PetSafe automatic pet (dog/cat) feeder battery hack: from D size Alkaline to Li-ion

PetSafe is one of the best smart automatic cat/dog feeder on the market. The problem is, it runs on 4x D size Alkaline batteries. In this video, I will show you how to upgrade and hack the unit to run on Li-ion rechargeable batteries instead.

[GoldBeast]

Im so glad to see this video. I’ve been doing this ever since I’ve gotten 18650. To add capacity and also better/stable voltage.

[TheOldGuyPhil]

I LOVE your videos! (And your cat)! What's the cats name? He is obviously a very smart cat and knows that canned food is some nasty S*it! I was going to encourage you to do a future video adding a solar panel but you're already headed that direction. I wouldn't mind hacking your project to make an automatic fish feeder. Keep up the great work!!! -TheOldGuyPhil

[russmelanson]

I love your videos on reusing old 18650 batteries with solar chargers to eliminate alkaline batteries!! I have used the same techniques to modify many of my own devices (like my multimeter) to use an 18650 or smaller lipo and TP4056 to make them never need alkalines again - and it WORKS GREAT! Cause then I connect all my USB-rechargeable devices to my solar panel powered battery bank and let the sun power my devices! 😀

Please make more! One thing I am thinking about right now is converting my Ryobi charger with a smaller boost circuit to go from my solar battery to 18v DC to charge my Ryobi batteries without having to go through the inverter to go from 12 up to 110 then back down to 18 and lose all that conversion energy to heat :P

Do you have any suggestions on that?

[pezjme]

Do you have neighbors that could be feeding your cat. I had a cat that wouldn't eat at home because a lady down the block would feed the neighborhood cats turkey and rice stew every day. And if your cat knows he can get better than "Special Kitty", he will wait to eat. Also, some cats just don't like pate or they won't eat it unless you mush it up with a fork or mix their normal food in it or put it on top. If none of those work, maybe try a canned food that has gravy and chunks. If you still can't get him to eat anything but hard food, get him hard treats. But if he is special to you, Petco or Petsmart have little fish and chicken filets. Hope this helps. I got 38 years of having cats. Every single one was different in what and how they like to eat. Almost forgot, try the squeeze ups(walmart). Put the cat in your lap and see he'll eat those.

[tohopes]

feed the cat chicken meat. dry kibble will make your cat diabetic.