r/litterrobot

Guys I'm going crazy. I shelled out so much for this litter box and all I can smell is cat pee. I've only had it for a week and I've already deep cleaned it 3 times (inside globe, outside globe, in drawer, inside base, the top flap, EVERYTHING I CAN REACH WITHOUT TOOLS) and it STILL REEKS OF PISS. The litter smells fine, the drawer is containing smells wonderfully, but I step back and WHAM! PISS! I tried reaching out to support and all I got was a generic cleaning manual.

The worst part is that its working beautifully, I just can't find the source of the pee smell. I've taken the globe out and looked underneath it as well with no luck finding it. Even enzyme cleaner isn't cutting the smell anymore. Anyone with insight on spots to look for specifically? I've avoided anything that needed dismantling to get to but I'm desperate. The smell is fucking nauseating.

Also I'll go ahead and say the smell is DEFINITELY coming from the litter robot, when I moved it outside to clean it the smell followed.

Thank you in advance I am about to lose my shit.

r\litterrobot

Am I missing something?

My cat has a habit of not covering his poop, that means that once he dumps his treasure and steps out I suffocate slowly.

Then I try to cycle from the app but nope, if the LR was in use and red, it's just waiting to the cycle configured in the app and won't allow me to cycle remotely. If I'll go to the LR and press the cycle button - it will cycle.

Why can't I cycle from the app?

Hey! I figured I would share a little project I worked on to make life with my old LR3 easier, I have replaced sensors to keep the machine working however the box would never cycle from the cats using it, so I had claude make a script for a background service to cycle the litter box every 2 hours. sensors for cat safety are still functional!

The Whisker app only lets you start a cycle by hand. Here's how I made my Litter-Robot 3 Connect run a clean cycle on a schedule, with no hardware changes. It uses the same Whisker login you use in the app and an always-on computer (I use a Raspberry Pi; any Linux box, Mac, or Windows PC that stays on works).


**How it works:**
 the unofficial [pylitterbot](https://github.com/natekspencer/pylitterbot) library (the one Home Assistant's Litter-Robot integration uses) logs into the Whisker cloud and sends the "start clean cycle" command. A scheduler runs a tiny script every couple of hours.


**What you need**
- Python 3.11 or newer (`python3 --version`)
- Your Whisker account email and password
- A machine that's on whenever a cycle should fire


---


## Linux / Raspberry Pi setup (copy and paste)


On Debian/Raspberry Pi OS you may need the venv package first: `sudo apt install python3-venv`


**1. Create a folder and a private Python environment**


```bash
mkdir -p ~/litter && cd ~/litter
python3 -m venv venv
./venv/bin/pip install pylitterbot
```


**2. Save the script as `~/litter/litter_cycle.py`**


```python
"""Trigger a clean cycle on every Litter-Robot on the Whisker account.


Credentials come from the WHISKER_USER / WHISKER_PASS environment variables.
Each run is appended to litter_cycle.log next to this script.
"""
import asyncio
import logging
import os
from pathlib import Path


from pylitterbot import Account


LOG = Path(__file__).with_name("litter_cycle.log")
logging.basicConfig(
    filename=LOG,
    level=logging.INFO,
    format="%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(message)s",
)



async def main() -> None:
    account = Account()
    try:
        await account.connect(
            username=os.environ["WHISKER_USER"],
            password=os.environ["WHISKER_PASS"],
            load_robots=True,
        )
        if not account.robots:
            logging.error("Logged in but no robots found on the account")
            return
        for robot in account.robots:
            await robot.start_cleaning()
            logging.info("Started clean cycle on %s (status: %s)", robot.name, robot.status)
    except Exception:
        logging.exception("Cycle failed")
        raise
    finally:
        await account.disconnect()



if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())
```


**3. Store your login in a private file (so it's not in the script or the cron line)**


```bash
cd ~/litter
read -rp "Whisker email: " WUSER
read -rsp "Whisker password: " WPASS; echo
umask 077
printf 'WHISKER_USER=%q\nWHISKER_PASS=%q\n' "$WUSER" "$WPASS" > .env
unset WUSER WPASS
chmod 600 .env
```


This writes `~/litter/.env`, readable only by your user. Never commit or share it.


**4. Create the wrapper `~/litter/run.sh`**


```bash
cat > ~/litter/run.sh <<'EOF'
#!/usr/bin/env bash
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
set -a; . ./.env; set +a
PYTHONUTF8=1 exec ./venv/bin/python litter_cycle.py
EOF
chmod 700 ~/litter/run.sh
```


**5. Test it.**
 This really starts a clean cycle, so make sure the cat isn't in the globe:


```bash
~/litter/run.sh
tail -n 5 ~/litter/litter_cycle.log
```


You should hear the globe rotate, and the log should say `Started clean cycle on <your robot's name> (status: ...)`. If it says "Cycle failed", the traceback underneath will tell you why (wrong password is the usual cause).


**6. Schedule it with cron**


```bash
( crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "31 */2 * * * $HOME/litter/run.sh" ) | crontab -
crontab -l
```


That runs a cycle every 2 hours at :31. Change the schedule to taste: `31 * * * *` is hourly, `0 8,20 * * *` is 8am and 8pm, and [crontab.guru](https://crontab.guru) helps with the syntax.


**7. Confirm the first scheduled run fired**
 (wait for the next :31):


```bash
tail -n 5 ~/litter/litter_cycle.log
```


To undo everything: `crontab -e` and delete the line, then `rm -rf ~/litter`.


---


## Windows setup (PowerShell)


1. Install Python 3.11+ from python.org.
2. Create the folder and environment:


```powershell
mkdir $HOME\litter; cd $HOME\litter
py -m venv venv
.\venv\Scripts\pip install pylitterbot
```


3. Save the same `litter_cycle.py` from above into `%USERPROFILE%\litter`.
4. Save your login as user environment variables (these are stored for your account only; new processes pick them up):


```powershell
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("WHISKER_USER", "you@example.com", "User")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("WHISKER_PASS", "your-password", "User")
```


5. Test: `.\venv\Scripts\python.exe litter_cycle.py`, then `type litter_cycle.log`.
6. Schedule it every 2 hours at :31 (PowerShell, use `pythonw.exe` so no console window flashes):


```powershell
$py = "$HOME\litter\venv\Scripts\pythonw.exe"
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $py -Argument "$HOME\litter\litter_cycle.py" -WorkingDirectory "$HOME\litter"
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Once -At "00:31" -RepetitionInterval (New-TimeSpan -Hours 2)
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "LitterRobot Cycle" -Action $action -Trigger $trigger
```


The PC must be on (or awake) for cycles to fire, which is why I moved mine to a Pi.


---


## Notes and gotchas


- 
**It's an unofficial API.**
 Whisker can change it without notice and break this. If it stops working, run `./venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pylitterbot` first.
- 
**Run it from one place only.**
 If two machines (or a PC task plus a Pi cron) both run it, the robot gets two cycle commands each interval.
- 
**It cycles every robot on the account.**
 If you have more than one, filter on `robot.name` inside the loop.
- 
**I haven't tested what happens if the cat is in the globe when the command fires,**
 so pick times that suit your cat. The script just sends the command.
- 
**Home Assistant users**
 may be able to do this with the Litter-Robot integration and a time-based automation instead of a script. I haven't tried that.
- The robot's built-in cycle delay setting (3, 7 or 15 minutes after the cat leaves) is separate and still works as normal.

Taking a scroll through the sub and I'm noticing that I havent seen a single post about the LR5, only LR4 issues and praises.

Is the LR5 so new that barely anyone has it? Is the LR4 just better so everyone has it?

I don't have a robothrone yet for my cats, but I would like to know which one is more worth getting.

LR5 changes make it easier to clean, maybe dealing with them ironing out some bugs here and there.

Last week I ordered the new Litter Robot credenza for my LR4, as it had features I wanted for an enclosure and the look of it fit the rest of the furniture in our house. I received the shipment this week and opened it to find wood pieces were chipped and scuffed and a couple of the parts were broken. I reached out to Whisker Support to ask about replacing the small parts and was told I had to reach out directly to Sauder (the manufacturer of the enclosure) for parts replacement and that they’d only offer to replace the large, damaged pieces rather than offer any sort of reimbursement. This would of course require disassembly of the enclosure and then assembling it again.

If you’re planning to order one of these, would recommend either not at all due to the quality control issues with the parts or not building the enclosure until you get replacement parts if you have the same luck I did with damaged pieces.

Me to my partner: “I cannot believe how much less litter the litter robot uses. This thing is going to pay for itself in a year”

*gets $123.06 charge to Cashapp from pet smart*

Strange because none of my individual auto ship orders are that much..

Well apparently I skipped the right amount of weeks and both my orders for 2-40lbs boxes and 4-40lbs boxes magically lined up.

Mind you I still have 40 pounds from the last auto ship and the 20lb bag that came with the litter robot.

I'm trying to gauge if the LR5P is worth it even without the subscription, I have no intention of paying roughly another $80 a year on top of such an already expensive product. So is the 5P worth it without the subscription? how does the cat identification and insights feature differ with vs without the subscription? (are the built in cameras more or less worthless without Whisker+?)

For context I have 3 cats and want to make sure that if one of them is having issues I can figure out which one it is. Does it still ID them using the cameras even without the subscription? or does it only ID them using their weight unless you buy the subscription?

I have two cats. It seems like I go through a box of litter each month. So I don’t think it’s saving me in terms of litter, but I’ve heard that it does save on litter. What am I doing wrong? I use arm and hammer slide

Title is pretty self explanatory. We got a little robot last Friday. 1 of my cats has been totally fine with it, the other 1 is okay, and my third was fine with it until she saw it do the cycle and now she is freaked out and won’t even go near it.

We definitely didn’t adjust them like we should have. I’ve read you should leave it unplugged for a week and just use it as a regular litterbox AFTER we already set it all up and we took away the other litter box because we’ve been having an issue with one of our high pee-ers just completely peeing out of the box.

We added the other litterbox back but we’d like to keep the camera on but turn the cycling completely off so we can see who is using it. Is this possible? The only thing I’ve been able to do about that is use the sleep mode feature but it still cycles when it’s in the sleep mode? Thank you!