Sunday, January 6, 2013

LitterMaid Elite 9000 - both lights flashing (error code) with pictures

Well, Happy New Year 2013.

This year has started off with a 'sick' automated Litter box, a LitterMaid Elite 9000.

The automated litter box that LitterMaid sold years ago was considered by many to be a solid workhorse of a product and often recommended.  The more recent 'improved' versions of them -- well, not so much.

Ours had both lights flashing in some sort of error mode.  Searching for Google with the terms of 'littermaid elite both lights flashing' (no quotes), we found the online manual ... and that this particular error code was not in the manual.  Nice going there, LitterMaid corporation!

Fortunately, there were some more useful pages on the web from individual customers.  One of these pointed out the limit switches being the likely culprit and yes, some of the fine dust from the litter had apparently motivated our box to bind up in this fashion.

One of the things that I didn't find were any photographs of the switches in question, so I've made some up with notations to help others.  They're below.

One final thing - - I'd recommend NOT trying to put any WD-40 or other types of lubrication on the plastic cylinders that work with the limit switches - they'll only attract and retain litter dust and make it more likely to bind up.


-hh


12 comments:

Unknown said...

thank you thank you thank you... i was gonna trash our littermaid until i found this fix and it worked great. i just jiggled the first switch and its working fine now.. great photos.

Carlos said...

good info, it work just fine.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing this info. I thought for sure mine was dumpster bound.

EricB said...

Same here - nudging it did the trick. Thanks a lot. Was just about to go out a get a new one.

Norah (H-5) said...

thank you!! you saved my life!

Bennett Willis said...

Good information. Thanks for posting it--but it did not help me. It looks like the "wheel" that is supposed to push the switch at the liter container end can't push it in--and I can't push it in either with a knife. The switch (plastic cylinder) is stuck (visible) about 1/2 inch out. I don't know if it has tripped the switch or if it has stuck.

Litermaid's help on this in non-existent unless you call their 800 number. I've done this once and am about to do it again.

WIldfire said...

Thanks for the pictures.... I may have never found the switch in white camouflage. THANK YOU!

Unknown said...

Wow it worked so good I decided to make a youtube video for folks having this same problem. Thanks so much

motorsport_mike said...

This continues to help people... thank you! I was sure my LitterMaid was toast until I found this and just fixed it myself in five minutes. Thanks!

cerulean said...

quick comment re the Little Cayman Wikipedia talk page - someone should add a mention of the Southern Cross Resort. Thanks! I am not a wikipedia editor, but did just return from a week on LC - second visit - great!

Unknown said...

Thanks. My solution to the problem was to literally knock the sh*t out of the system.

Florita said...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! Your pictures were perfect and helped me fix my ailing liter box!