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Petnet's Smart Pet Feeder System Back after Week-Long Outage

posted by martyb on Friday February 28 2020, @07:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the future-feedings-look-cloudy dept.

DannyB writes:

Petnet's smart pet feeder system is back after a week-long outage, but customers are still waiting for answers:

Petnet, the smart pet feeder backed by investors including Petco, recently experienced a week-long system outage affecting its second-generation SmartFeeders. While the startup's customer service tweeted over the weekend that its SmartFeeders and app's functionality have been restored, Petnet's lack of responsiveness continues to leave many customers frustrated and confused.

Petnet first announced on Feb. 14 that it was investigating a system outage affecting its second-generation SmartFeeders that made the feeders appear to be offline. The company said in a tweet that the SmartFeeders were still able to dispense on schedule, but several customers replied that their devices had also stopped dispensing food or weren't dispensing it on schedule.

But all is not lost. A system update announcement reports:

System Update: SmartFeeders are returning online. There will be a system reset to help stabilize your SmartFeeder's app functionality. We will promptly update you once this has been completed. Scheduled automatic feeds should still dispense on time.

Those darn customers, so impatient, unwilling to wait for their next fix to download. Please check back in one quarter of a galactic rotation. Thank you.

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28 2020, @08:40PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 28 2020, @08:40PM (#964317)

    If you are in an area with frequent/extended power failures, run the feeder on a spring motor. Wind it up and it's good for X days. Or have an electric motor keep the spring wound up, so it will keep working during X days of power failure.

    Springs (used below the fatigue limit) are damn reliable.

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 28 2020, @09:01PM (5 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 28 2020, @09:01PM (#964326) Journal

    Or design the feeder with a backup battery. How much can it take to run a small motor for several seconds, a few times a day?

    I've got a motorized kitchen trash can lid that takes 2 AA batteries which haven't been replaced in years. You can imagine that a kitchen trash can has items put into it multiple times per day.

    I would estimate the effort to dish out a serving of pet food to be comparable to opening, then shortly later, closing, a trash can lid. Remember the leverage issue here. The can lid is open-closed from the hinge, so it has to work against the weight of the lid.

    Oh, and this trash can lid thing IS NOT connected to the clod. I don't need to remotely open/close my kitchen trash can lid.

    The entire thing is a large enclosure which contains an ordinary kitchen trash can with plastic liner, within the larger outer enclosure. When the lid is closed, it also has something in it (not battery operated) which slightly deodorizes. Don't ask me, I didn't buy it, but I enjoy having it.

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    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Saturday February 29 2020, @02:04AM (4 children)

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Saturday February 29 2020, @02:04AM (#964454) Journal
      Still too complicated. Get off your lazy arses and feed them yourselves. You need to interact with your pets. Otherwise, just buy a stuffed toy and call it food, like they do with people with dementia who can't tell the difference between a real cat and a toy that meows when you pet it.

      After all, if you bought one of these feeders it's debatable that your mind isn't gone already.

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      • (Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Saturday February 29 2020, @10:58AM

        by fraxinus-tree (5590) on Saturday February 29 2020, @10:58AM (#964564)

        My cat is OK if I put the weekly amount of dry food and a pot of water and leave for a week. When I am home, no automation is needed - the cat meows at exact times to remind me.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 01 2020, @05:41PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 01 2020, @05:41PM (#964973)
        These things are sometimes needed. I have several cats, and normally I feed them myself every day. But what happens when I have to go on a business trip or something like that? I have kind neighbours I can usually ask to feed them when I'm away for an extended period, but not all people have such neighbours they can trust.

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 02 2020, @03:19PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 02 2020, @03:19PM (#965512) Journal

        I would agree that people should take care of pets. If you have to travel for a short time, have someone who will house sit, or at least take care of pets a few times each day. If longer absence, then find a good kennel that will board them.

        That said, some people are going to use automation and leave their pets on their own connected to the cloud. In that case, at least a battery backup and non-cloud device, please.

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