Hacker News Reader

Comment by paxys | Hacker News Reader

What if I have a dumb cat?

I bought a cat food dispenser for $5 at goodwill and plugged it into a $10 "inching" timer plug from AliExpress. 10 seconds every 4 hours. It's the dumbest smart feeder I could make for the dumbest best cat.

>$10 "inching" timer plug

Thanks, I didn't know these existed. Another useful "midwit" device to add to the list.

https://dynomight.substack.com/p/midwit-home

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37859437

Now this is my kind of engineering!

KISS in action is beautiful, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Could you link to a cat food dispenser this works with? The one I have gives food whenever the electricity gets turned on as part of its startup process, but way too much.

Edit: Ah, if it's from goodwill that might be not as easy...

It's one of these

https://www.homehealthcareshoppe.com/buy-ergo-auto-pet-feede...

Big hopper with a plastic auger at the bottom, driven by a gear motor similar to the one that runs a dryer timer. Very simple, no sensors beyond motor overheat. Mine is slightly modified because the idiot cat ate the spout off the end of the auger mechanism. I cobbled together a replacement that's tougher than her.

Oh, so this is also a programmable feeder where you are now using the startup movement to dispense food? Did you try the programming and it did not work for you?

But thanks! Always good to have more options.

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 commonly sold as "inching" timers, which I suspect is a translation error but it's descriptive enough.

Alright, that clears it up. The description I found was misleading. Thanks again!

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.

Use 555s

Reply on news.ycombinator.com