Question re power

[mino]

This products seems brilliant. I would just like to know if there is a battery back up if there is a power failure which does happen here now and then.
Thanks in advance
mino

[James]

You can use a battery backup device with the Pet Porte if you live in an area that is effected badly with power cuts. These are known as a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) and available from places such as Maplins.

For places where power cuts are rare we wouldn't advise using a UPS. The Pet Porte will retain the memory of your cats microchip numbers even during a prolonged power cut, or if you are moving house for example and it is unplugged for some time.

In a power cut the locks will remain in whatever position they were in for example your cats will be able to get out but not get back in again until the power comes back on.

The reason that Pet Porte is mains powered (by way of a low voltage adaptor) is that it scans continuously. Therefore your cats can always run inside if needed. It would not be possible to have continuous scanning with a battery and it was therefore decided after much testing that a mains powered cat flap is far more reliable and cats are much more likely to trust it knowing that it will open instantly for them.

[mino]

thanks for quick reply.
mino

[James]

You're welcome.

[Fuzzylogic]

Hmm. Might be as simple as a small supercapacitor (100,000 uF ought to do it) and the cost would be minimal. Could be built into a small box and sold as an add-on unit?

#include "$0.02.inc"

[James]

It isn't that simple because the sensor coil uses a relatively high amount of power. It continuously scans for your cat's presence so that your cat can quickly run inside.

It might be possible for the unit to run at a lower scanning speed on battery power but unfortunately that could result in your cat being injured if they tried to run inside and hit the door before it unlocked.

That is not to rule out the possibility that certain add-on units may be made available in the future. Certainly all suggestions are passed on to the product development team.

[loulou1971]

Indeed apparently they do use a lot of juice - that was what put me off the cheaper battery-powered microchip flap version - I was chatting to our vet about which one to get and he said it amazes him how much power his hand-held chip scanner at the practise uses as he's forever putting in new batteries. Although the power cut element is a slight worry with the petporte (though I convince myself that if there is one it would pass quickly and the cat would happen to not be trying to get in at that point!) I was more worried about the batteries running down in the other version and that I'd be constantly checking that it was working ok!

[James]

They don't use a lot they just use more than a battery can provide.

There is a copycat product on the market that infringes the patents of Pet Porte but the main reason we don't sell it is that we found it is extremely unreliable.

As we are a customer service focused company we only sell the most reliable Pet Porte product.

With Pet Porte you will never be worried about your cat getting locked outside or injuring itself when it tries to run inside because the door will always open quickly.

The porch on the Pet Porte extends out further than the door. It does not rely on your cat breaking any infra-red beam before it scans. Pet Porte scans continuously at 20 times per second.

The other cheaper copycat product only scans once every two seconds and only when your cat breaks the infrared beam just infront of the door. Most cat owners do not find that acceptable although I do recognise that some have purchased the cheaper made in China copy and think it is OK.

Of course being a high profile company we would never sell any product that is illegal.