Inside a bug zapper racket / racquet , with schematic.

[@mattakudesu]

I actually have to thank you Clive. I have worked in electronics manufacturing doing low skill assembly work for over 8 years now and have never bothered to learn how electronics worked. Well I tried for like a couple weeks due to an ever present job scare, but then got caught up in other (lazier) habits and kind of stopped. When I came across your channel though, I felt comfortable looking at electronics because you are there to basically give a rough (sometimes thorough) and easily understandable explanation of the cheap gadgets you buy. This has revived my interest in electronics and now I consider it something of a hobby. My knowledge is still the most basic of the basic, but I am working on it with the help of your videos. Please give me your knowledge senpai ,but please be gentle.

[@miniwarrior7]

look into the arduino community! Electronics + Software with tons of through instructions

[@sebimoe]

+Jonathan Green Clive-senpai - you killed me

[@mattakudesu]

***** all great suggestions, thanks peeps.

[@GeoMatRay]

I came to know about him from the web, while looking to build an ionizer and an ozone generator. He teared-down a commercial product and showed how exactly it worked. Was later pleasantly surprised to find him on KZbin. Sure, there are many places where you can learn about electronics, but this gentleman somehow keeps things interesting and not too intimidating even for beginners. Many people can teach, but not everyone is a good teacher. He has what it takes to be good.

[@redoverdrivetheunstoppable4637]

electronics rules!! knowing it has the same use of knowing computers but software is a bit boring at the end, you can come up with the best piece of software ever made and everybody will say: "mh mh"... that's not the same thing with electronics, and you use you hands that is also a subjet on it's own

[@fizzyplazmuh9024]

We have similar versions in the U.S. and I rip the racquet off and mount contacts in the end and just plug them in when I need HV sources for plasma displays and general tinkering with. Also got tired of wee batteries going dead so I installed a fat 18650 rechargeable in the handle. Also installed a proper power switch so I could stop stunning myself. And thank you for doing such wonderful videos. Your efforts and warnings will likely save me, er... delay my eventual death by electrocution. If the isotopes don't do me in first. Good thing about being an old fart. Cancer has no teeth as a threat anymore.

[@brianallen9810]

I've got several of these, some are better than others. It seems that the cheaper ones from discount stores are the more powerful ones, and they maintain they're charge for a long time. These are a real hoot to use on warm summer nights, you can really do a number on the no-see-ums and skeeters.

[@quantumleap359]

+Brian Allen Yep, I stock up on them when China Freight has a blow out sale on them. They do make nice fireworks on summer night bugs.

[@drkastenbrot]

I love how you measure caps in Picofarts now.

[@NitroGuyJH]

That’s hilarious bro, I picked up on the same thing lmao. Noticed I’m the only comment 4 years later lol

[@PhilXavierSierraJones]

Some even cheaper, nastier versions have NO discharge resistor, and they're dipped in some sort of reclaimed wax, probably scraped off the bin at the candle factory. Some versions have rechargeable "Li-ion" or "li-ion" or "lion" cells in it, which is actually really extremely cheap sealed lead acid battery or Ni-MH/Ni-Cd cells, typically at around 2.7V. Some do have swappable batteries, or a basic capacitor dropper based charging circuit which, obviously, has no discharge resistor in it. Some versions have flashlight built into it, sometimes with a generic garden light circuit hacked into boost converter mode. But most of the times, they just have four straw hat LEDs wired in series.

[@getcartercarpark8744]

I had one of the earlier versions with individual high voltage grid wires. It didn't last long, after swatting a very large bluebottle fly and I clipped the wall with the racket and all the individual grid wires came lose and fell out. Bluebottle fly one, bug zapper nil! I was never any good at racket sports either..... I found if you use rechargeable cells it kills the bug zapper, but it is OK to use alkaline cells, I guess it's down to the internal resistance of the cells, alkaline cells having a higher internal resistance than NiMh cells, and your average bench PSU. I'm on to my 4th Bug Zapper, I also found that if you zap one of the larger bugs (larger than a UK miggie) you will find that the bug zapper only stuns the bug, you have to be quick to retrieve the stunned bug and dispose of/dispatch it before it wakes up and plays merry hell with you for zapping it! K Watt.

[@pear7777]

The person that cooked this up, should get the Nobel prize.

[@cannibol9009]

The secondary circuit contains diode (connecting 100pF and 22nF) in the forward path while charging all 3 capacitors. This diode stops the current from the 2kV capacitor reaching the metal net during discharge, thus reducing a potential risk of nasty burns. The other 2 diodes are used for safe discharge of 100pF and 2.2nF through the 22MOhm resistors to avoid shock from the 2kV capacitor when the bat is not in use. At any given point the 22nF capacitor contains 2kV potential and charge (so be careful while disassembly), since it has no path to discharge.

[@cambodianexpress8557]

If you're looking on how to soup these up to be more lethal on bugs like I was... this is the wrong channel. He just discusses how they work.

[@Kepe]

A friend of mine modified one of the older models with the alternating wires to accept a 9V battery. One drunken night I turned the thing on and stuck my tongue into it. I must say it was a proper jolt, my tongue felt numb for minutes, and it felt weird for hours.

[@worddunlap]

I took electronics two times in degree programs. The first time was at the end of the vacuum tube era with very few semi-conductors and the second after almost all the tubes had been replaced. Electron flow vs conventional current flow, in theory from a bunch of dusty professors that all had severe issues getting along with humans. I have been damaged by my experience, learning all the math and then learning it again exactly backwards. Because of my skills I normally was placed in the head of departments, maintenance, electrical and electronics but not confined to the areas. I was always doing what I loved. It's snice to see another electricity/electronics person doing what they love.

[@PeteVanDemark]

Why not eliminate the discharge resistors to give the transistor light duty? Pump up the 2kV capacitor and let it ride. Push the button once in a while to replace the cap leakage. Just keep your pinkies out of the mesh!

[@Captain_Char]

I had the old style one with the bars, and when it was on, it had a terrible whistle/whining noise from the high voltage

[@joshuahaynie3431]

A friend of mine had one of the older ones with the horizontal grids and decided to tap me on the shoulder while I was doing some electrical work in his house. Once I recovered I moved all the switches around in his 4 gang switch box in his den. he goes to turn on his den lights and the bathroom lights come on.

[@HMPirates]

lol

[@MazeFrame]

+Joshua Haynie You deserve the "Do not f with me award"

[@wdave6944]

+Joshua Haynie Yeah. Furniture movers... ok. Delivery personal... ok. Retail vendors... no problem. But you don't mess with electricians... or plumbers ;-)

[@Borednesss]

+wdavid parks As long as the furniture movers or delivery men aren't home alone with your wife =P

[@wdave6944]

She prefers electricians - one in particular :P

[@mrAmd54321]

Kodak batteries...... Worst batteries I've ever used! Great video again. Thanks

[@hugeshows]

I think the old style ones you mentioned simply solved the wiring headache of interleaved bars by simply using something approximate to two combs facing each other.

[@andrea_frm_dubt8977]

I purchased one of these a few years ago, and discovered that it did not have a discharge resistor when I picked it up to tap a fly and the bat bit me. we did find however, that we could hang the bat near a window and press the button to charge it and if we heard a pop just push the button again, we used to charge the bat (press the button) once or twice a day unless there were a lot of flies, in which case we would charge it every hour or when we heard it pop

[@GRBtutorials]

Or you could just have used some tape on the button...

[@nationalfactory6668]

GRBTutorials the transistor would get hot

[@6F6G]

Most of these low cost zappers can't kill insects, just stuns them for a minute then they fly off (unless you step on them while they are down). Probably would be better with a bigger capacitor. Forget 22nF, are 2200F supercapacitors available with high voltage ratings yet? (Elephant zapper).

[@stevecraft00]

I have one of these at work. Without the warning sticker on though! Didn't realise what it was at first. Thought it was one of those "wack something and I make a noise" bats, so stuck my finger in it. OUCH! Not nice. I'd be interested to know exactly what voltage and frequency is on those outputs. I am young enough to still be able to hear very high frequencies and I can hear something come from this in a quiet room.

[@bigclivedotcom]

High frequency from the power supply, but DC on the wires at about 1-2kV.

[@qchemp420]

They have changed the Harbor Freight zappers. An older one that worked well until the kids busted the head, was wired like yours. The newer ones suck, no satisfying snap; they have the output circuit changed to one diode, two resisters, the large capacitor, and no smaller capacitors.

[@chasingcapsaicin]

How do we make this, ehh, say more Darth inducing, and robust. I dang been modding these since the first one knocked out and was tossed my way. Been going with a standard 2-4 times the cap 'size' v+f, that being mostly a problem both in size, fitting the burger back in there. Swiping out 3V for 9V as a supply, waiting for it to go out again or get bashed against another wall. Surprised, it works so marvelously with just that and no other changes or modifications necessary, sans requisite un-shorting the grid and putting it back together much to my surprise. Would have though I had to tune the oscillator but na. The HV mylar being the most valuable thing there and more than the set, surprised many of my bench tech's that had never seen that type of cap fail a tester and still intact. Need to make skeeter piper into more than, ya third degree burns stink, be it you or them. We get them here taking two D cell's, lots of room, thinking reuse 18650's or for slam me down, how dare risk venting a nice 26650. I would be open to a selection of fusing, thermal, protection. Looking for that misted bug, not a mad hornet.

[@philno]

i was pondering using one of these as an igniter, for my portable home made hot air gun, which is essentially a few gas tins, a large dog food tin cut to resemble somewhat a jet engine combustion chamber )

[@philno]

i did build it.... facebook.com/welshmanic/videos/vb.586332110/10152853604042111/?type=3&theater

[@bigclivedotcom]

+phil no Aha, from that video it is clear you are a bachelor.

[@philno]

i was.... many years ago....:-)

[@thoriumriver]

Photonicinduction added a few caps to the thing. Result: much bigger bang!

[@BaronVonBeef]

I've poked my fingers into nasty places on more than one occasion in the past

[@jaywalt1311]

lol!

[@kristina80ification]

+Max Beefsteak Haven't we all? ;)

[@seanrodden6151]

There's a vid around somewhere of a girl who touches a nipple to one of these zap bats. Cripes, chief!

[@leplum2001]

+Kandi Gloss Show me now! ;)

[@masterzedd4]

+Sean Rodden I've seen that, she cries...

[@Landrew0]

I've got one wired up to 4.5V continuous. It's slightly warm after running it for a few hours. It makes a louder snap than before with 3V from batteries.. I've got it positioned over a fruit fly trap to kill them all as they try to go in.

[@g2macs]

I've had one of these for years.....it is the best mossie killer I have ever had. Don't kill spiders though, they stink when they get crispy.

[@tony_w839]

There is a hack of these zappers to convert them into static grass applicators for model railways. They are on sale on ebay for around £15. Professional applicators sell for upto £100 and one on Amazon was priced at £753 maybe an error on pricing????

[@andrewlee9111]

I've purchased maybe 5 of these. They work great in the beginning but after a while, the zap is just not strong enough to zap the insects that fly into the mesh. Battery is good. The on light is lit when the button is pressed. When I hit the inner mesh, it sparks but it just stops zapping bugs. Any ideas??? I would love to be able to fix rather than having to purchase new ones.

[@CharlieFlemingOriginal]

I got two about three years ago from Poundland. One for home and one for work. The work one held its charge after the button was pressed is it faulty then? I still have both of them, the last really well I expected them to break but they survived being slammed about. They are addictive though... once you zap a fly you want more!

[@jort93z]

yeah those simple ones you talked about at the start without any safeties hurt quite a bit. nasty things.

[@TheMaziqueen]

Does anyone else read the summary in your head with Clive's voice?

[@myth-termoth1621]

Putting the primary on the emitter side protects the transistors emitter-base junction from the high voltage spike. If primary and feedback coils are identical then a high negetive voltage will be applied to both emitter and base so there will be no net difference. If the feedback is a smaller inductance then the junction will be forward biased and the 470 ohm will limit the current and stabilise the voltage. The original version seemed to have a higher chance of getting the insect into the circuit with its simpler weave and finer wires. Put nicads in them and the voltage is quite fly-frying, with a good chance of light, crack, smoke and smell all being emitted from the victim.

[@BrightSpark]

My mum had one of the bug zapper rackets with alternating rods back when I was still living with her. I got a weird sense of pleasure out of frying dead flies on them until I smelled something that wasn't dissimiliar to gunpowder.

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Bright Spark The bugs really stink when they start to smoke.

[@FurryWrecker911]

I put my hand on one of these to wipe a dead fly out of it once. Didn't notice I was holding the button. Boy that was an unpleasant experience. Entire arm was sore. Not sure if I'm remembering this correctly, but mine took two D cells

[@nitrogen76]

The previous owners of my house left us one of these. Its the most useful little bug killin gadget EVER. I had never seen one until we moved in here.

[@alexanderthomas2660]

I still have one of the very first models that ever hit the market, it had quite a more complicated circuit. It was also easy to tune this circuit to considerably boost the voltage output. I brought it up to about 2.7 kV. It does not merely zap mosquitoes, it pretty much vaporises then, very satisfying (aside from the smell).

[@auto396]

i like how the smoke smells (the electrical smoke not the normal smoke) no idea why

[@auto396]

oh and i dont smoke noone in my family smokes

[@PeterEdin]

I have one of these, virtually identical in design, with subtle differences and dismantled it as I played this video. My pcb is slightly different, with only 1 large capacitor, same transistor and transformer. Your Poundland one looks better quality inside than mine which I inherited, so supplier unknown.They work great. Swatted an annoying fly at work and works great with wasps.

[@JessHull]

that "circuit board" looks like something I built in elementary school

[@gadgetdan1]

Just purchased a newer version of this bat. They eliminated the discharge resistors from the circuit board, so it still has one good zap in it AFTER the button is released.

[@pierreuntel1970]

there is rechargeable version which use lead acid battery and a capacitive dropper as a charger

[@muppetpaster]

I have the alternating(grillstyle) one.....my little niece grabbed it to play the guitar on.....Boy oh boy did we have a laugh.....as she actuated the switch on accident while strumming along with some music.....She now has the greatest respect for the thing......lol....

[@leplum2001]

Exactly what is the value of a nanofart Clive? :)

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Le Plum It's exactly 1000 picofarts.

[@frtard]

+bigclivedotcom So the magic smoke is... methane?

[@crashsitetube]

You can replace the 2 AA cells with a single 14500 Li-ion cell and make the fly swatter somewhat more powerful (about 3.7V instead of the 3V of the alkalines). Just put the 14500 in one side of the battery holder and put a conductive spacer the size of a AA cell (or solder a wire across) to complete the battery circuit. I've modified the Harbor Freight ones (use 2 D cells), using an 18650 Li-ion cell and some centering and pass-thru stuff. This fly zapper is much easier to mod.

[@doktoruzo]

Hi Clive I have just bought one of these off ebay and it just stuns the flies.. Is there any easy way of making it more powerful so that it actually kills the bastard things instead of them just laughing at me?

[@tennicktenstyl]

you can fry the flies so they begin to smoke, sometimes their heads even pop lol. but seriously, stunning is enough to keep that bitch from flying and clean it.

[@9HighFlyer9]

most painful shock I ever received was from one of these. An overzealous swing resulted in the frame separating. While trying to snap it back together I managed to close the circuit via the negative in one hand and positive into the other. Those electrons doing what they do, took the shortest path. Up my arm across my chest and down the other arm. I do a lot of remodel work so I've grown accustomed to a 110V joly occasionally. Stun guns? Uncomfortable but localised. I've been Tased(not directly police related) and while intensely debilitating the shocks weren't anything compared to that $4 fly swatter. I'm fairly certain that I came close to getting a ride to the hospital that day.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Nanofarts. Brilliant. Have you seen my comment on the led ripple projector about combining it with the multicolor disco light?

[@petersage5157]

It's amazing how the more you learn about electronics the more you start seeing the same building blocks over and over again. I was genuinely surprised to see a joule thief on the primary side of that circuit.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Every electrical/mechanical device breaks down into blocks. The first part if fault identification is to work out which block has failed and then explore it further. Some of the most fun circuitry to reverse engineer is the stuff where they have blended the functions of different blocks to economise. It's like an electronic puzzle working out how they designed it.

[@PhilXavierSierraJones]

The alternate bar type thing is really good at batting big bugs but is very unsafe to use, while the mesh type is safer to use but useless if they're too big.

[@kristina80ification]

reminds me of the wire weaves I used to make as art as a teenager. I also found they ended up making really good antenas for AM and shortwave radio, wonder if these things would too, disconnected from the power of course.

[@johnhutchinson5398]

I opened on of these bug zappers open and made me a self defense weapon and so it worked so well I got another one and made a fish shocker out of it. Lol 😂 funny what a mind can come up with. And they are also fun when running two wires to you bird feeder and zapping squirrels. Some never goes to my feeders again but there’s some really stubborn squirrels that I think likes the feeling. Lol. Great video once again Clive.

[@bikecontroller3268]

How many volts in these raquets? How many amps when it discharges ? I'm too scared to touch it and feel the shock .I once disassembled a disposable camera flash ; the part that says 'Danger do not open here ' I was sitting on a metal bedstead and I got quite a shock.

[@memyselfandi6422]

I've got a bug zapper *exactly* like the one in this video and I've accidentally zapped myself a few times and it hurts like hell, you don't even have to press the button to get zapped either as long as the batteries are in it and you happen to accidentally touch the metal grate then you get zapped.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It sounds like it doesn't have a discharge resistor so it holds a charge after being used.

[@ghost_ship_supreme]

I love these, they work very well. Especially with flys and mosquitos.

[@absoleet]

I would prefer the discharge resistors to be a lot lower so that the main capacitor can still hold the charge for about a minute after releasing the button. It makes it easier to hold while swatting flies without having to press on the button all the time.

[@rfburns5601]

Thanks for showing this. Bought one of these at the annual spring tent sale at the local hardware store. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

[@MisterBones2910]

The old ones with the alternating wires were so much better. They killed bugs more reliably, didn't catch them inside to cook as often, and- if you were so inclined- zapping your buddies was easier.

[@mikaelmleczko1984]

220 nano farts

[@eddiespencer1]

Nano farts have a cumulative affect, lol.

[@krashd]

220 nano farts is the fuel required to travel between Earth and Ork.

[@macforme]

I heard that too... thot he was just being funny... can't help it tho. nanofarad Clive.... there's a D ... not T. lmao

[@kirkstallings30]

@@krashd ⁶6y 5hrs

[@kirkstallings30]

@@macforme 7⁷7 eye was 43w e⁸tt7 788887g8 79HRS that

[@hsupss]

I looked at several of these zappers and typically they generate ~1500v. The output capacitors there are 0.22 to 0.33uF and are rated only @ 630V so they wouldn't last very long. I replaced the output capacitor with what is called "X2" capacitors (much more expensive capacitors), they are designed for direct AC line application and they can handle peak voltages of up to 2500V. Also you can replace the capacitor with larger value 0.47 to 1.0uF (any larger value wouldn't fit in the case) which will produce much larger energy spark.

[@sebastiankusyk7764]

In my one, transistor's base is connected to batteries without any resistor, just through the feedback winding. However, the base is also connected (parallel) to some other winding probably from the secondary side in series with resistor.

[@xephorce]

I am about to turn one of these into a static grass applicator. trying to be cheap. My first one was a failure but I think I got some non functioning parts from china so ya i should have know. but I seen some vids of people doing this so I am gonna try. about the transistor getting hot from continual use, what do u suggest as a replacement for it?

[@blackbird1234100]

now take the out put and put it through a spark gap then a flyback transformer from tv.

[@MF-le7fp]

Great video! This is the video that gained me as a new sub for you about three years ago. Well, I'm back here again this morning to ask you to please consider doing a "Part 2" to this zapper video, if you have the time, of course. One thing I would definitely be interested in seeing is how one would go about checking the voltage output on any given unit, using a multimeter (if that's possible to do, without torching the average budget meter). And the second thing (of course!), would be to see you mod one of these to increase it's effective "dispatching" power. Thanks for any reply! 👍

[@coondogtheman]

Thank you Clive for doing a video on these zappers they are the greatest thing ever. I have about a dozen of these and have fixed and modified many. I've fried tons and tons of bugs on these it's so fun. I have some videos of mine. search "bug zapper" on my channel. Also I might try to make a CCFL driver circuit using the guts of one of these zappers.

[@anguinusvir6698]

Nano farts? Really? Ok. Enough internet for a day.

[@ruuddegraaf886]

Nice going Clive! Actually the used schematics differ from different manufacturers, but the basics are all the same. If you want to zap fruitflies with those standard zappers it won't work because the fruitflies are too small and just fly through the mesh. Because we had a lot of them at home, I bought 2 zappers and used only the middle finer grid to assemble a zapper with 2 of those finer grids. I also had to bring the meshes closer together. I did that with my soldering iron, just by melting the plastic between the meshes a bit. Now I can zap them like crazy! However, a lot of those fruitflies where only dizzy after the zap treatment, so I also had to use the capacitor of the disassembled left over zapper to double the charge capacity and now I no longer have use of this 'fruitfly zapper' because they are all dead haha. They even sometimes exploded! You could also use the vacuum cleaner to suck them up, but believe me this is much more fun...

[@andrewlee9111]

Mine works pretty well with fruitflies although some do miss the mesh. About 80% effective I think.

[@bgregg55]

built my own flying insect killer using a cheap artists light box covered with clear sticky fly paper. i keep it on top of the frig. it works beautifully.

[@chems]

TEACH ME HOW TO OVER CLOCK IT PLEASE

[@bigclivedotcom]

+chems Simply add a mains lead.

[@ajburdett882]

why overclock it? what are you trying to kill? horses? it's plenty powerful enough already to kill flies 😂

[@Smaxx]

+Adam Burdett Make it ionize the air as well, so one swing and the dust is gone. :D

[@GeoMatRay]

+Smaxx It already does that. If you switch a powerful one on and put it close to your nose, you will smell ozone. I actually do that test before buying one to verify that it really is outputting high enough voltages to fry mosquitoes easily. It would also give off a glow in the dark.

[@GeoMatRay]

Seriously though, you could add some cockcroft-walton multiplier stages at the end. You might need a higher voltage rated capacitor.

[@parody4042]

people miss used these by using then as a regular swat and hit against a hard surfaces thus breaking it rather that batting it as it flies about the room

[@theevilone]

Ah, the return of the nanofarts

[@realvanman]

It would be interesting to know what the input current is on no load, as well as the ultimate voltage that the cap and grids charge up to....

[@AintBigAintClever]

Got one in the office, I've upgraded the output cap to give it a touch more oomph (no not a motor start cap, it's a BIT more oomph not Green Mile in a bat).

[@MrOpenGL]

I have a similar racquet, but it has an Europlug on the back of the handle and the usual capacitor dropper that charges the batteries. The problem is that of course while they supply the batteries, the cover arrangement for the compartment is the same as the ones without charging plug, so you can get shocked if you open the compartment while it's plugged in :D I seem to have some superpower that allows me to find large quantities of dodgy capacitor dropper-powered devices (this, the weird lantern that shocks you if you touch the USB output or the batteries, and a battery charger with no discharge resistor and exposed terminals) :D

[@Shiruvan]

I actually replaced the battery inside with an external case for single rechargeable 3.7v 18650 battery so I can swap a freshly-recharged one at ease, as a bonus, it also gave it extra zapping power. after some good uses(over a year of regular use), I think I blew the capacitor first instead, that brown one on the end of the circuit, is that it? it seems to have spewed some waxy stuff around it, and have visible damage.

[@rogersmith9808]

#1 - You get a much better grade of "junque" at your pound stores than we do here at our dollar stores. I bought one of these several years ago at "Harbor Freight Tools" (a tool store that sells mostly Chinese made tools) and think I paid $2-3 on a coupon sale price. #2 - I remember that I once made really solid contact with a big fat bee and when I hit it, it went "crack"!! And then I saw what appeared to be a glowing ember went a flying!!! ;^) lol

[@darrannewman7113]

Some of the early ones used a 9v battery and would realy cook bluebottles to the point they would explode. Not seen them for years though.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

i wish our dollar stores would carry stuff like this! $1 sci calc are nice, but i want more stupid stuff to buy

[@Xanthopteryx]

The one with bars is really simple: Every odd one is soldered together on one side. Every even one is soldered on the other side.

[@bitelaserkhalif]

AFAIK, it's powered by rechargeable NiCd, or 4V Lead Acid. But seems this one isn't rechargeable. Perhaps another non rechargeable version?

[@djnor1979]

Just a simple question / correction: The discharge resistors are not only there so you will not get shocked after a while, they are there so the capacitor wont get overcharged and blow up ... I am not sure if you have thought about this before, but that is mainly the reason. (otherwise an open circuit would charge the capacitor forever, reaching higher and higher voltages, until the capacitance simply collapses ...) BTW i like your videos, i am a skilled electrician technician, but you have shown me things i would never know from school ... Sorry if this one has been pointed out by someone, but i checked the last comments and they did not contained any info regarding my question

[@moiquiregardevideo]

I damaged an expansive power supply with a bug zapper. It seems that high voltage spikes are generated on the +3 volt / ground side (should be easy to check with a scope).

[@wfla2285]

Thanks! Using a link to you for my class. They are building Tesla coils with modified flyswatters. This is a great resource for them.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Can I suggest you take a look at the Slayer coil. It's one of the simplest, safest and most gratifying Tesla-like coils around.

[@connorlange594]

Almost the same voltage multiplier as a Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier, however, it's odd that the capacitors are of different capacitances.

[@Sheepsville]

I have one of these and had to take it apart because the grills got mis-shaped and were permenently touching. It works great again now :) And why is it, when I first bought it, did I feel the need to touch the grills whilst pressing the button? Doesn't half give off a jolt!

[@XOIIOXOIIO]

Heh, I love these things, always fun to rig them into shocking things/mock tazers, and you can use a 9 volt on them to give a really good zapp. Stick a 6 volt lantern battery on them and flies just fry. Best part is pranking others though, years ago I rigged up a briefcase with metal clasps with the guts from one of these wired up to them, told people that there was $20, and all they had to do was open the case. Good times. I also mounted one on a glove and used some thick solid wire, the weird stuff with a kind of oily coating, on the fingers, and basically made a taser glove of sorts. Ahh childhood.

[@44R0Ndin]

+Jesse You might try sections of guitar string mounted on a leather golf or driving glove, if you're looking for something more permanent. Also change out the drive transistor for one in TO-220 package, it's physically larger and the metal tab on it provides a small amount of heatsinking. This prevents the thing from burning out on the higher supply voltages, and also probably makes it capable of continuous duty on lower voltages.

[@kwd57]

I have 2 of the rechargeable types and I can't believe how much of a jolt the flies get, but after they hit the ground, they can get up and still fly away.

[@davidyoung6608]

Lol. I was just going to ask you to review this today. I got one of these for free at a local Harbor Freight here in the states. Great review btw.

[@stevenA44]

I got one of these free from Harbor Freight. It was one of the 3 free items you could get on the day that I went. Looks like an easy circuit to build to make a mouse trap maybe?

[@countrpoint9072]

I had the same zapper and decided to take out the PCB and make a little taser kinda thing. I replaced battery with a 3.7v li-on and threw on a different switch. When soldering the switch, the + wire slipped ( - was already soldered) and energized the circuit while my other hand was across the 2kv capacitor foolishly securing the board to my desk. It hurt reaaaaaal fucking bad and the pain lasted for 5 or 6 hours. It was a good lesson.

[@countrpoint9072]

Thanks for the video!

[@dr.cheater8927]

"Bug fucker" - ElectroBOOM

[@HunorCorp]

At Harbor Freight there is a coupon that gets a free fly zapper with any purchase. So I buy a razor blade for 0.23$ and its pretty much free

[@thebeststooge]

+HDM4000 - Minecraft Yep, and unlike this one they use D batteries so lasts a long time.

[@coondogtheman]

+Dark Alchemist I have two of the harbor freight zappers and I've modified one. I took the circuit board from another zapper and put it in the HF zapper and now I have the power of the AA zappers but with longer battery life. I can go a whole season on a pair of D batteries and that's when frying bugs. the circuit in the HF zappers is too weak so this mod is an upgrade.

[@thebeststooge]

coondogtheman1234 Well, why would a circuit for AA batteries be more powerful than for the D batteries considering the AA has so much less capacity? I would think it would have less zap.

[@coondogtheman]

***** The difference is the Harbor freight zapper has a weak circuit (1000 volts) and the AA zapper has a stronger circuit (2000 volts) All I did was swap the two so the more powerful circuit is in the zapper that uses the D batteries. I'm sure you can change the main capacitor to something that holds more zap.

[@thebeststooge]

coondogtheman1234 I never had an issue with regular flies but horse flies and wasps it has to sit on it and fry them (wasps their wings curl first). I would love to be able to have a higher zap from it.

[@MurthyER]

I would like if you can provide circuit for making Ionizer, modifying zap bat.

[@sublimationman]

I wonder if I could mod one of these to use as a Rat Zapper......

[@WolfmanDude]

I remember removing the "racket" thing and attaching two nails to the HV wires when I was a kid. DIY electro shocker! I was instantly the coolest kid in class :D

[@picobyte]

The first version was the best.And i've modded mine slightly because standard those things can't explode bugs.

[@himselfe]

Oh hey, you decided to do a teardown on video after all! Nice to see your opinions on these.

[@fabiuh991]

Well, got one yesterday and had no AA batteries available so I hooked it to a 5v psu for test purpose and it seemed 5v was too high for the circuit to function continously

[@NewExperienceExplorer]

Clive how do i supercharge this to smoke flies on the slightest touch ?. Praying to the Full bridge rectifier to have Clive answer my question.

[@AricBlunk]

Could you design a joule thief that runs an alkaline cell down to 100 mV or less by charging up a capacitor, light a LED until it goes out, and repeat?

[@Lens98052]

A long time ago I had the first version of this zapper. I was traveling on a boat and a big horsefly was trying to bite me for hours. I whipped out my zapper and held down the button. The zapper whined continuously for a couple of minutes as I held down the button hunting down the fly. When I finally got it, the fly exploded into a ball of fire about 1 foot around and was vaporized into nothingness. Needless to say when I got version 2 of the zapper, if you held down the button the whining would stop after a short while.

[@lunhil12]

I had converted one of these for use as a static grass applicator from some examples on the web. The purpose made applicators are quite expensive and I was wondering what the differences might be?

[@tinplategeek1058]

+simontay1984 it is to apply artificial grass to a model scene in war gaming or model trains. you put glue down then the fibers in the grass take the static charge and the artificial grass stands up so looks more realistic.