I don't see why you're going to all the trouble... Once we've caught one, I just take it into the garage and pop it with a .22 (I live in the city

You definitely don't want your dog catching up with that porcupine. I was hiking with my sister when her two dogs got one and I spent the next hour removing quills from the mouth area of two very unhappy dogs.

I love this thread. It has to go down in AAC archives as the funniest thread ever! Example,.... this reply. someonesdad has chickens but he lives in a city. What else are you raising there?
Squirrel Launching still makes me crack up just thinking about it!

 

Well Everyone.......I can finally report that at least 2 porcupines won't be around to bother our house anymore! First one was gotten 2 nights ago after the rain finally srtopped for a day. (Guess he was hungry after being holed up out of the rain for so long.....hehe.....sorry he never got a chance to finish his last meal! The second was removed from existence last night while I was in the middle of building Bill's ultrasonic circuit. (Had to order the Zeners) While soldering the board, heard chewing out front and, imagine that, found his brother munching on the same salt lick as the other one. Oh, did I say salt lick? Heh, heh, heh. Nothing says "Happy Trails" like salt licks and Mossbergs! Thanks again for everyone's help and I am glad I could entertain you all with the various posts. Now that the immediate crisis is over, maybe I will try and build a porcupine launcher for next time.

 

You can use several diodes in series in leu, think .6 X however many to get close. For this design several LEDs will also work (kinda neat in some ways). Modern red LEDs drop around 2.1V, white/blue around 3.6V. Adjust the base currents to keep them in the range of the LED currents.

You finish a version of this, the wildlife is gonna hate you.

 

I wasn't sure about the zeners value so I just ordered the ones you listed in the schematic to be on the safe side. I hope to begin testing of the finished unit sometime this coming week. I am hopeful that with a little tweaking of the frequencies I can find something that will drive the bats from our roof as well as keep various other critters from becoming a problem. I hate to have to shoot them as (most of the time) we enjoy having them around. They can be quite enjoyable to watch when they aren't being destructive. Thanks again for your help Bill.

By the way, what would you suggest for speakers for the ultrasonic emitter? Looking at the ratings for most speakers, they don't list anything for the ultra-sonic frequency response. Any ideas on what would work to be semi-directional and be able to handle the output from the circuit you designed?

 

Start simple, with cheap ones, then work your way up.

I don't have a clue how something like pizeo's will react to this circuit. They seem a logical alternative.

I had a friend of my brother who lived in a trailer. A neighbor doubled the size of his back yard (and blocked the back door to his trailer) by parking is trailer opposite of everyone else. He'd look out his kitchen window and see theirs 2 feet away. So he connected his stereo to a simple version of the 555 Hysteretic Oscillator, put the stereo speakers at the open kitchen window, and left for the afternoon. They said it was like the twilight zone, a lot of the people didn't have AC, it was July, and NO one was outside. When he turned it off the everyone started coming out. You could feel it, but not trace it. The neighbors got the message.

Thinking about it it isn't so funny now (when I was 25 it was halarious). I suspect he could have gotten better results talking to park management.

They did something similar in the dorms. Cowboys to the left of us, Hip Hop to the right of us, so some ultrasonic symphony in the middle to explain what unpleasant can be.

 

I was thinking about piezos in the beginning, but I have some old car stereo speakers I will probably try first and progress from there as needed. I just have to be careful to not shatter the reef tanks while experimenting. :0 That would be a VERY bad thing. I will give you a progress report once I have one.

 

I just have to be careful to not shatter the reef tanks while experimenting. :0 That would be a VERY bad thing. .

I don't think you need to wory too much about the tanks because they're filled with water that will go a long way in dampening resonance. Your windows are probably more susceptible. Even then; if you saw the Myth Busters episode were they were attempting to shatter glass via sonic wave, it was not easily done and they had sh_t loads of audio energy available to them.

 

I love this thread. It has to go down in AAC archives as the funniest thread ever! Example,.... this reply. someonesdad has chickens but he lives in a city. What else are you raising there?
Squirrel Launching still makes me crack up just thinking about it!

At various times we've had horses, ducks, chickens, snakes, pet mice and rats, fish, various birds, cats, dogs, chukar, and quail.

The chukar's name was Julia and we called her the Mafia hit chukar. She would pick on chickens 5 or 10 times her size and run them off if they bothered the other chickens in her clique.

30 years ago when I moved here, this area was pretty open and a tad rural. But the city has swallowed us (there are about 60 or 70 one acre lots around us and many of the folks do these "rural" things. We got our rights to have some types of animals grandfathered in.

The squirrel launchers reminded me of the orange launchers I saw used in the school dorms in the 60's. A washcloth had a strand of surgical tubing tied to each corner. Two guys would hold two strands each against a window sill and the shooter would put an orange (or other available fruit/vegetable) in the washcloth, pull it back, aim and launch. I remember watching them launch an orange at a friend of mine who lived in an apartment across the street and the orange broke a window on the second story. I'd estimate the range was at least 100 feet. The weapon was potent and could be quickly stuffed in someone's pants if a dorm dick came around.

 

Thanks for the info about the tanks CDRIVE. I will still be careful though, as the way my luck usually runs, CRASH/SPLASH will be my new nickname! It does put me a little more at ease though.