Great news! I had some time tonight, so I followed schematic 1, finished it (at first i got nothing... then realized i had the switch wired backwards, haha) and I get a sound! It was a really weak shuttering sound and after a few moments of flickering, it died. If i flip the switch now, i hear a sound and then it dies. One problem i noticed is that when i turn the potentiometer all the way up to where it SHOULD be 21Khz (out of my hearing range) I still hear it. Is this because of the speaker, or something wrong with the circuit itself?
Now that I have it working, which of the five speakers i linked to above do you recommend I buy? Thanks!

 

Which circuit did you build? Circuit #2 might show those problems, but Circuit #1 should be rock stable. If you have a camera lets take a look at the board again.

I've built a large number of these circuits, they and their math works. Odds are we have a wrong component somewhere, or a wiring error. A 1KΩ should be <brown><black><red><gold or silver>, while the 33KΩ should be <orange><orange><orange>.

The capacitor C1 should have 102 (0.001µF) written on its side, while the 0.1µF caps should have 104 written on their sides.

 

NONE of the extremely cheap piezo tweeter links you posted has detailed spec's.
One speaker goes as high as only 4kHz.
The last one might work if you tune the frequency to one of its peak frequencies but it will not be loud.

 

all the components are correct... im thinking it's the speaker. The only thing i think MIGHT be off, is C4. On the image it's green and looks like a .1uF cap... while on the schematic it say 1uF, which is red, and a lot wider.
If that's an error, let me know.
In the mean time... i know for sure i need to order a different speaker. Which of the 5 i posted before should I order?
Thanks

(pictures on their way... give it another 15 minutes or so)

 

I don't think the speaker will change the freq, though it might create low freq components (how that works I'm not sure). Are you still using the speaker you showed earlier? If so how warm is the 555 getting?

 

yeah, same speaker as before, the 555 isn't warm at all though... Right now the sound im getting isn't really a frequency... more like interference with a little bit of tone every once in a while.
If none of those speakers are suitable, could you link me to one that would work, that's fairly cheap?
Thanks

 

pictures of the components

 

Basically looks good. I'm not sure what I'm seeing here though.

Let's see the bottom of the board. I'll look for solder issues.

 

Unless you are a young teenager, you probably would not be able to hear it.

 

Even then, you probably won't hear it. Unless you lived in the country like I did growing up. The upper end of peoples hearing is a major variable, and age quickly takes its toll (even at 30 your hearing is reduced).

Watch your dog when you test it, or the cat.

 

What is the purpose of playing a high frequency tone for one minute every 10 minutes??

 

Sounds like a pest repeller from here. It stands a better chance than the local hokum being sold that uses the house power lines (supposedly).

 

Ultrasonic pest repellers DO NOT WORK. It might repel an animal if the animal gets close to it and it is loud.

 

The last time I tried it the darn cats came right up close to look at the thing.

 

Ultrasonic pest repellers DO NOT WORK. It might repel an animal if the animal gets close to it and it is loud.

I think it is all bull too.

Many of these products are bull.

 

The bottom of the board looks pretty rough (solder burn marks, etc), but none of the lines are touching. I definitely hear a sound (I'll upload a video in a bit). It sounds more like interference on the speakers part than something else.
Sooo... what speaker should I order in its place? I'd like to order a new one tonight so i can have it by the end of the week. I did a sound test online, and I can hear 16-17Khz, which is the low range of this circuit, so i should be able to hear it when the potentiometer is all the way down.
I'm almost POSITIVE thought that I need a different speaker. All the "piezo" speakers at radio shack only go up to about 3500 hz....
Thanks guys!

 

Let me know when you are ready for the update on the schematic.

 

I don't think RadioShack has any piezo transducers (speakers). They have only piezo beepers (buzzers) that have a built-in 3500Hz oscillator.

I repeat, what is the high audio frequency for?

 

I don't think RadioShack has any piezo transducers (speakers). They have only piezo beepers (buzzers) that have a built-in 3500Hz oscillator.

I repeat, what is the high audio frequency for?

Not sure why you'd like to know what I intend on using it for. If It'll help you answer my question of which speaker to order, than I'll answer it, otherwise I'd rather not.

@Bill
should I let you know when I have it working properly with a new speaker and playing constantly at the right frequency? Do you by any chance know which speaker I should order?
thanks

(video on its way... uploading to youtube right now)

 

The speakers you linked to are so cheap that they do not have any detailed spec's like a frequency response graph.
Piezo speakers are known to have a horrible frequency response with many peaks and nulls. Here is the frequency response graph of one: