Hi!
I require your help regarding a problem I’m encountering.
Description:
Litter robot Open Air blinking blue light even if the waste drawer is empty.
Hardware concerned:
Not sure.
Software concerned:
Not sure.
Troubleshooting steps already taken:
I followed this guide (Litter-Robot III Open Air - Blue Blinking Light) multiple times with following outcomes:
- Unplugging robot for 10 seconds (or even 15 minutes) does not help the problem
- There are no debris on the RFI lenses
- Unit goes to solid blue with the waste drawer removed
- Unit goes to flashing blue with the waste drawer inserted (even if it does not have the bag in it – completely empty)
Additional information:
Let me know what you need.
Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Hello @Allactaga
Is your unit still under warranty? (2 years for Europe, 12 months in North America, and 18 months everywhere else) I will transfer you to the ticket center if that is the case.
If it is not, then you will need to buy replacement lenses here: Litter-Robot 3 Open Air DFI Hardware - RobotShop
If it was a problem with DFI, would not it keep blinking after the waste drawer is removed? Or is it only activated by weight of the drawer?
That is not exactly a cheap part, so I’d really like a confirmation from your side. For me it’s not clear from the troubleshooting guide if 4 refers to the situation that unit does not goes to solid blue after step 2 or to the situation that unit does goes to solid blue, but there are no debris. Thank you!
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Hi,
The blue light will blink to indicate that the Drawer is full.
If the blue light is blinking after each cycle even when you press the reset button, this mean that either there is something obstructing the way between the 2 DFI sensors or that the sensors themselves are defective.
This is why we recommend that you verify that nothing is in the path of the sensors and that the bag of the drawer is correctly installed.
Else, you will probably have to replace the DFI sensors.
Let me know if this helped.
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Thank you, @pjutras, this is very clear. Do you know why does it go to solid blue with the waste drawer removed?
2 Likes
It can be caused by an obstruction of the drawer or that the bag is not tucked properly which cause obstruction between the sensors.
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I see. In my case I tested with absolutely empty drawer (without any bag) and it was still flashing.
My confusion is basically coming from the fact that with a blown DFI it should still keep flashing even without the drawer (according to this comment), but for me taking the drawer out results in the solid blue light.
Just not sure that if the obstruction somehow caused by the drawer itself then replacing DFI will even help.
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Hi, I want to close the loop for anyone who is looking for the same answers.
Last weekend I was cleaning the globe and tried the troubleshooting steps again. This time however, instead of going to the solid blue light with the empty drawer, it kept blinking. I’ve ordered a new DFI set and just replaced it and it works.
Apologies for being such a persistent pain in the neck. It could have been that I caught hardware only in the process of becoming defective. Strange that behavior was quite consistent, but I’m not going to waste anyone’s time on it anymore.
Thank you for your help!
2 Likes
No problem!
I’m glad to see that the issue was resolved.
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I have gotten just the same problem as Allactaga, but already for the second time now. First the blue LED keeps flashing even when the drawer is emty, but comes solid if the drawer is removed. After a couple more days the blue LED keeps blinking even is the drawer is removed. I replaced the DFI and then everything went back to normal. But 15 months further now I have just the same problem. So I need to replace the DFI again … . This is really not cheap component and there is certainly a main design problem with the DFI (also many complaints on the forum about it).
I really like my LitterRobot (and my cats as well), but needing to replace the DFI every 15 months is not OK, LitterRobot should do someting about it.
Even when I look with the camera of my smartphone I see the left DFI PCB sending IR rays (from 4 senders) every second, so something seems to be wrong at the reciever side (DFI PCB at the right side). I am still able to rotate the globe after pushing the reset button (blue LED comes solid) and pushing the cycle button. When the globe has cycled the blue LED keeps blinking again and when I press the reset button it becomes again solid and after that it will cycle 2 times automatically (detection of cats works) but Blue LED keeps of course blinking after turning. But only rotating two times automatically without manual intervention is not enough having four cats.
The Drawer Full Indication is not of many use to me because I need to clean the drawer every 2…3 days anyway. If it should be possible to just disable de DFI and letting the globe turn after every cat visit (not only 2 times which is now the case) that would be great. Paying another 90 Euro’s for a DFI replacement is overkill because I dont need the DFI functionality. Now I just need to replace the expensive DFI to get the Litterbox working again correctly (which is turning after every cat visit in stead of only 2 times which is the case when the blue LED keeps blinking).
I couldn’t agree more. The waste sensor is basically useless. It sounds like many of us have DFI boards that “wore out”, failed or as we say, engineered for failure. Shame on Litter-Robot. Is there a by-pass for these useless sensors?
