Ultrasonic pest repeller teardown

[@pheffr]

I had a roommate maybe 15 years ago, back when these ultrasonic pest repellers were still the subject of infomercials, who brought her very own private collection of cockroaches when she moved in. The infestation lasted longer than her tenancy. I tried a lot of things to get rid of them. I finally broke down and bought three of these pest repellers that claimed to expell all manner of creepy crawlies, even though they were quite expensive at the time. Well, the roaches promptly built colonies inside their cheap plastic cases. I'd say they were somewhat ineffective.

[@Roy_Tellason]

I've found that a sprinkling of boric acid powder is a good way to deal with those particular unwelcome guests.

[@Solron78]

boric acid powder does work well i second that recomendation.@@Roy_Tellason

[@McTroyd]

In the early 90s, my aunt put an early Japanese-made version of these in my grandparents' cabin. Being, oh, about thirty years younger, I discovered I could hear it... it was loud enough to wake me up in the middle of the night when she turned it on. A subsequent hearing test (some months later) showed I could hear up to 24 kHz. These aged, abused ears probably can't go near that now, but it was still pretty cool.

[@Ryan_Tidwell]

Back in the old days when we had tube televisions I'd get a headache from the high pitched whine they put out. Nobody else seemed to notice it. Not sure that I could hear it now but I'm glad that we don't have those tube TVs anymore.

[@McTroyd]

@@Ryan_Tidwell Ditto on the tube TVs, but for a different reason. 60 Hz is too slow of a refresh for my eyes -- most of them produced headache-inducing flicker. It was a godsend when I discovered some monitors could work at higher refresh rates. That's probably what pushed me into getting my first Mac, too -- Mac color CRTs usually run much higher than 60 Hz. I don't know how anyone ever managed to look at a 50 Hz monitor...

[@NM-wd7kx]

I used to be able to hear bats, only when they were very close & right on the edge of my hearing (the sort of thing that I struggled to tell if it was my imagination until I'd see the shadow swooping past). I was quite upset when I lost that, not a fan of this aging malarkey.

[@SUPRAMIKE18]

I can recall when I was young I could hear a wheel bearing on my grandads car making a high pitch sounds which apparently only I could hear about a year later that same bearing failed and had to be replaced.

[@blahmanliutenant]

I used to have to unplug the one my pop had every time I visited, always made sure to plug it back in before I left but to my ears it was just unbearable

[@TechGorilla1987]

I plugged 6 in one weekend. All three daughters moved out the next day. They worked for me!

[@devttyUSB0]

I've tried these things, they're dirt cheap usually. Some of then are audible to the younger folks, others turn out to be just an LED. None of them ever repelled any "pests" (mosquitto's) for me. This device seems quite nice. Elaborate circuitry with the sweeping frequencies and "breathing" LED. Great video.

[@RandomBogey]

My dad has one in his garage that I, in my early 30s, can still hear. No one else hears it, so no one believes it’s making any audible noise. But, if it’s relatively quiet and I’m within 10 feet of the thing, I can hear it. And, to be fair, I find it quite repelling...

[@thebrowns5337]

Younger folks! I'm mid forties and hear things like this in peoples front gardens while I walk the dog. Don't know about the dog but the high pitch and frequency noises drive me bloody nuts. Lots of people hate their neighbours cats it seems.

[@thebrowns5337]

@@RandomBogey glad it's not just me. Do you heaf wifi routers and mains usb charging bricks too?

[@artcraft2893]

Those are snake oil... Those device don't work; animals don't care about that... Its like energy saver.

[@NFMorley]

@@thebrowns5337 I also hear noise from poorly made wall transformers so that's definitely a thing (usually cheap switching supplies as I believe their design makes it more common) but routers are fine to me AFAIK. I'm late 20s btw but its definitely a sensitive hearing thing for me as I would probably have aged out too by now otherwise. Even certain lights annoy me tbh like fluorescent tubes which give off a low whine (iirc I think it's from the inductor/ballast in the circuit).

[@whippetgas]

Call me a sadomachochist but I'm kinda waiting for the day "Is the capacitor discharged" returns a definitive "No".

[@dergescheidte547]

220uF at 16V will only zap a bit. It aint more painfull than touching your cars metal frame and getting zapped.

[@morpheox]

Oh, that has happened a couple of times through the years (:

[@Sine1040]

That is gonna happen eventually ;)

[@briandeschene8424]

As requested... kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZ-1pHmhgMqoj5Y

[@briandeschene8424]

@@Sine1040 Already has :-) ... kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZ-1pHmhgMqoj5Y

[@Vertelemming]

Re: effectiveness of ultrasonic repellers. My personal experience is that they did nothing for existing pests -- the mice knew where the food was, and could brave the annoyance to get to it -- but after they were gone they were remarkably effective at preventing *new* pests. They just ran away from the annoyance and never learned it was worth overcoming it. So, not completely effective in and of themselves, but a good deterrent for places that are likely to be interesting for pests but not yet infested.

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

"in and of themselves" I have been inundated with this term over the last 6months or so. What does it mean ?? It's like that, "one off" thing that ppl say. In my English it's, "one of"... soz, mini rant... ;)

[@Vertelemming]

@@snakezdewiggle6084 A rough meaning is, "This is not enough on its own, with the implication it works well combined with something else".

[@moonshinepz]

that's interesting. we don't have house mice but sometimes field mice will come in for a nose.

[@user-gx6jb6wc5g]

It's s common British term, probably derived from Shakespearean English.

[@EdwardRLyons]

@@snakezdewiggle6084 "In and of itself" - another way of saying “on its own” or “by its very nature”.

[@Richardincancale]

Glad you ‘scoped it - really gives insight into what they’re trying to do!

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Yes ! More Lissajous Figues and Graphs plz !

[@HillsWorkbench]

Yeah, would have liked to see it scoped again briefly once the LED was replaced just to see if the breathing was in sync to the sweep and if the output changed at all.

[@mauanderuk]

Did exactly the same thing when I had one I was sceptical if it did anything at all.

[@standspissin]

As a pest control technician, I can confidently say these things do not work. Seal up all gaps in your property bigger than 3mm to keep mice out as you cannot target field mice with rodenticide, because they are protected (everything eats them)

[@deezimmo4814]

I have an older home in which I am removing all the kitchen cabinets; the nail holes are like pilot holes for the mice.

[@lugoorstar]

@@Concertinasmonumento23 apart from the bad writing, that's not what his job position means.

[@jsb7546]

@@Concertinasmonumento23 trust me as an exterminator those stupid sound devices don't work. I don't know what your smoking but I'd bet your neighbor prolly just sprayed some damn good synthetic adulticide if you ain't got no bugs no sound devices is gonna get rid of bugs.

[@spudhead169]

This is a rare instance, Clive has pulled out the silly scope. Bookmarking this for my collection.

[@chrisdash9803]

Enjoyed the "on the fly" schematic! Cool stuff!

[@pey-yote]

I was working at a food truck that had these plugged in EVERYWHERE. Finally convinced the owner to ditch them as they're basically giant "HEY THE OWNER THINKS OUR TRUCK IS INFESTED WITH BUGS" signs

[@jlucasound]

If rat traps were to turn up in McDonald's restaurants...Can't end well for the bottom line.

[@johnnytarponds9292]

@@jlucasound I did pest control for a couple of years. ALL chain restaurants use pest controllers. We usually use sticky boards and rodent feed stations full of rodenticide. You should worry about restaurants who don't have pest controllers. 😬

[@ASBO_LUTELY]

@@johnnytarponds9292 a friend of mine stuck his fingers into a rent-o-kill rat trap set at the back of a dominos we worked at and got a zap! Guess they mean business when the words printed on it are DO NOT TOUCH!

[@sixstringedthing]

I worked in a restaurant that theoretically used pest control, but the traps and baits never seemed to get replaced. Mentioned it to the owner one day, "ah yeah, I'll call the pest guys in the morning"... guess how that turned out. I didn't stay there for very long.

[@muxerbaker4638]

As soon as I seen the rodent repeller, I was hoping you'd get the scope out. I actually punched the air when you said you where getting the key sight out. I always wondered what wave form these outputted.

[@fumthings]

always confused by the adverts for these that claim it wont harm your pets. what about pet mice?

[@boris2342]

square wave... they are digital

[@ferrumignis]

@@boris2342 You can generate any waveform you want from a digital device, a square wave is simply the easiest.

[@travisash8180]

Is it the ozone that frightens the squirrels away ?

[@unclerumple9287]

Appreciate letting us watch you draw out the schematic w/breakdown explanation. Really adds to the experience.

[@yeliab814]

I bought one of these pest wall warts 5yrs ago and took it apart. It was much larger thab these and its circuit was all discrete thru hole components, based around a 556 timer driving one of those brass colored piezo discs. It reminded me a bit of the coin-tone phone phreaking circuit i built back in high school - for educational purposes , of course :)

[@AnthonyGoodley]

Assuming you meant a 555 timer, right? I'm far from an electronics expert here. But ive never heard of a 556 timer.

[@ASBO_LUTELY]

@@AnthonyGoodley i've heard of an egg timer.

[@AnthonyGoodley]

@@ASBO_LUTELY I'm so happy for you.

[@doug7131]

@@AnthonyGoodley The 556 is just two 555 timers in the same package. There is also the 558 with 4.

[@AnthonyGoodley]

@@doug7131 Thank you for the info.

[@Nono-hk3is]

"Let's zoom back out and explode the circuitry" is what I heard at time 4:35

[@Deepthought-42]

It was a Scottish “explore” ! Your sense of anticipation with Clive is getting ahead of you. 👍😂😂😂😂

[@matthewmiller6068]

As someone who struggles with reverse engineering stuff I rather like how you do it on the fly explaining. If people don't like it they can drag that slider forward.

[@GeorgeSladkovsky]

Absolutely agree. Very nice to see the whole process like that. I understand that for moderately complex circuits it can be too much for "real-time", but for something this size it is very interesting.

[@MichaelSmith-on8sh]

It’s sad I can only like this comment once. The simple explanations that enthusiasts can understand and learn from or just enjoy. Always have, one of the reasons I get drawn in to clicking the next video until I realize it’s been an hour and a half hahaha

[@gavincurtis]

The coder was flexing at this point with that PWM LED effect. Frequency sweep was quite fancy as it was.

[@demef758]

Apple called their modulating LED a THROBBING LED, a bit of tongue in cheek (or elsewhere) humor. Despite his reputation, Steve Jobs actually had a good sense of humor. The repeller LED uses PWM modulation to achieve the throbbing effect, which is why they used a uP to do 2 tasks at once. Nice to see that you finally employed an oscilloscope, a Keysight at that. Nice!

[@pseudomemes5267]

Do you ever get cash from the ATM machine?

[@stevetobias4890]

The throbbing effect works with women also 😜

[@steve6375]

My local shop set up a speaker outside their door which played classical music after 4pm every day. It worked! No more teenagers hanging around outside his shop and nicking stuff!

[@Flashy7]

I was expecting a capacitor and an LED, but I liked that it is real for once, and really liked seeing the graph about the waveform. You can buy one for a breathing nightlight, the ultrasonic part could even be disconnected when all the rodents left the city :)

[@rogierius]

Can you perhaps give a link to such a night light. I see many, but not sure which one is a potential fire hazard and which one is legit.

[@kimsleep4111]

To prove that the younger you are, the wider your hearing perception, I plugged one of these in (to scare away Garbage nighttime thieves) and both my boys ran up from downstairs saying "What the hell is that noise"!!...I cannot hear a damn thing.

[@tamtgirl]

we call'em trash pandas

[@Mr_Stanley888]

I'm 37 and I could hear the higher frequency.

[@jonathanbates3529]

Lol I’m 37 and my gf just said she didn’t see how I was listening to this through earphones, she is 29 but can apparently hear it. I guess working in an office compared to heavy equipment has its advantages. Now I am wondering what else I am damaging besides my hearing

[@kimsleep4111]

@@Mr_Stanley888 My boys are 24, and 28...Im 60, you have a way to go Son

[@128Cores]

Weird to see two 37 year olds in the same comment.

[@skoronesa1]

I'm a plumber, they don't work. Waste of energy, and often head ache inducing. Mice will choose deaf/headache over freezing/starving. This will just breed mice with lower frequency limits to their hearing if it does anything of consequence at all.

[@atomictraveller]

they don't work there, they work well enough here in arizona.

[@jimmycincinnati3714]

Thanks big guy. You helped me convince my wife this doesn't work and saved us money.

[@johncarey9149]

The "breathing" effect is, as you said, controlling the PWM, but its a very simple natural log scale that doubles the brightness at each step.

[@morelenmir]

Many thanks for doing the reverse-engineering in-camera Clive! I find it much easier to follow and feel like I am learning something. It is simple to scrub forward if anyone just wants to get to the next bit. Even more so the soldering--a brilliant tip for removing small SMT devices and _much_ quicker that getting the hot-air setup out! These things appeared in the little-known post-apocalyptic RPG 'RIFTS'. You could buy tiny ones to put inside your power armour and giant robot suits to keep the tics and like at bay. I always think of that when I hear of them.

[@KevTheBusDriver]

I have an old (wrecked) recording studio about 80' x 15' I use as a store. I have 3 traps which are baited twice a week. I was catching 6 mice a month until I put 2 sonic repellers in (June 21) - I haven't caught one since! (I take on board what others have said about the mice 'acclimatizing' though). Love the video!

[@twotone3070]

Do you think that after travel restrictions were lifted, the mice simply went to visit relatives?

[@timgooding2448]

I've always considered these devices to be snake oil. Interesting little board though.

[@thatsunpossible312]

"Controversial" is what sellers of snake oil call it when they have no scientific evidence of efficacy.

[@nefariumxxx]

Agreed. I looked into them recently and there's videos on youtube showing how they don't work at all. Rats and mice totally enjoying the bait left out for them right next to the units and they keep coming back for more.

[@randgrithr7387]

@@nefariumxxx I've only seen one video by Shawn Woods where a specific ultrasonic repeller scared off mice, but only when placed inches away from the food, and only briefly for each pulse of sound.

[@nefariumxxx]

@@randgrithr7387 It's a big money making scam. Preying on desperate people. Diligent trapping, poison, and sealing up their access holes is the only thing that works. I installed wifi magnetic door/window sensors on rat traps to send me a push notification when a trap was triggered. Worked great! However the only thing that stopped them was blocking the hole after I finally found it.

[@Graham_Rule]

I've never bothered getting one of these. The instructions say that the area around them has to be fairly open and clear, and that doesn't describe my flat.

[@quandiy5164]

My uncle bought a 6 pack of the cheaper ones and I opened it up and it was just a 555 running at 15v (no zener) at about 23k to 25khz single tone. Seems to have kept rodents away from the side of our house. I saw way less rat poop after plugging one in. Regarding the soldering on the piezo disc, I found that using solder with 2% silver alloy eliminates the issue of dissolving the metalization on the ceramic part.

[@peterjf7723]

I remember years ago a friend had an ultrasound generator, if we aimed it at moths they would fly erratically and then land. I presume the sound was close to that made by bats and the moths were trying to avoid them.

[@vsvnrg3263]

good point raised here.

[@TheRmdunn230]

I've been in enough homes doing pest control to say these are not very effective. Roaches love to nest behind they because of how warm they are. Mice and spiders just ignore them.

[@markiangooley]

From all I’ve heard they don’t seem to repel most pests at all…

[@AsmodeusMictian]

@@markiangooley probably keep the kids away so.... ;-)

[@sixstringedthing]

As an AV tech I've spent quite a bit of time scrabbling around behind TV cabinets/stands etc. I once found an ancient looking ultrasonic repeller (the larger old style) that was absolutely covered in cockroach dirt, neon still shining away. I didn't bother mentioning it to the client because I didn't want to risk pissing them off by refusing to touch it.

[@johnpossum556]

I just got a "Rat Trapper" unit at a garage sale. It's the killing mouse machine. Very clean. I was intending on checking out the circuit. Didn't even know I had a problem when I got it. Turns out the concussion grenades during the riots scared a couple of mice into my basement. Up to 3 kills so far off the same set of 4 AA batteries & the same peanut butter.

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Are Roaches attracted the heat ?

[@tonyweavers4292]

I was wondering about scope connection. Good video, thanks Clive.

[@rotaxtwin]

Likewise, I think I would.d run it on a 5 VDC supply, pretty convenient and isolated.

[@RiderBlitz1.0]

I just love it when he says "one moment please" and we can see the reverse eng circuit board and all

[@maestrovso]

"is it discharged yet?" rather than using the finger I use my tongue because it is more sensitive. 😆As a kid I used my tongue to check if a 9V battery still had some juice left in it that is good for something. I am too glad that you revealed the sonic output with the scope. Any of the modern low cost MCUs has at least one or more programmable timers with divider which is the most efficient way to generate the desired square pulse train output. The sweeping must be done with an algorithm loop in that each time through it it steps to a different timer divider setting - hence the next step of the sweep. It would had been nice had you monitor the LED and the sonic signal simultaneously with two scope channels if they are related. This is a nice looking and good quality product. The ones I have over the pond here in the big continent have the casing glued together so you have to break it to snoop what is inside. Mine are a trusted pest control brand. Thankfully with just a fixed LED. I have multiple of then in the motorhome and the breathing LEDs would be annoying at night.

[@JEMTAC]

Bit late to the party , just found your channel. It is excellent.

[@SandeepKumar-qh3zs]

I've opened some of these, and it seems that most of them use a capacitative dropper, a zener diode but a 555 in astable mode to generate the ultrasonic oscillations for the piezo. I use one of these repeller just for led as a nightlight

[@Robothut]

Back in the 1970's and 1980's I used to make these based on the old 555 timer chips. One as the HF driver and the other as a LF sweep for the 555. I found they work for only a short time until the mice and rats learn to dig into the insulation of the house deeper and down into the walls. So Yes short term they worked long term the rodents did not care. But in the 1990's I was hired to build a very high powered ultrasonic unit by a guy that wanted to see if it would work to chase Bears away and if it worked then he would develop a product to do that. I guess he snuck the unit I made into a local Zoo and tried it on the bears they had to see what happened. I never heard from him again.

[@atomictraveller]

i've only recently discovered teh wonders of ultrasonic beam propogation. spent decades on audio dsp but electronics always takes money. instead of using capsules, it seems as if more effective transducers could be constructed.. plates of various substances are more affordable, membrane pcbs seem promising. any ideas to share?

[@ianstobie]

Made 🐻🐻🐻 angry?

[@TopEndSpoonie]

Great work Clive. Enough with the fillers, let's get back to the ozone. :)

[@user-gx6jb6wc5g]

Yeah, it's at least one video since I covered that rare subject.

[@terry6131]

When I was younger I could hear some ultra sonic frequencies (not all). I wasn't something I heard by my ears, but heard in my head. Anyway, I was on a breakfix job and the old boy had one by the front door and was working, so I had to stand way back. When he opened the door he asked why I was half way down the garen and explained the noise. It apprently was to scare cats. After doing to job, he asked me about the ones at the back which he wasn't sure about. One was working, the other wasn't. He changed the batteries and he had it on pulse. He tried to test me by not turning it on and saying it was, but I confirmed the on / off.

[@ITMann]

Excellent break down and of course the workings of the electronics. Thoroughly enjoying your videos. Very informative, fun and interesting insight into the many gadgets we take for granted. Some that are very cheap quality and others that are better.

[@thewatchworks1372]

Well, what do you know, I hop onto the KZbins after getting home, and I am greeted with a wonderful new upload!

[@mikedrop4421]

I find it hilarious that you could give Clyde a Space Shuttle and ask him to "take it to bits" in a video and the part he'd be intimidated by is the amount of white to balance out without blowing out the picture. LOL

[@DigiTalDeaD]

Clyde?...

[@joshfriesen9401]

Clyde?!?

[@Dave_Rice]

@@DigiTalDeaD WTF is Clyde?!

[@ASBO_LUTELY]

Clyde?...

[@SquishyZoran]

Clyde?

[@ooloncolluphid9975]

brilliant as always! I would've liked to see the frequency spectrum of the signal at 13:09, we could see the center frequency increasing, and also the loud harmonics of the square wave, which would explain why the younger population can hear it since a 23kHz square wave will have some "leakage" into the audible spectrum.

[@RexxSchneider]

No, there's no "leakage" from a 23KHz square wave into the audio spectrum. A square wave has harmonics at 3x, 5x, ... the fundamental frequency, so you get 69KHz, 115KHz, etc. but no sub-harmonics. For what it's worth, I could hear 24KHz in one ear when I was a teenager, and I seem to recall the designer of the Bailey amplifier stating that he could hear 26KHz. But that was 1968 and I can't hear beyond about 15KHz these days.

[@ooloncolluphid9975]

@@RexxSchneider I stand corrected 😅 I've always thought hearing a high frequency square wave is easier than hearing a sine wave, but as you said the harmonics only happen at the higher integer multiples (odd ones in this case)

[@alunjones3860]

Shawn Woods, KZbinr with a pest control channel, has tested these units and found they don't work. I certainly wouldn't buy one.

[@nefariumxxx]

Yes, total scam garbage. Yet people keep buying them out of desperation.

[@nickloh912]

"The world is full of con-TRO-versy." I see what you did there.

[@kenstr321]

I always hear a very high pitched squealing sound with these. I'm always told no you can't hear that, but I know what I hear. It's like a Dramel tool running by itself but turned down or nearly muted.

[@Lemon_Inspector]

It would be funny if a software bug made it emit mouse squeaks

[@Jeff_P-1988]

Same, here. A friend of mine has a couple of these around his house. For some reason he doesn't understand why I keep unplugging the one in the guest room when I'm staying at his place. I told him that if I keep it plugged in, I'd still get stabbed but now I also have to fall asleep while listening to something that resembles a dodgy adapter.

[@morpheox]

I used to get that in the old CRT days. Could hear the TV from quite a distance.

[@Willy_Tepes]

It is a really annoying sound that also used to come from old TV's (CRT).

[@alnicospeaker]

You certainly won't hear the 30khz+ tones directly. But sub-harmonics from the main ultrasonic wave can still form in the audible (still very high pitched) range

[@simonhopkins3867]

It was nice to see the oscilloscope being used. Personally I think they are a scam.

[@TevjaWeston]

as a pest controller, ive seen plenty of these in customers houses that have called me in because these do not work. They do work as an advertising scam though!

[@SpectrumDIY]

@matt quinn I think he meant that the unit is useless, not the scope.

[@sirel33]

@@SpectrumDIY joke

[@SpectrumDIY]

@Matt Quinn I suppose I am too literal and missed the joke then. I didn't see the humor.

[@planker]

that circuit is one of the best solutions I have seen yet.

[@anthonymorris8423]

I used the ultrasonic dog repeller ,and it worked for wild dogs ,but you can hear the high picth sketch sound but very faint when you got your ear near it

[@PhilipBallGarry]

"Has it discharged yet?" - insert fat finger - "yes it has". Legend :-)

[@cannotbeleftblank6027]

I'm still waiting for the day BigClive goes: "Has the capacitor discharged? Let's find ouOUTCH! &*@!@!*&@#"

[@briandeschene8424]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZ-1pHmhgMqoj5Y

[@tactileslut]

Hoo! Right. It is now.

[@hopingforthebest1.9]

I was confused for a moment until I realized the title didn't say "ultrasonic pest propeller"

[@BRUXXUS]

An ultrasonic propeller would probably do a decent job of eliminating pests! 😂

[@stevep8773]

I belive the models with only the LED are equally effective

[@robinwells8879]

Sadly so are the ones not plugged in as far as I can see.

[@hyperboloidofonesheet1036]

They're better, since they don't annoy your pets.

[@robinwells8879]

@@hyperboloidofonesheet1036 or pests in my experience sadly.

[@VNV67]

Another good video by the way. Sorry for this long post but it was hard to explain in a shorter version. I am a Ham Radio Operator and these things can cause a real problem on the receive side of the radio. A friend of mine had all sort of problems with noise on his radio that he had fought for months. He ask me to stop be and see if I could find it. Keep in mind he had called the power company, telephone company, and the FCC but nothing ever got done. So I went there and heard this awful clicking and buzzing on the radio. OK first things first, I turned every switch off in the house and unplugged everything except the radio, problem still there. So now I go out and get a car battery and used that on the radio with the house all off, still got the noise. He had a building out in the back that had it's own power supply. He used it for exoitc birds. I was in there looking at the birds when I look down at the floor and a AC plug that had a device plugged in it. I asked him, What is that for? And was told that it was to keep the bugs and cats out. Then it hit me, I bet that is what we are hearing. We got a handy talky each and I told him to turn the power back on and turn on the radio. I said you got the noise still? Yes he replied. I then unplugged the buggie thing and asked again. He said no it has all gone. He was one happy old man. So Ham Radio Operators this should be the first thing you should check if you or even you neighbors have one.

[@andysutcliffe3915]

One day at work I was being driven mad by these really loud, really high pitched tones for ages. A couple of guys about 30 feet away noticed me looking around and asked “can you hear that?” They’d been playing with a hearing test app on their phone and couldn’t hear anything in that high range themselves so had no idea how annoying they’d been.

[@idonotwantahandle2]

No good for rodents but works a treat on teenagers then.

[@jamesbrown4092]

Once during my college days, I walked into a lab and asked, "What's making that sound?", only to have everyone start laughing. Somebody was demonstrating a frequency generator to some visiting students, and he was doing the, "This is the highest frequency my father can hear.", turned up the frequency, "This is the highest frequency I can hear.", turned up the frequency, "And this frequency, only dogs can hear."... then I walked in.

[@haroldfinz4863]

I don't care if that's a joke (old or new), or if it's true, but 22 thumbs up for this one!

[@kevgermany]

I bought something similar about a year ago. It did drive the rodents away, and the little buggers haven't come back yet. Seems to help with mosquitoes as well. Other electronic mossie repellers haven't worked in the past, despite a certificate inside signed by a German uni professor.

[@Flying0Dismount]

Ultrasonic repellers won't rid your whole home of mice, but what I have found is that strategically placed, they can encourage the rodents to move to other locations in the house where the noise is not so loud...

[@hagen-p]

Oscilloscope on the LED contacts would show if the frequency is indeed the same...

[@robinwells8879]

I have one but I am not convinced that it works and the poison bait traps would suggest not either. 😳

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Thanks Clive, enjoyed that. I have catz, no rodent issues here. ;) I did modify some similar units for a guy who wanted PIR function.

[@RussianSevereWeatherVideos]

Those orange and blue SPK +/- dots make me think about railroad signal aspects for some reason.

[@mbak7801]

My local co-op at Christmas used to have a giant Santa that played jingle bells very load and distorted whenever anyone nudged it They used to groan every time it played. I set it off many many times and I can vouch they never got used to it ...

[@Jim-si7wz]

Just what I needed something to watch in the wee small hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep, thanks Clive, good and interesting video.

[@phils4634]

Can't say these work (if at all). Used a few in one of our outhouses, and there was no noticeable difference in the presence of our "smaller wildlife".

[@Quickened1]

The real money maker would be, if in your "outhouse", one of them eliminated odors!!!

[@phils4634]

@@Quickened1 Reminds me of my Grandparents' place, which had such a "facility" (although replaced by an indoor bathroom in the early 1950's!) Might have been an ideal test-bed for BC's many ozone generators (the more expensive "Medical Grade" models of which we use in our Pathology Divisions for obvious reasons)

[@BinderTronics]

I'll bet it is a Tiny85 MCU on that board or something in that range. The LED is probably just connected to the complementary PWM cause you just got to have a fancy LED in your product.

[@bobcat_the_Lion]

I don't think that my cat will appreciate it when I use one of these.

[@shankarthakur1]

Yet another superb video. This one was "ULTRA - Amazing" .

[@userPrehistoricman]

What's the piezo's resonant frequency? You could tell using a microphone or by measuring the current into the pizeo (handy 100 ohm resistor to do that with). I think this micro would have two PWM controllers and they are assigned to those two pins. The software just sets the duty and frequency settings every 100ms or something. The micro is what contains the timers and such to achieve the PWM output.

[@MrDbone75]

Good Monday morning to you sir from Wellington Somerset

[@paranoiia8]

One time I found "pest repeller" that had probably everything inside, it was like there was some chinese company that had bunch of stuff and had to use it, they where called ""Home Sentinel by Aspectek"", that huge one 6in1. It had weird buzzer, pseudo-UV LEDs in front, negative ion generator stuck inside(behind board with no holes...), green night light with photo-resistor at the bottom, some weird coil and hi voltage generator that was supposed to be main "electro-magnetic" repeller. And some weird chip that I had no idea what it was, but when I tried to search for number on top it showed me... circuit board from ABS drivers that had that chip on it...

[@bur1t0]

I had one of those, here in Australia (the land of bugs), they do nothing, other than use power. I noticed after some months that it had degraded, and the frequencies it was putting out were becoming more audible. But it was clear that the things it claimed to keep away weren't bothered by it in the least.

[@brucemibus9523]

For the recent viewers, always remember to check out other videos from our friendly Scot, suggested starting point is Fanny Flambeaux, remember to have a hanky ready! Cheers from Oz.

[@nigelworwood8530]

Well this video only repelled 12 (At the time of writing) So, doing better than the unit featured. Keep up the good work.

[@arturpoldan8816]

I had one, and that one was based on 555 giving out steady 32kHz. Objective was to repeal mosquitoes s but nobody informed mosquitoes that they should be afraid of it, so no effect.

[@nosaltiesandrooshere7488]

👍 Danke fürs Hochladen! 👍 Thanks for uploading! 👍 Very good and beautiful, thank you! 👍 Sehr gut und schön, danke!

[@rogerbird6151]

Do these things really work? I built one around 50 years ago with a horn tweeter. The only thing it disturbed was our pet dog! Thanks Clive for your really enjoyable tutorials. Roger.

[@michaellitscher9456]

"PCB Vice?" Laughs in Big Clive

[@10lauset]

It kept me away from a friend's house for awhile. Cheers

[@Bl4ckD0g]

My roommate bought a bunch of these and plugged them in. I subsequently unplugged them because I couldn't stand the whining pitch they put out, and they did bugger all for pests.

[@robinbrowne5419]

At the robot repair shop. "Grandpa says he has a ringing in his ears." "Hmm.. how long has this been going on?" "Well, it's ever since he bought that pest-repeller on RoBay." 8oO oO~ oO~ oO~

[@MatthewBryce]

Maybe it's not picked up by the microphone or the sound isn't produced by my TV speakers but IRL I can hear these things

[@dl5244]

R10 functions to deplete large 220uF. As built, the RC time-constant is 0.2s. Increasing the value to 10k (as you suggested) would result in a very slow "off" time

[@kevinfarley6981]

3:47 Love the single-digit (index finger) discharge tester.

[@storm_filter]

ty for all the content Clive, cheers

[@AiOinc1]

I wish I could have visited the Meetup but travelling across the world is out of the question for my budget Glad we'll get to see the cool stuff you received though

[@root42]

Scope that PWM of the LED! Maybe they are simply varying the duty cycle? It was for sure much faster than the audio sweep.

[@thomasreiley1658]

Can we please get a “Best of Clive: ‘Has it Discharged Yet?’ Miscalculations???

[@5ba378]

I ran some trials with ultra-sonic repellent gadgets while working in the Entomology Dept at University. They didnt appear to do anything to deter ants, scorpions, crickets, or termites. They MAY have had an effect on cockroaches, but the trial was only that; not a full study.

[@dcallan812]

Very interesting way to PWM the LED.

[@agw5425]

Is there a chans that the ramping frequency of sound can stop or slow the speed at witch the repelled rodents get used to it and starts to ignore it? or are the ramping just to "hit" more sizes and types of vermin? How long do you think it can be effective before the vermin get used to it, and could a timer just running the devise in short intervalls per day make it work for longer or perhaps till it fails or is unplugged?

[@Black3ternity]

Waiting for the day where Clive pokes his fingers across the Cap in order to check if it holds a charge and get one hell of a zing of these things just like over on ElectroBoom :D Stay safe and keep up the real nice work Clive,

[@punkrockllama]

Idk if it's because the ones we had were cheap but then we had them at work many of us could hear them. They also gave most ppl headaches.we couldn't have them in any prep areas only in the dry storage. Places where people aren't just hanging out

[@Fridelain]

It is often possible to hear the harmonics at low volume, but they are high pitched, so maybe not even that with hearing loss

[@just_noXi]

Oh the preview pic shows "..pest repeller" that word must be cropped on my phone. *opens video* Oh ok, today I learned a new meaning of the word pest.

[@ManWithBeard1990]

Interesting thing about ultrasonics by the way: Sometimes you can tell, on a youtube video, when a microphone input doesn't have a low-pass filter in front of the ADC. You hear it occasionally on videos where someone runs up a small jet engine or something else that rises in pitch over time, where you hear the pitch rise, and then come down again as the frequency goes past the Nyquist limit and folds back in on itself. I don't know why but I always found that fascinating. By the way, if you think microcontrollers are boring, it might be interesting to look at more medical devices. Cheap microcontrollers aren't really as viable in those because, well, validating IDEs and bootloaders is sometimes more work than just using discrete logic chips.

[@pmcKANE]

I keep one of those pest repellers in my toolbox. It's a great way to test if a socket face is connected while working on electrics, just in case some other bugger has flipped the breakers back on while everyone else is trying to do some work. Admittedly a proper device would be better, but if that light comes on when I plug it in then someone is getting an earful.

[@robd4361]

We have to measure voltage with a meter while power is present (ensures meter is working), then remove power and Lock Out the energy source, then re-check with the same meter to verify absence of voltage - before performing any work. Let’s stay safe!

[@markstrim]

"Has it discharged yet? ... yes it has" 😂

[@vibys1]

Was good to have you draw out the schematic in real time....did you win the keysight?

[@user-gx6jb6wc5g]

The Keysight scope was a gift from them a while ago.

[@conwaytwt]

The square wave intentionally attracts squares with money, ready to buy a gadget. 💸