Squirrels were urinating on our trash cans. So we took an electric tennis racket and modified it to give them a big surprise!. Triple T Ranch & Sawmill on Choctaw Ridge is homesteading with a sawmill & anvil.
Ha, I love it! Thanks for sharing. There was a PBS show many years ago with a guy who put electrified model train track along the railing of his deck to give his squirrels a nice surprise. At my house, we are constantly battling the ground squirrels who insist on burrowing in our retaining wall.
Great job on the video - much better than those where people do the work with one hand and hold their cell phone with the other. HOWEVER, I would just like to point out that the CENTER grid (blue wire on yours) is the HIGH VOLTAGE / HOT connection, NOT the other way around. You connected it BACKWARDS, and that's why you got zapped! The three grids are as follows: the two outside grids (yellow wires) are connected to the "zero voltage" part of the circuit. It's the center grid (blue wire) that has the high voltage. It is NOT the GROUND connection! So if you connect the HOT lead to the trash can, then the can becomes charged with respect to the rest of the circuit, including the battery, circuit board, switch, etc. So when the can is sitting at ground potential, the whole thing is activated. Anyone trying to change the battery or even activate the switch can get zapped. Certainly not OSHA approved! The correct way is to connect the can to either of the outer grids instead. Good thing it's a low current device, otherwise you may have not been around to finish the video! Be careful, my friend!
Thanks for the info! Next time the squirrels (& me) need a refresher, I will verify what you pointed out. But I have not been shocked yet. Maybe my footwear has saved me.
This brings to mind the guy in high school that had a beer or twelve and decided to pee on a bug zapper. A valuable life lesson was learned that night; it's a shame you didn't have video of the squirrel learning it as well.
That's awesome. I did something similar and took the guts of a zapper out and attached it to two metal wire wrapping around my wooden fence post bird feeder. Worked great for a week keeping the squirrels away. However, the shock began to drop in strength. Now even when i take it off and just do a direct discharge, it is very weak. Any idea what may be going on? It was on more or less continuously for 1 week. Will that destroy the capacitor?
You could try and solder another cap in parallel that will add capacitance. Let me know if you figure it out. I only leave mine on a few days to train them and then remove it.
Red, it happened but the camera didn't catch it! Afterwards, they did not go near it. But time has passed, noticed pee on the lid the other day. May get a video yet.
