How Helen Gets Made A making-of, not the live show Watch her live

Cat treat dispenser · the real trick

We bought the dispenser. Then we soldered a 5-volt WiFi switch to the remote.

Anyone can buy a cat treat dispenser. Most of them already come with a handheld remote. The rare part is making a website press that same button. We bought a 5-volt dry WiFi switch — not a 120-volt one — and soldered it across the remote’s treat pad. A payment on the shop closes those two wires. The dispenser thinks a person clicked it. Treat Cam is already waiting.

Treat Cam: eye-level beauty shot of the dispenser corner
Treat Cam, a moment ago. The machine is ordinary. The remote is what we taught the internet to press.

Why this works

The dispenser did not need to be smart. The remote needed a second finger.

We did not wait for a treat machine with an official website hook. We bought the dispenser, used it as-is, then bought a 5-volt dry WiFi switch. Five volts. Not 120. Dry means the switch only joins two wires. It is the same job as a fingertip on the rubber button.

Open the remote. Find the two metal pads the treat button already bridges when you press it. Solder the switch wires to those pads. Close it up. If the handheld button still drops a treat, the solder is right. Then a short pulse from the switch does the same click from another room — or from a shop page.

Buy the dispenser. Buy a 5-volt dry WiFi switch, not a 120. Solder it to the remote. That is the trick.

For the record, the chain between the card and the click is short. The shop creates a Stripe PaymentIntent for the treat. When the payment succeeds, Stripe sends our server a signed webhook. The server checks the signature, checks that this payment has not already dropped a treat, checks the daily cap and the gap since the last one, then sends a single message to Home Assistant on the computer at home. A Home Assistant automation turns on one channel of a Sonoff relay through the SonoffLAN integration, and that channel is the dry switch soldered across the remote's button pads. Every line of that, with the code, is on the Stripe-to-Home-Assistant page.

Live proof

The shop that collects: https://helenthecatlive.com/shop/. The court you watch after you pay: https://helenthecatlive.com/. This workshop page never takes a card. How the rest of that shop is built, from the three.js room to the print order: the 3D shop page.

How you do it

Seven steps. The solder is the one people skip.

  1. Buy an ordinary dispenser that already has a remote. Ours is a white PetSafe on the quilt. The kind that ships with a handheld clicker. You do not need an app-branded “smart” bowl. If a thumb can fire it from the couch, you have the whole interface.
  2. Buy a 5-volt dry WiFi switch. Not 120. Five volts. Dry contact: two wires that touch when the switch fires, and come apart when it stops. That is a button. A 120-volt switch is the wrong part — the remote is a tiny circuit. It only wants a short.
  3. Solder the switch to the remote’s treat button. Pull the batteries. Open the case. The rubber button sits over two pads. Those pads are what you join. Solder one switch wire to each pad. Tape the strain so a tug does not rip the joint. Put the remote back together. This is the whole trick. Everything after this is aim and checkout.
  4. Pulse it like a person pressed once. Fire a short click, not a long hold. Test with the switch’s own button first. Then test the original remote button. Both should drop a treat. If only one works, the solder is on the wrong pads or a wire came loose.
  5. Aim a camera at the quilt before anyone can pay. Point Treat Cam at the dispenser and the landing zone — for us, the quilt — while the room is empty. Eye level. Close enough to read whiskers if she comes. If the still is already a picture of the machine, you are ready.
  6. Sell the treat on your own site. Let the payment press the remote. The story is your shop, your colors, your success page. Card entry stays on your domain. Lock the price on the server. A paid treat closes the dry switch for a blink. The dispenser hears the same click it always heard. We collect on https://helenthecatlive.com/shop/. This making-of never charges.
  7. Do not force the cat. If she ignores it, that is the joke. No calling. No second take. Helen is a dilute tortoiseshell calico who takes no direction. You staged a drop. She may walk over. She may not. A royal court that takes the treat seriously, and a cat who does not, is the gap we publish.
Live proof

Buy nothing here. Open the shop if you want the real button. Then watch the same corner on the live court. The still above refreshes from Treat Cam when the live picture answers.

Product and tech specs

Store parts. A website that can press a remote.

Nothing here is a custom treat robot. The PetSafe already knew how to drop food. The remote already knew how to ask. We added a 5-volt dry switch so the internet could do the same press a person does from the couch. That is how a normal machine does an amazing thing.

What is on the treat corner
PartSpec we actually use
DispenserWhite PetSafe treat machine with a handheld remote. Ordinary store unit. No official website hook.
Switch5-volt dry WiFi switch. Two wires only. Not 120 volts. Dry means it joins those wires like a fingertip, then lets go.
Solder jobOne wire to each pad under the remote’s treat button. Batteries out while you solder. Handheld button must still work after.
PulseA short click, not a long hold. Same length as a thumb press.
CameraTreat Cam, eye level at the quilt, already aimed before anyone can pay. Same family of home cameras as the rest of the court.
CheckoutCard entry on our own shop. Price locked on the server. A paid treat closes the switch. This page never charges. The code.

What to copy

Copy the solder, then copy the loop.

Do not hunt for a dispenser that “talks to a website.” Hunt for one you can already click. Add the 5-volt dry switch — not a 120. Solder it. Then aim the camera and put the button on your own shop. Open ours. Walk to the treat station. Compare that still with the one on this page.

Treat Cam still of the dispenser corner

Treat Cam The beauty cam. Quilt, dispenser, whiskers if she arrives. Watch the court

The whole path in code: Stripe webhook to Home Assistant to relay. · Every live example, with the step to copy. · Questions about the treat button. · Suggest a better aim.