Battery power fan for vent for cat litter box

I just moved house and I have a cat. I used to have an outdoor litter box, but since moving to a rental I cannot do the same. I have built a large cat litter box using a 120L tub with a hole cut into the lid (https://www.bunnings.com.au/ezy-storage-120l-white-bunker-heavy-duty-tub_p2583717). The container is lined with a very large garbage bag and a smaller litter tray is placed in the bottom of the tub. My cat has a bad habit of standing upright when weeing, so this stopped it going everywhere (but in the litter tray).

I still have the problem of the smell, even though its cleaned daily. It is in the spare toilet room with an external window. I would like to build a vent for the tub. The vent will be an 80mm pipe from the top of the tub to the outside via the window. I would like to add a small fan to draw the air from the tub to the outside. However, there is no power source in the room. What I need is a battery powered fan solution.

I have investigated using a USB power bank (one with 12V support) to power a 80mm case fan via a USB to 3 pin connector. This should be able to power the fan for 10 days or so. I am reading conflicting reports on the web that this is not a good idea and could lead to a fire.

I also looked at a solar powered solution. However the room is on the southern side of the house and gets no direct sunlight.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Lots of ideas/suggestions (God I'm bored...):

a. If the cat drops lumps that pong really badly have a serious look at it's diet. Admittedly even with the right food they still don't offer you something you'd use in the car as an air freshener but a good diet will help. Think of this like you eating beans or curries all the time....

b. Change your kitty litter to something that holds the pong in. We've been using Katz Loo for years now for two indoor moggies - cheap as in comparison and works bloody well.

We simply use a 120 litre tub without a liner and simply shovel the lumpy bits out for disposal, 'coz it's really good at clumping and you don't need to throw the whole trayload out every time. Dunno if you can get it down your way though, but we get it delivered as either 5 or 10 10-kilo bags and for a pair of overfed lap-warmers a bag will usually last up to a month...

And now back to the original Ask.

c. Go the extra distance and make the fan motion activated with a short timer on it so it doesn't run 24/7 - cat jumps in, ShitBoxen waits for a few minutes, fan kicks in for a minute or so as required. Again use the right stuff in the tray and it'll only need to run for a short time when the cat drops a fresh one - it's not like your bathroom ceiling fan that has to clear the entire room out after a shower now, is it?

Also ponder adding another timer that kicks in every few hours to give the box a breath of fresh air (particularly in the summer heat...) if/when needed.

d. If you cut the fan On timing right down you might be able to use a small(er) fan, and even with a southery aspect mebbe ponder a solar panel on the window to top the battery back up. Tweak it right and it "should" help extend battery life...

e. As far as a battery, personally a small SLA of suitable size rather than a USB power bank, particularly if it's going to operate unattended (as in no voltage monitoring) because you'd have to look at the possibility of over-discharging. Unless you get really keen and Frankenstein up an audible battery voltage monitor/alarm thingy as well...

So if you want The Ultimate ShitBoxen system, unless you're keen to play with Ye Olde Schoole 555 timers all this would start to smell (sorry...) like a job for an Arduino mebbe.

 

I thought about doing this for a small fish pond outside. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY1oCNhD8_0

But for what I needed, I ended up just threading the wire into some water tubing and digging in direct into soil, 12V LV doesnt need an electrician.


Even if you dont have power socket in the room, could you route dc cable from the next room, the minimal power requirement means you could get away with just a modified usb charger to power the unit.

 

plus the wires are thin so you could hide it between the carpet and the wall or in between the skirting and floor

 

I found this: https://www.coolerguys.com/products/100-240v-ac-to-12-5v-dc-4pin-molex-adapter

I could run a thin 12V wire from an adjacent room into the cat litterbox room to power the fan. I would need to find a molex to 3/4pin fan adapter that was 4m long though.

 

I know you're after electronics help, but another suggestion.

We have a cat that has the same issue. Doesn't sit down. So rather than have your dual later system we have just ended up using a single, big high-sided plastic tub from bunnings as the litter "tray". It still isn't the best because he ends up peeing in the corner where the clumping litter has trouble working. But it's not too bad.

Also, as above. Clumping litter cleaned every day is the best solution IMO. We have tried LOTS of different clumping litters. Unfortunately I don't think there is a composting economical product available in Australia at this stage. However, this one which came out last year is very good: https://www.petbarn.com.au/cats/cat-litter-trays-accessories/trouble-trix-baking-soda-cat-litter

It clumps very well and the baking soda does a great job of masking smells without just being an gross lavendar smell or something.

This one is also very good at clumping, but on its own it is too loose and the cats feet and their business just push straight through. Se we mix it with the other one: https://www.petbarn.com.au/cats/cat...s/animates-multi-cat-clay-clumping-cat-litter

Anyway. A vent is still a good idea. Might help remove dust too.

 

I have completed the fan vented cat litter box and its working well. I got a 120mm fan and 12V power supply kit from Jaycar. The only issue is that the fan is very loud, so I might need to look at a quiet computer fan to replace it.

I just need to replace the towel with something else to block the open louvres. I hate louvres!

[/url]20170204_183409 by Mark Noonan, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

Still bored...

Either fit a quieter fan or even a smaller one - I'd hazard a 120 mm spinning at full speed sucking the air through that setup should almost be able to blow-dry the damned cat...

Else have a go at slowing that 120 down by lowering the volts you're giving it - should cheerfully run on a suitable 9 volt DC plugpack for a quick fix, unless you feel like getting keen and grafting in an appropriate voltage dropper (small adjustable PSU board, fistful of series diodes, anything to sanely step the fan supply volts thence fan speed down...).