Litter Robot 3 Pinch detect issues under warranty

Help & Support Domestic Robots
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Hi,

We have bout our Litter Robot 3 Openair in December 2020. It was working wonderfully in the first full year. In the recent 2 weeks we are having daily issues with it. We watched all tutorials about pinch detect, and followed all advice, cleaning it etc, but it literally doesnt work.
I have cleaned the whole unit yesterday inside and out, including the sensons, and after I pluged it back it, it doesn’’ even cycle. Not once.
And even if it does finally cycle, it stops mid-air upside down.

We are planning to go away in 6 weeks and I am extremeply worried how do I leave my cats with a faulty litter robot and trying to explain over the phone what to do with it to the person who will feed them?

PLEASE DO NOT reply with your standard troubleshooting, because I know what the lights mean, but they are not in the sequence and the actual fix does not work!

The blue light flashes slowly, indicating drawer full. Which isn’t, as I just emptied the whole draw and replaced the dirty bag with a clean one.
When I press reset, the yellow lights starts flassing rapidly which points to the pinch detect - but again, this can’t be, as I just clened the whole robot, including the pinch detect sensor.

I press reset again and I get the slow flashing blue light again … and you can repeat this sequence for hours! No change in the fact that my cat’s dont have clean litter.

The ENTIRE unit has been cleaned and checked to ensure nothing causes blockage.
I’m just clueless what to do and how to do it.
Can you please help, because I am getting increasingly frustrated about this and my last two weeks I have to take the litter robot apart at least 3x daily, whereas before I barely touched it and worked.
What the heck happened???
Is this over £500 unit only works for a year?

I also find it very frustrating that there isn’t a UK phone number I can contact, and not even an email address to communicate customer service.
Why do I have to create a forum post to have my issue resolved???

Urgently awaiting your reply.

Thank you!

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I have the exact same problem with my litter robot 3, and it is going on for days.
The ENTIRE unit has been cleaned and checked to ensure nothing causes blockage
The unit is stable

It is still under warranty. What do I do?

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Hello @kriszana,

Welcome to RobotShop community.

We are sorry to hear that you are having trouble with your Litter-Robot.

Please provide us with your order number or a copy of the invoice.

You can always contact us through this email whenever you have issues with the robot:
[email protected]

Now regarding the issue, you are having, it’s related to the DFI sensor and Anti-Pinch pins.

You need to clean the 2 green circuit boards of the DFI sensor with isopropyl alcohol and a Q-Tip to remove any rust or dust from the tiny pins of the chips located on these boards.

Here’s a video to help you locate these boards:

We will also need to see the 3 pairs of contact pins shown in the following videos:
Anti-Pinch Pins:

Bonnet’s Pin:

Base’s Pin:

No need to take them out of the robot, we only need to see them from the outside.

If you find this too complicated for you, you can send us the robot for repair.

Awaiting your reply.

Sincerely,

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Thank you for your reply.
I just don’t really understand how do you wanna see it if I dont take the whole litter robot apart?

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The order number for the litter robot was #1046355

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These are the best pictures I can take without deassembling the robot.

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I did clean the 2 green circuit boards with isopropyl alcohol and q-tip, but nothing has changed. Still not working, blue light still flashing (the drawer is empty)

Can you help please? Do qe need to return to the original litter boxes with scraping? Or how long is this going to take? This is extremely frustrating.

Thank you!

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Do you need me to send the full invoice here? Or in email about the purchase.
Please let me know.

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Hello @kriszana ,

Thank you for your reply.

From the attached pictures, we can see some damage to the DFI sensor and the base contact pins so they will need to be replaced.

We will also send you a new pair of the bonnet and Anti-Pinch pins to avoid having issues with them in the near future.

Please clean all these parts regularly to avoid such issues with them.

You can send us the robot for repair, it would take 7 to 12 business days… or you can receive the replacement parts at home and replace them by yourself to avoid staying without a robot for long.

In both cases, we will need your shipping address and phone number so please send them to us here or on a private message if you prefer that.

(The post is now hidden from other users so it’s safe to share information here)

Awaiting your reply.

Sincerely,

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Phone number is +44 7999 039302

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Hello @kriszana ,

Thank you for your reply.

Very well, we will forward you now to our replacement department to carry on with the process.

You will be contacted shortly via email with further details about the shipping.

Have a lovely evening, stay safe.

Sincerely,

1 Like
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This topic was transferred to internal RobotShop Support.

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