resurrecting catgenie

[Glate]

I have:

1. A 'brand new' catgenie that has been in its box for 3-4 years while we were without a cat in the family.
2. An old (broken) catgenie that I kept for parts because it has my Cartridge Genius (that I bought back in 2011) attached to it.

At one point I knew everything about how these things worked, all of the issues, fixes, etc and thought I had wiped it from my memory until I set up and ran a test run and the CatGenie drying smell brought some of it back.

Long story short... I'm wondering:

1. What maintenance/greasing/lubing I can do on my 'new' box to avoid headaches in the future
2. If there's anything I need to look out for when moving my Cartridge Genius to the new head unit
3. Which cleaning solution (if any) people recommend these days. 
4. What the status of CatGenius firmware is. I went through the wiki and didn't see a clear indication of what works and what doesn't to gauge whether I should consider switching or not

Thanks!

[Robert Deliën]

> 1. A 'brand new' catgenie that has been in its box for 3-4 years while we were without a cat in the family.

NOS, or 'New Old Stock'.

> 2. An old (broken) catgenie that I kept for parts because it has my Cartridge Genius (that I bought back in 2011) attached to it.

Thank you for being a customer 🙂.

> At one point I knew everything about how these things worked, all of the issues,

> fixes, etc and thought I had wiped it from my memory until I set up and ran a test

> run and the CatGenie drying smell brought some of it back.

Unfortunately, litterbox-central.com is gone for many years now.

> 1. What maintenance/greasing/lubing I can do on my 'new' box to avoid headaches in the future

I am not aware of anybody greasing their box. I don't think it is necessary, and I don't think it's a good idea, because it will end up on your cat's paws, and it will be lapped up. You do need the 'scrubber ring' in the base of the box, underneath the bowl. Make sure it is present.

> 2. If there's anything I need to look out for when moving my Cartridge Genius to the new head unit

Make sure the bowl turns smoothly without the head unit installed. With the brim installed, you should be able to turn it with one of two fingers.

> 3. Which cleaning solution (if any) people recommend these days.

Still Simple Green, or none at all in combination with warm (~55 degrees C) water. The latter has worked miracles for us during the past years. In addition, we have a water softener installed, but I doubt the water is the main source of lime. It's probably the urine (yuk).

> 4. What the status of CatGenius firmware is. I went through the wiki and didn't see a clear

> indication of what works and what doesn't to gauge whether I should consider switching or not

It is what it is. The latest released versions should get your box clean.

But if you have a CartridgeGenius, you really have no reason to install CatGenius firmware.

Make sure to check the cable between the controller board and your CartridgeGenius; It has changed a couple of times over the years. Your newer box may need an updated interconnect cable.