eBay LED insect zapper teardown with schematic

[@mtreis86]

I enjoy your dedication to pronouncing misspelled words exactly as they're written.

[@Sethjxl]

The Ron Burgundy of KZbin teardowns.

[@demef758]

@@Sethjxl The Joe Biden of KZbin teardowns...

[@georgecarlinismytribe]

How is your comment 3 weeks old?

[@bartat404]

How the hell is your comment older than the video? Did Clive release this video, take it down, and put it back up?

[@sootikins]

@@georgecarlinismytribe Patreon.

[@mibars]

Photonicinduction once made an upgraded one, using more capacitors of slightly bigger size, operating at about 24 kV. The benefit was that it didn't need cleaning, it was self cleaning by vaporizing everything that was tossed on a grid.

[@Nono-hk3is]

As long as they don't mind inhaling atomized chiton (if they use it indoors, at least).

[@guyh3403]

Shame he died. His video's were awesome to watch!

[@BeezyKing99]

As once popular he was, he has lost his place... guy has simply vanished.

[@MrJef06]

@@BeezyKing99 he went through difficult times in his personal life, then he made a short comeback. Unfortunately he then vanished as you said. I liked his videos quite a lot.

[@luviskol]

Remember seeing a bug zapper in a Bakery in Austria - they had decided to go full on and had cobbled in a neon transformer. Crunchy wasp bits on your Kuchen mein herr?

[@thereare4lights137]

I have a rechargeable version of this, and they do work. The near UV won't attract mosquitoes, but it will attract flies and gnats. I use it indoors as we live next to Lake Erie and get an "abundance" of insects here. The one I have even has a bait cup at the bottom so you can use it to zap other types of annoying bugs as well. These things are a grand idea for indoor home use, to keep your house free of flying tiny pests, lol. Yours is hackable as you can simply replace the LED strips with different UV wavelengths to see which ones attract the most insects. Now that would be a great idea for a video 😉

[@catlord9]

I gifted all my immediate neighbors outdoor bug zappers a few years ago. They all still use them and my property has remained bug-free ever since.

[@Quickened1]

That's the best long term solution I've ever heard of!!! Genius!

[@JessicaFEREM]

Win win lose You win because no bugs They win because no bugs and neighborly gift Bugs lose because they're dead

[@Quickened1]

@@JessicaFEREM They win because the neighbors pay for the electricity! Plus, you don't have to have all those uv lights glaring in your face... Genius... And yeah, you gave all your neighbors gifts, so apple pies and brownies are sure to follow!

[@stephenlamley541]

Pointless where i live basically in a field. We have all tried living rurally though it's a small price to pay

[@willemm]

If you would have given them this one, there's a good chance your property would have been neighbor free :)

[@Nono-hk3is]

According to the HOPI display, it hit 1.9 watts when you stuck the screwdriver in to make it spark. Considering there's probably a high sampling delay on the HOPI, I'd imagine the unit does indeed ht 2 watts.

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

Ah, good. I was just about to note that. Well spotted, Bruce.

[@Nono-hk3is]

Thank you Bruce

[@ziginox]

Yeah, seems they were being slightly naughty about that. It should probably be using the LED power consumption, depending on the listing wording.

[@jkobain]

The biggest treat in this video (for me as a person who watched tens of your videos on the topic) was the user manual read by Clive with serious face just as it was written in Chinglish. I got myself some near-UV LEDs, and apart from curing clear resin, I'm gonna build my own bug zapper and observe if these lights help insects get familiar with the electrocution device or not. Thanks for keeping our interest ignited!

[@jaw2112]

Chinglish lol

[@jurjenbos228]

And don't forget the yellow sticker.

[@zyeborm]

Put enough capacitance across the output of the multiplier and you won't need to clean it ;-)

[@acmefixer1]

Last summer I bought an insect zapper from eBay and it was about $23 US. Since it's 120VAC, they used a HV coil with the windings split into four bobbins. It 's a lantern and uses the UV tubes. It works okay but not in daylight. I had to laugh when I opened it up and found the 3-wire cord's ground wire lug screwed onto a plastic post. 😱

[@HoboWithWifi]

I like how they wrote, "To ensure safety you must connect the ground wine before use it" and then used a plastic earth pin

[@Agent24Electronics]

And there is no ground wine or wire either...

[@hansoverbeeke5442]

Yeah Chinglish😅

[@Martipar]

"Clean dead mosquitoes, flies and pets" Made me laugh very hard, i'm sure some families with a Christmas dog would love one of these.

[@mdouglaswray]

LOVE your commentary and reading the grammar-challenged instructions!

[@markusallport1276]

I always enjoy the translations, they provide hours of entertainment if you've had a few beverages.

[@bennylloyd-willner9667]

I think the neutral/live should be properly tested with the Flllluuuuke (maybe you did and I missed it?) There is no guarantee that they follow the correct color for cables so looking at the blue connected to the switch doesn't have to mean it's the neutral for real.

[@lamerdan]

This video is my favorite of your debugging videos. 👍

[@SometimeWoodworker]

Living in a tropical country where we have both regular mosquitoes and the black & white ones I can assure you that mosquito zappers are a requirement and make life more pleasant, though we usually use the tube light versions. They certainly kill off flying nasties and we have them on timers for all night use. I haven’t tried the LED versions but think they’re probably not too good

[@paulmccoy2908]

That looks like a perfectly reasonable unit. I really like how the LEDs slide right in. I’d turn it on its side so you could compare different colors’ effectiveness by the piles of bodies that accumulate under each.

[@zyeborm]

I'm wanting addressable UV strips now RGBUV? Insect disco!

[@PeterPeer]

I always hear Ssh-chematic in my head now wherever I read that word. Lovely addition to the voices in my head! 😀

[@The_McFortner]

Maybe the 2 watts is when a bug is stuck in the grid and it takes forever for the stupid thing to kill it?

[@vernonbosshard9317]

The first part of the circuit before the bridge a transformerless voltage reducer. It used often in LED power, cheap but it works.

[@assassinlexx1993]

There a special satisfaction when a wasp flys into a zapper. As it is burned to a crisp. One less that can sting you.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

I expected so much worse, given how DiodeGoneWild has had complete death traps every time he tries an insect zapper, such as the one with the self exploding UV lamp. Fascinating to see what appears to actually be a compliant plug on it, UK plugs seem to be the most prone for getting things wrong with questionable electrical imports.

[@michaeltb1358]

Countries which use the UK style plug often ignore the way it is supposed to work. Plugs often have no fuse at all, and circuits are wired at random. I was in a site office where one breaker tripped, and a section of the office lost power to sockets AND lights.

[@jounik]

@@michaeltb1358 ... It's supposed to work? I keed, I keed.

[@samuelfellows6923]

The remains of our “once” British empire have inherited various bits/periods of our electrical system

[@bartat404]

And yet another 3-week-old comment

[@AppleTom9091]

@@bartat404 Clive releases some videos to "members" prior to the general public?

[@paulrowntree2800]

I have visions of Clive with a generator in a wheelbarrow, pounding the mean streets of Ramsey looking for flies.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Imagine that in a post-apocalyptic setting :)

[@johndododoe1411]

Ribbed cable on a stick to hook onto the grid anywhere would be more on point.

[@SquishyZoran]

This would be perfect in a Victorian setting. Instead of a guy with a barrel organ it would be Clive with his zapper hooking on to wires as ​John suggested giving demonstrations of his zapper.

[@loddude5706]

'A purposeful stride, powering the cunningly strung dynamo trousers, some knitted steel gloves & a wicked leer. Finding the IoM tourist board with a brass doorknob, he then liberates two shopping trolleys for extra range . . .' Tune in again for another episode of 'Electric Clive Zaps Ramsey' . . . next time - 'Undue flies at self-checkout' : )

[@1974UTuber]

@Keri Szafir How is your comment 3 weeks old on a video that's only 18 hours old? Do you own a time travelling Delorean and can I borrow it please ?

[@rossl4975]

Your HOPI did read 2W when you were sparking it.

[@micksam7]

We actually use an indoor plasticy version of this at home near a farm. It was a last resort after fly paper and other remedies failed to deal with our fly problem. The LEDs do attract the flies but it seems to be far more effective at night when all the lights are out.

[@GeorgeChristofi]

I have a tube based one here which I bought last year. It really does collect insects rather well and I regularly hear it giving a jolt to unwary flies and moths. I actually bought several and to be honest they do actually work, regardless of how cheaply made they are.

[@NicolaFloris]

I use a similar one, with UV (or near UV) neon lamps. Here in Italy, during the summer, it makes a whole lot of difference. Sure, there's that recurring popping sound, but better than being stung all night.

[@rustymotor]

Reminds me of a dodgy pizza shop in central Australia, they had an old fashioned bug zapper with a pair of 18watt semi black light tubes set up in the pizza making area right above the bench where the delicious pizzas were assembled. I remember going in on a hot summers night to order a meal and the bug light was crackling away due to swarms of flying insects drawn in to the light, I can still see numerous zapped bugs of all varieties and sizes raining down onto that bench and no doubt becoming extra ingredients on top of the pizzas just before going through the ovens!

[@TrailRat2000]

Having bought and tried an LED bug zapper, I can confidently say that nothing seems to be attracted to the thing... Went back to use the bulbs.

[@25566]

Thanks for confirming my suspicion

[@andygozzo72]

@@25566 i tried a little plug sized one with leds, nope, nothing went near it

[@johndododoe1411]

It's 2W peak when something gets zapped. 1.1W is standby consumption. Grounding the anti-touching grid makes safety sense, but someone removed that after they bought the labels.

[@einfelder8262]

I have a cheap bug zapper here in Melbourne, Aust. After a wet 6 months to December, we had a plague of mozzies everywhere. I dug out the zapper and set it outside the back door alcove (under cover) where there were swarms of the buggers. It definitely attracted them and also moths of various kinds, but no flies. I think Aussie flies are smarter than any others in the world, haha. Many sounds of gunshot zaps all day and night. I don't think the mozzies make a sound, but the moths crack up pretty well :)

[@smagnusen]

Yes would appreciate a follow up on how effective it is. Have a dozen of the fluorescent types in factory and tired of changing starters and bulbs. Thank you Clive!

[@dogwalker666]

The real ones have tilt sensors, and fly catcher tray interlocking, I pulled a real one apart because the sensor had corroded.

[@Rorschach1024]

I would expect the missing components on the PC board are there to add an additional voltage doubler stage for use in the US.

[@Tarex_]

In hotels it is used in the trash bin room.. (Trash in hotels in germany at least are supposed to be in a cooled closed room to minimize odors and development of ant, fly, maggot tribesvthat could revolt over the living conditions

[@iRiselyTech]

Due to an extremely annoying potted plant tiny fly infestation, we have quite a few of the annoying in your face tiny flies flying around the house. I bought a 5v USB powered version of one of these in a cylinder shape. UV LED's in the top that are dim like the ones in your zapper, it still attracts the flies and despite being 5v still gives a loud pop and enough voltage to make the flies explode. Quite amusing to watch after one has just flew into your eye and then the zapper

[@SpeccyMan]

flown 😉

[@chriswilson1853]

Fungus gnats. Very annoying!

[@McTroyd]

There's a very old entry in my brain's database that recalls the bugs are chiefly attracted to blue light. That's why yellow/amber outdoor lights were all the rage in the 80s and 90s. Bug zappers only used UV lights because the clear quartz lamps were the efficient way to generate that blue light in those days. (In hindsight, it's a wonder I didn't give myself welder's eye looking at those!) It would be curious to play with the luminescence and color of those LEDs to find out what's more effective. Presuming my memory is accurate, I'd bet a blue/cyan LED would do a better job.

[@fromgermany271]

I bought such LED UV fly catchers 2y ago. The flys bursted out in laughter. Having windows made „fly save“ and an electrocution fly flap helped.

[@Handyman1199]

i have a very similar unit, just much bigger with metal at the bottom and top and 2x 60cm T8 Fluorecant Tubes in blue. The tubes are in Series with a traditional ballast, and there is a 2000V 9mA Transformer in the lid on top too for the high voltage. Ballast is under the top lid as well

[@cherylm2C6671]

That may work well outside. Thank you for your teardown.

[@nobodyuknow4911]

I have a similar-ish size and shape of bug zapper that uses the fluorescent tubes as a "black light" uses, and it works quite well for occasional indoor flies, mosquitos, and even occasional moths.

[@dogwalker666]

We have several of them at work, They are actually a legal requirement in food production.

[@andygozzo72]

we have issues with flies in the summer months and tried an upright mains one with UV tube, nothing, empty, they didnt go near it ...

[@nobodyuknow4911]

@@andygozzo72 Hmmm... I don't know about your specific bug zapper only my own, and unfortunately, I can't accurately measure what nanometer frequency of the purple-into-UV spectrum of light my bug zapper is emitting, but there's nothing other than the light to draw the bugs to their eventual electrical oblivion... I wonder if different manufacturers have slightly different UV fluorescent tubes with slightly different frequencies of purple, near UV, and proper UV spectrums of light coming out of them. But I like my little cheap-ish "LiBa bug zapper" as the Amazon listing called it, but there are of course plenty of same-ish ones on there with different brand stickers on them. I've had mine a while and I think I only put $20 or $25 into it to give it a try. I'm pleasantly surprised with the years of service I've gotten out of even the first set of bulbs, although I only use it occasionally of course.

[@chinanorthairguns]

I can't imagine any bugs that you would find pests being attracted to the light. Moths and beetles would be, but I doubt flies or mosquitoes would.

[@myofficegoes65]

I read somewhere that mosquitoes are mainly attracted to carbon dioxide and not UV light. The pathogens that flies carry tend to get spread into the air when the fly gets vaporized.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

@@myofficegoes65 Without an added attractant station (blood/old meat/offal for flies etc) they would be very lucky to get a hit on flies, mosquitoes or sandflies. However when hung outside under the eaves and powered from dusk to dawn they can significantly reduce the summer invasions of moths, beetles, flying ants and gnats that may plague your evening lights no matter how secure your house has been made. The tube type work best and are easily cleaned with compressed air or a leaf blower.

[@slizeres]

You make a simple thing as a video of a pest killer interesting. Nice work!

[@ralphj4012]

Interesting and lethal (to everything), what more could you ask? I await part 2 / demonstration (early Shango-style, with the sound of you drinking ground wine in the background).

[@twoshirts1842]

I was about to say 25 comments in 30 seconds that is crazy. Then I realized you probably early released somewhere early. Lol. Hope you and your family are well.

[@bigclivedotcom]

As soon as videos are made they are released on Patreon for feedback.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Nice ter down Clive it looks fairly well built !

[@youdontknowme5969]

I just want the LEDs 💜 although I suppose I could have some fun with the HV bits too

[@liquidsonly]

My attitude these days when working on, or just messing about with anything is to pull the plug. Then before doing anything exiting with it, look at the unplugged plug. or have it your (white lab coat obviously) pocket.

[@TheGodpharma]

It does amaze me that after all these years Chinglish hasn't noticeably improved.

[@barrieshepherd7694]

I would think a bit of rotting meat would be more effective at attracting flies than those LEDs! These things need a CO2 generator to attract the flying nasties.

[@mikecowen6507]

I know mosquitoes are attracted to CO2, so that's correct. I'm not certain how well that works for flies. In the past, we got pheromone strips to attract flies. I don't know where to get those today. UV alone (even from a BLB fluorescent tube) were documented as not effective against flies. There are some commercial units that have a blue glow emanating from them, but only as indirect light, so I suspect they use UVC tubes to do all the work. As for their fly attractant, I have no info.

[@barrieshepherd7694]

@@mikecowen6507 The rotting meat will attract the flies 🤣- and yes the CO2 is to get the mozzies and those darn irritating swarms of midges 😂

[@tundramanq]

Might go find one of these LED near UVs. My fluorescent zapper in my home collects everything but flies. I have dark-ish walls so the fly chase is a couple day adventure.

[@Foobar_The_Fat_Penguin]

I once had left the lights on while opening the window in by bathroom after a late-night shower in summer. When I came back, the room was full of little... I guess they were fruit flies? Something like that. I macgyvered together a cheap insect killer by gluing a single blue LED in a transparent cup, filled with soapy water. Next morning, the cup was black from hundreds of dead mini-flies. So I think the LEDs might actually work as insect attractors. Doesn't even have to be near UV, normal blue will probably work as well. Not sure about the gaps in the mesh though. They seem pretty wide.

[@fredbloggs5902]

My dad in his youth made a bug zapper that he hung from the lounge light socket… …all was well until his dad came in and wondering what it was, touched it 😂

[@andygozzo72]

dad zapper .

[@the_hamrat]

Don't forget it's important to turn it off when removing your dead pets

[@tomfromoz]

I picked up a few old zappers with blown tubes, I got some 2 amp 12v transformers that I wired in place of the ballasts and ran some lengths of that "almost 400mn LED" strips along some scrap conduit (on the outside lol) that wedged in place of the tubes. they work well but I should have used more powerful LED's for the brighter part of the Australian mid-summer days lol. It has cost me under AU$10 each to convert them using parts sourced on-line from AliExpress. I have ordered a strip of 5050 LED's to replace the 2835's currently in use.

[@Captain_Char]

The old ones and flowtrons, use just a beefy transformer and a neon bulb to be the flourscent tube starter, which you can swap out for a proper starter, I find the transformer ones more reliable

[@albear972]

I somehow have a feeling that flies won't be attracted to LED's as much as old fashioned fluorescent tubes.

[@olegvelichko1659]

Fun fact - the English word "tension" literally translates as "potential" (in reference to voltage) to some languages.

[@paranoiia8]

I think it hit 1.9W when you zap it so maybe thats why they called it 2W?

[@mdouglaswray]

"...so DON'T take it in the bath with you..." GOOD TO KNOW!!

[@sjokomelk]

I bring mine with me in the shower every morning. Should I stop doing that? 🤣

[@jaw2112]

Nah mate you’ll be fine, Ive got four of these and place them in the corners of my hot tub these kill two birds with one stone they provide excellent lighting and kill all the mosquitoes and moths.

[@bennylloyd-willner9667]

I don't mind when the speaker pops. It's when the ears under the headphones pop I mind 😁

[@dashcamandy2242]

I rather like the "near-UV" color of LED. I was hoping to get a set of those "meteor shower" lights in that color when I selected "Purple" as color choice, and was quite disappointed to find I had received a set that were "Magenta." I literally plugged them in for one second, said "oh, no, no, nononono" and slid them back in the box over a year ago. Please, manufacturers, call that color MAGENTA, especially since it is quite close in color to magenta printer ink. It is NOT purple! 😠 /end mini-rant We used to use a propane-fueled mosquito trap. It was a pretty interesting unit, the propane burner emits CO₂, gently warms a tube with mosquito attractant, and also powers a 5mm domed LED multicolored "blinkinlights" display that includes an always-on near-UV LED, and a PC fan that sucks nearby insects into a mesh-bottomed drawer. Around the propane tank is a super-sticky collar with black and white triangles printed on it. The whole point of the design is that mosquitos are attracted to specific scents, CO₂, colors, heat signatures, and stark contrast. The machine offers all of these at the cost of one propane tank a month (or three weeks, if you do those not-quite-full tank swaps at your local gas station, Walmart, Staples, etc.). We needed it badly as there are wetlands immediately in back of our property (western side), nearby wetlands to our east less than 1/4 mile away, plus an abandoned planned subdivision's roadway drainage bordering our acreage on two sides... Mosquitos were plentiful, and when online sources tell you they don't come out in full sun, I can disagree wholly. When experts say mosquitos don't come out in winter, that is also incorrect - I actually got bit by one a few years back, a week before Christmas, when daytime highs were 37°F (3°C) and there was 2" of melting snow on the ground. The super-sticky tank collar became a problem when we had a massive Gypsy Moth caterpillar issue about a decade ago. Tank was covered with the little buggers, as were our cars, the garage wall... In the dead of night when there was no other sound, all you could hear outside was caterpillar poop raining down from the trees. Most of our trees were stripped of leaves, five or six trees ended up dying, and the caterpillars started eating types of leaves they don't normally eat, which led to some of them dying - dead caterpillars would fall out of trees and into hair or items being carried from the car to the house. (Other parts of Connecticut were hit even harder than we were.) The drain holes in the bed of my pickup would fill with swollen caterpillar poop when it rained, plugging them up and the bed would be full of leaf bits, frog-egg-like slimy poop balls, and green stinky water. I actually kept a stick near my truck to poke through the blockages because it was such a problem. But I digress, as I often do. We stopped using the trap after a massive hurricane swept through, it seems one subspecies of mosquitos from Southeastern US got "sucked up" into the storm and dropped into the Northeast. We had to order both types of attractant, which when used in conjunction appeared less-effective for both types of mosquitos, and it was getting increasingly-harder to find a retailer nearby that would refill our tanks to FULL so we could get a full month out of them. Nature ended up solving the problem for us, as it often can given enough time, as every summer now we have 4-5 well-fed bats circling the yard nightly and there's been a massive increase in the number of tree frogs ("peepers") that come out early and hibernate later than surrounding areas. (It gets so loud at times that we have to speak loudly when we're outside, but I still feel we ended up with the better deal, less risk of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Zika, and West Nile, and it didn't cost us a penny!)

[@robames1293]

Thanks, interesting. In Australia we are just over the peak of the worst floods in decades on our main river (Murray) and others. The threat of mosquito bourne Encephalitis is now great.

[@BRUXXUS]

Well, it's no "Electron go out mosquito Small a night lamp", but really, nothing else is.

[@AnkurFFM]

I have bought something very similar two years ago. Firstly, not effective on mosquitos - as these do NOT react strongly onto UV. Mosquitos go for CO2 and smell. Second, if you have that overnight getting the attention of a moth or fat fly, it makes a sound like a 22 shot going off and having it burned down with arcs and a really awful smell. Cannot recommend it unless your issue are moths and flies rather than misquitos. Have mine with a timer only switched on for 2 hours before bedtime. So if there are flies and moths, thats it. No need to illuminare a bedroom with LEDs and being woken up by a big BANG in the middle of the night.

[@lethalz9]

Such thrills. Much excitement.

[@Systemrat2008]

Good for mosquitos and some other flying bugs, but useless for flies. We have similar units in Australia and the ones for flies use an attractant, a powder mixed with water, to attract flies in a tray at the bottom of the unit. I thought any flies would freeze to death in the UK 🙂

[@gibbyrockerhunter]

Aside from the obvious and also mentioned, one of my favorite things about this channel is hearing you say “oout-pout.”

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Nice one Clive, very pretty. Elegant schematic, not seen it layed out that way b4. ;)

[@jaymahaffey4133]

Last time that I know about where anybody published a paper about this the results were disappointing to say the least. I don't remember the exact numbers but of the thousands of insects killed, only a few were mosquitos and only a few of those were female. Entertaining, yes; mosquito killing, not likely. Thanks for the videos. I have that paper somewhere if you would like to see it.

[@seannot-telling9806]

Clive, I have always wondered what you do with all the items you take apart. Do you have a big pile of stuff from China or put it away into cabinets neatly?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Some gets kept and some gets stripped for parts.

[@grantrennie]

Thanks for the great video Clive 👍

[@KeritechElectronics]

Oh no! Neither me nor Fran can take it apart! :D Nice, simple circuit here.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes. It's a very sexist zapper. But it's OK, because you and Fran are defiant of authority.

[@KeritechElectronics]

@@bigclivedotcom absolutely! Once an anarchist, forever an anarchist :)

[@bob_mosavo]

Thanks, Clive 😁

[@Omapk]

Bug zappers (uv) don't really attract mosquitos at all, you need some kind of bait for that. They are attracted to CO2. What the lights do attract are moths, which are usually considered "Good" bugs you don't want to kill.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Having had an issue with indoor moths in the past, I'd be happy for them to be attracted to the unit. Outdoor moths are fine.

[@dcallan812]

Ground wine? well I figure that would be very dry. 🤦‍♂ They could do with cleaning up the tracks on the board and remove some f the holes. Over time they would save a penny of two. 👌 A nice spicy bit of Chinese's zappyness. 👍👍

[@maxusboostus]

I was wondering if the Neutral actually went to the blue wire that was showing, if it was the live then the switch would actually be switching the live. Therefor two wrongs making a right.

[@GNARGNARHEAD]

oh nice I bought one of the fluorescent tube ones a few months back and it was a bug killing machine, but the tubes went out and trying to replace anything was proving more expensive than the unit. here's lookin' out Big Clive

[@MARKE911]

So what's the recovery rate? I live in the Deep South of the United States. Our National Bird is the Bald Eagle but I think the mosquitoes is more popular answer here. We go through at least 2-3 bug zappers a year. cost us about $50 each. They all burn out and stop working. I had one that when a bug touched, it took what seemed like one second to recharge before the next bug would be zapped blowing off their wings. Is there anything I can do to make them last more than a season. One zapper takes about 2 months to fill a 5 gallon bucket up with mosquitoes, beetles and other winged insects. I thought it was due to the high humidity so I sprayed the boards with Conformal Coating. Still got the same results. They are outdoors but under a roof away from rain and direct sunlight. The lizards and frogs love sitting under the zapper each night.

[@fredbloggs5902]

My worry about most zappers is that they attract the wrong insects. Mosquitos and gnats are attracted mainly by smell and CO2. It’s the innocent moths that are getting zapped ☹️

[@GrimReaping]

A lot of the new zappers have attractant pads to bring in the mosquitos. They still havent solved the moth killing problem though.

[@michaeltb1358]

Those innocent moths once ate my best suit

[@samuelfellows6923]

@@michaeltb1358- clothes moth ~ we had those eating the carpet in our lounge

[@ChrisDePrisco]

You should get another one and swap the LEDs for another color and put them both out and see which one collects more bugs!

[@kbjerke]

I *LOVE* the translations from Chinese. Or Japanese, for that matter. Very entertaining!

[@amojak]

chinglish

[@kbjerke]

@@amojak THAT'S it!!!

[@rich_edwards79]

I had an ancient one of these that used a blue-tinted incandescent tube-shaped bulb with an Edison screw fitting. It worked really well until the bulb burned out and turned out to be no longer available. I replaced it with a CFL version which doesn't seem to work as well :(

[@bigclivedotcom]

The lamp has to be UVA. A disco blacklight style CFL should work.

[@SigEpBlue]

I guess you're screwed if you're a skilled woman without ground wine.

[@steviecandtheplace2b]

I get quite a few wasps in the workshop/attic in summer, and I’ve noticed they’re attracted to my Gallium pcbs and USB trees; so I’m thinking of buying a zapper and replacing the leds with RGB ones….

[@bigclivedotcom]

I wonder if it's the moving pattern of light.

[@kingey71]

I modded an old one from the 80s where the hv had died with a neon sign transformer. Let’s just say anything that comes near the grid don’t stand a chance 😂

[@AintBigAintClever]

A wet (e.g. licked) nylon cable tie is good for getting an angry response from the bug zapper :) Obviously don't hold it by the wet bit!

[@SnappyWasHere]

When you try to kill some flies this summer it would be interesting if you tried different light to see which attracted the most bugs since it appears east to modify.

[@fredflintstone1]

Just a thought but I have (well the wife bought) some yellow canvas deck chairs, now they attract midges like mad, put a blue one next to it and they ignore the blue one and just cover the yellow one, just a thought try yellow leds instead and compare results 🙂

[@georgecarlinismytribe]

According to an LED Expert website, insects are attracted to 300-420nm, so you should be ok, Clive. Maybe another video when you test it?

[@alankingvideo]

I have a very similar Chinese unit, LEDs pretty blue, didn't expect it to work. But when I took it of the wall after 6 months, full of at least 100 fruit flies. And a few bigger ones.

[@d.t.4523]

How do I make it work on people that bug me? Good luck! 👍

[@hinspect]

I bought a cheap assed sandblaster a few years ago and it had a proud looking sticker on it that claimed it was "Made In Chian"

[@BedsitBob]

Do you power it with electricity, from the National Glid? 😁

[@pjuk]

Bought one of these sort of things from Amazon but with tubes. Flies buzzed near it and ignored it. I think they only really work well if it's pretty dark, as only time it zapped one was when I left it on at night and I thought someone has been shot it was that loud. I assume an LED one would give off even less light. Wonder if regular LED hue strips would work if put on purple UV kinda colour.

[@JendaLinda]

I'd say diffused white LEDs would be more likely to attract anything.

[@davelister796]

To attract flies better, place a wee bit of meat behind the grids. The flies are attracted to rotting meat. They want to lay their eggs in it. Putrefying meat may also attract mosquitoes better too.

[@Stefan_Van_pellicom]

You mention “it’s just a capacitive dropper” in every other video. Would you mind explaining that part of a circuit in some more detail in an upcoming video?

[@kousakasan7882]

I have the older fluorescent tube version of that.

[@jackking5567]

Rodalco will be watching this intensely.

[@8o86]

"and pets"

[@bikesandbrass]

It looked like when you shorted it the hopi showed 1.9W maybe that's what they were talking about for the 2W claim?

[@prow7]

1:14 why not use in restaurant or hotel? I can understand not using this in hosiptal though.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's not good enough for a commercial environment where they do need to deal with flies.