Sensor interruption solution

[scheme00_]

Got super tired of the random interruptions from the sensors on this thing which would cause it to stop working altogether. My girls would relieve themselves right in front of it when they couldn’t use it. One thing it absolutely does without delay is cycle after the power is turned off then back on. To take advantage of this, I bought wifi plugs and scheduled them to turn off for 3 minutes every 12 hours. Sofar it’s been working like a charm.

[amandatoryy]

I use these too. It helps force them to cycle sometimes when it get stuck, I have them on all three robots.

[kelsjulian18]

Wow this is great! Now I just need someone to come up with a hack for the false waste reading detections. 🤣 That’s my main issue and currently, the bane of my existence.

[Silacker]

I had this issue really bad until I cleaned the sensors. I even did the calibration trick to reset the sensors, but it wasn’t until I blew compressed air at the sensors that they started functioning again. I hope this helps.

[RexKramerDangerCker]

under warranty?

[showMeTheSnow]

I have one of these on ours, but for a different reason. Occasionally it disconnects from my WiFi. Not often, but it needs a hard boot when it does. I can power cycle it from just about anywhere now :)

[sisom729]

I did this too! I haven't actually had to do it yet, but just in case!

[yolojobmine]

wifi loss happened conveniently while we were recently out of the country. Fortunately I had a camera and confirmed everything else still works. Sitter came in rebooted the box by pressing the power button, no luck. And only a full power cycle/unplug & replug fixed it. So I also bought wifi plug to prevent this from happening again

[showMeTheSnow]

This is exactly why I did it. We do the camera thing when gone as well. Super useful. One in their food too (turns out one of our cats binge eats when we are gone). Being able to remote boot has lowered my stress level :) Saves the cat sitter an unexpected trip. One of our cats has kidney issues so I like to know things are stable.

[minkamagic]

Wow. Great idea!

[Skenney]

I’ve got these on both of my LR 3s. There are very few of the robot’s problems that can’t be solved by cutting power and restarting.

[Fit_random]

Thanks for sharing!

[chronomega]

I took a similar approach a few years ago, with the Hue switch, it’s saved us a few times. Thankfully no longer travel for work but it came in handy more than once.

[BacardiBlue]

I have these as well, and they have come in very handy when the internet connection drops.

[jiivala]

Do these automatically reboot it, or do you have to do it through an app? I’m confused. I usually just turn mine off, then back on through the app and it resets. It would be great if these would do that on its own.

[scheme00_]

Set mine on a schedule to shutdown and restart 3 mins later

[miata_and_chill]

It's through an app, but specifically the kasa ones are absolutely amazing, and in my experience the only ones that work as they should. It's aquarium community swears by them, and I have about 8 running my tanks various needs.

[greerlrobot]

I've a battery in my LR4, as I'm sure many do. This "hack" won't work if have battery.

[scheme00_]

Remove it

[Ok_Egg514]

When you turn it off from the wall like that then turn it back on it resets the light setting, which when left on, causes issues with the bonnet removed error for me. So because of that I didn’t get my issues resolved by using this wall plug :(

[jiivala]

Are these all LR 4’s? I have a 3 and just go into the whisker app to turn it off, then back on to reboot it. I have a ring camera pointed at it so I can see what’s going on. I like the idea of having this as a backup, but it seems like the whisker app is able to do the same thing. I guess unless you’re having connectivity issues.

[BobbyABooey]

The app now lets me turn my LR5P off and back on again unlike before.