Petrainer PET998-Series E-Collar

Brand: Petrainer

Modulation

The collars use pulse-position modulation (PPM) at 433MHz to encode command messages. A regular button press on the remote will repeat the message 3 times, though you can get it to send only one if you press the button quickly enough. The reciever seems to have diffuculty picking up the command if it isn’t repeated at least 3 times. Holding down the button will continuously repeat the message.

Messages begin with an 780µs pulse followed by a 780µs gap as a starting signal, followed by a series of 216µs pulses. The binary data is encoded in the gaps between pulses: a 780µs gap for a 0 or a 1580µs gap for a 1.

We can use the wonderful rtl_433 program to record the signal and generate some nice visualizations:

rtl_433 -A -R 0 -S all

💡 Command options used (click to expand)

[-A] Pulse Analyzer. Enable pulse analysis and decode attempt.
     Disable all decoders with -R 0 if you want analyzer output only.
[-S none | all | unknown | known] Signal auto save. Creates one file per signal.
     Note: Saves raw I/Q samples (uint8 pcm, 2 channel). Preferred mode for generating test files.

Here’s the result:

Using this we can easily decode our signal to binary (ignoring the extra 0 pulseview shows at the start)

Binary: 11110010 00101011 00111010 00101101 10110000
Hex: F2 2B 3A 2D B0

Binary Encoding

The first 4 bits encode the channel (The remote supports switching between 2 channels).

#- -- -- -- --
F2 2B 3A 2D B0

Binary	Hex	Decimal	Channel
1000	0x8	8	Channel 1
1111	0xF	15	Channel 2

The second 4 bits encode the command mode.

-# -- -- -- --
F2 2B 3A 2D B0

Binary	Hex	Decimal	Mode
0001	0x1	1	Shock
0010	0x2	2	Vibrate
0100	0x4	4	Beep
1000	0x8	8	Flash

The second and third bytes encode the remote’s unique id.

-- ## ## -- --
F2 2B 3A 2D B0

Binary	Hex
00101011 00111010	2B 3A

The fourth byte encodes the shock/vibrate intensity (0-100).

*In my testing, the PET998DBB would not go higher than 100, but I’ve seen people using generic older versions of the collar that say they will.

-- -- -- ## --
F2 2B 3A 2D B0

Binary	Hex	Decimal
00101101	0x2D	45

The fifth byte is an inverted, flipped copy of the first byte (probably used as a weak error check).

-- -- -- -- ##
F2 2B 3A 2D B0

	Binary	Hex	Decimal
First Byte	11110010	0xF2	242
Last Byte	10110000	0xB0	176

Here’s an example rtl_433 command that can decode the signal and break it into it’s components:

rtl_433 -F json -R 0 -X "name=petrainer,modulation=OOK_PPM,short=784,long=1580,gap=3000,reset=16000,get=channel:@1:{4}:[8:channel_1 15:channel_2],get=mode:@5:{4}:[1:shock 2:vibration 4:beep 8:flash],get=UID:@9:{16}:%X,get=intensity:@25:{8}"

{
  "time": "2023-01-13 21:41:05",
  "model": "petrainer",
  "count": 4,
  "num_rows": 4,
  "rows": [
    {
      "len": 41,
      "data": "79159d16d80",
      "channel": "channel_2",
      "mode": "vibration",
      "UID": 11066,
      "intensity": 45
    },
    {
      "len": 41,
      "data": "79159d16d80",
      "channel": "channel_2",
      "mode": "vibration",
      "UID": 11066,
      "intensity": 45
    },
    {
      "len": 41,
      "data": "79159d16d80",
      "channel": "channel_2",
      "mode": "vibration",
      "UID": 11066,
      "intensity": 45
    },
    {
      "len": 0,
      "data": "",
      "channel": 0,
      "mode": 0,
      "UID": 0,
      "intensity": 0
    }
  ],
  "codes": [
    "{41}79159d16d80",
    "{41}79159d16d80",
    "{41}79159d16d80",
    {0}
  ]
}

*this output isn’t fully valid JSON - there seems to be a bug in rtl_433 when it writes the codes array.

Full Model List

Model	Notes	Links
PET998D1 (IS-PET998D-1)	Seems to be the original? Not rechargeable	Product Listing Manual
PET998D2 (IS-PET998D-2)	Two-collar bundle for PET998D	Manual
PET998DR1 (IS-PET998DR-1)	Rechargeable (5v barrel)	Product Listing Manual
PET998DR2 (IS-PET998DR-2)	Two-collar bundle for PET998DR	Product Listing Manual
PET998DRB1 (IS-PET998DRB-1)	Rechargeable (5v barrel)	Product Listing Manual Amazon
PET998DRB2 (IS-PET998DRB-2)	Two-collar bundle for PET998DRB	Product Listing Manual Amazon
PET998DRU1 (IS-PET998DRU-1)	Rechargeable (micro-usb)	Product Listing Manual Amazon
PET998DRU2 (IS-PET998DRU-2)	Two-collar bundle for PET998DRU	Manual Amazon
PET998DB1 (IS-PET998DB 1 for 1)	Thinner design. Rechargeable (5v barrel)	Product Listing Manual Amazon
PET998DB2 (IS-PET998DB 1 for 2)	Two-collar bundle for PET998DB	Product Listing Manual
PET998DBB1	Thinner design. Rechargeable (5v barrel). Links to the same manual as the PET998DB.	Product Listing Amazon
PET998DBB2	Two-collar bundle for PET998DBB	Product Listing Amazon
PET998DBU (IS-PET998DBU 1 for 1)	Thinner design. Rechargeable (micro-usb). The manual also shows a 2-collar bundle but I haven't found any listings for it.	Product Listing Manual

PET998DBB Teardown

Remote Teardown

Reciever Teardown

Other Resources

*there seems to be some conflicting information in this repo about the protocol from older models. Contact me if you find a PET988 model collar that uses a different protocol.