Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

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vapor
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Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by vapor »

HELP! Does anyone have a schematic for an ultrasonic bird repeller? I seem to have a serious problem with #@*#*@*@#$ birds!<p>They try to roost under my car port, under my porches, in the trim of my metal shop, etc, etc!!!<p>They are so *$%&@$ anoying! HELP!!!!!<p>I really don't want to resort to bird shot and my 12GA!
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Dimbulb
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by Dimbulb »

http://www.mitedu.freeserve.co.uk/Circu ... ecrep.html<p>http://www.mitedu.freeserve.co.uk/Circu ... histle.htm<p>The adjustable 555 looks like a fast universal board friendly design.<p>I don't know if they work.<p>Try using an am radio tuned off channel to white noise or talk show tuned off channel.<p>[ February 12, 2003: Message edited by: dim bulb ]</p>
vapor
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by vapor »

Dear Dim,<p>I deeply appreciate your response.<p>Since I'm just your basic tinker-er, would it be to much to ask you what I need to do to make it work at a frequency that irritates birds and does not drive my siberian husky and dalmation crazy? (Although I'm quite sure that the dalmation is brain damaged--in fact, I've never met a dalmation that was not slow--but that's another story--oh what we endure for our children!)<p>The two types of bird I'm having trouble with are black birds and sparrows. The black birds are eating my dog's food and messing everywhere!!! The sparrows like to build nests by destroying the weather stripping on my metal shop building.<p>I've had a couple of years of electronic tech training, but am by no stretch of the imagination an Electronic Design Engineer. I know that the cap and resistor develop an RC time constant. But I'm not sure of what values are readily available and what values will give me the spectrum I need. I do live on the outskirts of the Dallas, TX/USA metroplex.
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Edd
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by Edd »

Code man:<p>My cousin had the same trouble with a 2 vehicle carport and the same trouble you mentioned, mainly sparrows and their mess.I had hom rig up 4 wires spaced out so that the critters were destined to have a foot or body portion across a set of wires. Alternate wires are connected to ground or the hot line The hot line is fed from a fence charger made to keep in pets …sold at HOME DEPOT. This is working fine for him for the last 5 years. Seems like when trying to get up into their Shangrila it seems that one will get zapped and in all of the wild gyrations and wing flappings that it spooks all of the others and off they fly. They must have at least a modicum of intelligence as he says the numbers are decreasing.<p>As per dim bulbs suggestion I was leaning to that method but just haywiring up a
Sig gen and into a 10W rms pwr amp into a 35W tweeter.I was less than impressed, however I was able to get a “What me Worry” look from the dog after I warble modulated it. Then I thought of a solenoid or single rev motor making a whacking noise to spook, but I didn’t decide on the bird detection mode…shud have continued though….. since I never did see if those little warm bods would activate a PIR and at how close of a distance .<p>
73’s de Edd
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vapor
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by vapor »

Ed,<p>Thank you for your time. You know, the city of Plano pays a guy to fire off 12 ga. blanks! If it wasn't for the environmental wackos and animal rights wacko's, I'd just use straight bird shot!<p>Hummmm.... DCCCD.EDU...<p>I just took a couple of MCSE classes at the Brookhaven Campus of DCCCD.<p>73's and I'll see you on 145.170 (Lewisville Repeater.) <p>
:) -.. . ? ? ..... -.-. -- . -... -.-
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Dimbulb
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by Dimbulb »

Just tune it until the birds take off I guess.
I am sorry I have'nt had bird problems.
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haklesup
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

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I don't think birds give a #a$%& for ultrasonic noise. Even if they do precieve it, they would likly get used to it after a while anyway.<p>Look at the problem from a behavioral point of view. Deprive them of the dogs food (the dog will get used to a new location - like inside a small doghouse) and seal off the roosting spots with nylon screen or bird spikes (those strips of pointed metal pokers that you nail along the eves or anywhere they like to sit) Spray your weather stripping with something distasteful to the birds like a solution of copper sulphate (metal salts taste terrible to most animals and in low concentrations, reletively non toxic)or capsican (chili pepper sauce)you may have to experiment a little.<p>I like the electric fence idea but it seems like a lot of work to install the electrodes. Have you tried getting a couple of cats or a few of those plastic owls.<p>If you want an audio based solution, try playing a recording of a hawk, eagle or Owl (or other prerdator, or a danger call from the specis you wish to scare) on an intermittant basis instead of ultra sonic sound. Rig it to a PIR and a random timer and use a good fidelity speaker and it may seem pleasent to humans. I saw a CD from the Audubon society with recordings of all types of birds calls in a store recently.<p>Another atypical solution that might work (I have not tried this) but put some soiled Cat litter where the birds like to roost. The smell of the urine may fool the birds into thinking that a predator cat frequents the spot. This is much easier that convincing a cat to mark the spot for you :) <p>A combination of these solutions may ultimately work. Once the birds associate your house with danger, and it's lack of good spots to roost, they will leave.<p>BTW. Bird shot is messy, who wants to clean up that mess anyway, maybe thats not an issue for a Texan.<p>Good Luck and Chirp Chirp
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Ron H
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by Ron H »

Don't waste your time and money on plastic owls. They don't work, at least on pigeons. I used to work at a company that had a pigeon problem. The plastic owls they put up were soon covered with pigeon crap, because the pigeons landed on them.<p>Ron
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haklesup
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by haklesup »

I take it back about ultrasonic repellers<p>This site www.bird-x.com makes one that outputs 15kHz to 25kHz at 98dB to 105dB through 4 loudspeakers. They also have other solutions.<p>Plastic Owls generally only work for a few days until the birds realize that guy is going nowhere. Add some sound and movement and it might do better.
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by Jus »

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by RonH:
Don't waste your time and money on plastic owls. They don't work, at least on pigeons.
Ron
<hr></blockquote><p>Sure they do. Throw the plastic owls at the pigeons.
2+2=5 for extremely large values of 2
vapor
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by vapor »

If I wanted to throw something at the stupid birds, it would be a does of hot lead!
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rionredinger
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by rionredinger »

have you tried those ultrasonic bug repellers those might be worth a shot. pick one up at the local dollar store or wal-mart has them.
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Joseph
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by Joseph »

My solution is as haklesup was saying. I keep varmits away by the sheer loudness of the sound. They will not be likely to put up with the pain if they can get easier pickings elsewhere.
chessman
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by chessman »

The only problem I see with an audio solution is driving your pets crazy! I've experiemented with a sig gen just to see what the dogs and cats would respond to, and I got quite interesting results. Anything from 10k to 30k out of a 1" PC speaker with a 500mW amp drove the pets insane. Hopefully, you'd be putting it far enough from the dogs so they'd be okay.<p>Maybe hook up a PIR detector to a 4017 and hook the outputs of the 4017 to an array of firecrackers and electronic igniters. The igniter can be a piece of wire wrapped around the fuse, and use a relay to switch the DC output of the 4017 to 120V AC. When the AC current goes through the wire, it will pop, igniting the fuse. Works perfect!! You could even cascade the chips to hold something around a hundred or so firecrackers at once.<p>Or, you could have the PIR detector trigger an audio recording of the 12GA shot. Should drive em away....<p>~Kyle
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haklesup
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Re: Ultrasonic Bird Repellers????

Post by haklesup »

Recall that 20kHz is generally recognized as the upper end of human hearing (at least by Hi-Fi and speaker manufacturers)and many people have better hearing than that (especially children)<p>If I had a 15kHz speaker screaming at 110dB I would expect to hear it and be annoyed. you might not want a "near-ultrasonic" system too close to the house. You should be able to simulate it pretty well with your home sterio (albeit not so loud) and a signal generator to see if it bothers you.<p>Ultrasonic bug repellers operate anywhere from 20kHz to 50kHz a bit higher and mostly above the hearing of generally everyone. Not that it matters though . According to this link http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_068.html
"Both the EPA and the U.S. Postal Service have gone after ultrasonic repeller makers for making unsupported claims for their products."
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