you have to post this disclaimer, it is all the more reason not to
mess with it. Two minutes or less per day or even twice a day is not
worth the chance that a cat will get hurt. Do it the old fashioned
way.

You do realize that a simple trip to Radio Shack will yield the same product
for about $10 instead of $35?

Well since the seller wouldn't post the ratings of the transformer, I had no
idea what it was until I got the thing in the mail. I posted the specs here so
YOU can get for for $10 instead of $40. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.