With the return of the fine weather, you’ll doubtless be enjoying lazing around of an evening on your patio or in your garden, but even if you’re not surrounded by marshes or other shallow water it’s very likely some intruding mosquitoes will come along to spoil this idyllic scene. Although indoors it’s easy to get rid of them these days, indeed even to prevent them coming into the house, the same can’t be said for the great outdoors. We might mention the well-known Chinese coils – the only thing Chinese about them is undoubtedly their name – which very often drive people away as much as mosquitoes, if not more! Moreover they are nasty things to handle.... [read more]
It's well known that many animals are particularly sensitive to high-frequency sounds that humans can't hear. Many commercial pest repellers based on this principle are available, most of them operating in the range of 30 to 50 kHz. My aim was, however, to design a slightly different and somewhat more powerful audio frequency/ultrasonic sound generator that could be used to train dogs. Just imagine the possibilities - you could make your pet think twice before barking again in the middle of the night or even subdue hostile dogs (and I guess burglars would love that!).... [read more]
his circuit proved very useful in keeping away from a terrace or a porch some bats and other nocturnal animals. You can use it for similar or different purposes. The lamp illuminates at a 4-5 seconds delay and stays off about one minute and 15 seconds.... [read more]
Repell those repugnent insects from your Garden this Summer with this insect repellant circuit. Designed by Graham Maynard the circuitry consists of a phase locked loop (CMOS 4047) wired as a 22KHz oscillator.... [read more]