Wife bought one. No instructions on how to set it. Searched videos and found the unit she bought. It says the right hand knob has five settings. The delivered product, the right knob is a dial, not a rotary switch. Can't figure out how to use it. Have very low expectations.

Anyone experienced with such devices?

 

I once experimented with a 555-timer circuit and an ultrasonic transducer in order to scare away cats from my garden.
The darn critters came right up to the contraption to see what was making all that noise!

 

I bought some ultrasonic repellers that were supposed to work with mice. They didn't. I could hear them, but fortunately, they didn't seem to bother our cats.

 

I've seen reports that say the devices can actually attract critters rather than deter them.

 

Yeah, no magic bullet.

Not keen on harming animals, so a humane method is preferred. Perhaps I'll use the PIR to activate a relay to power a 24VAC sprinkler valve and connect it to the hose. Should some critter come in (s)he will get doused but not harmed. May think twice about coming around.

Years ago I took a battery powered fly zapper that ran on 2 AA batteries and wired it up to a stainless steel food dish sitting on a ceramic tile sitting on a larger wire mesh screen and set it out in the driveway. Caught on camera, a cat got close enough to snap itself in the nose and boy did it run. More of a spook than a pain. But when an animal is confronted with an unexpected experience they tend to decide not to go around that area again.

Thanks for the responses thus far.

 

I once experimented with a 555-timer circuit and an ultrasonic transducer in order to scare away cats from my garden.
The darn critters came right up to the contraption to see what was making all that noise!

same here... but also neighbors came asking for medical tests on the device because lady was pregnant and had concern that baby may be harmed or become batman.

 

Maybe I should replace the piezo with a real speaker and change the ultrasound to the sound of big dogs barking.

 

Maybe I should replace the piezo with a real speaker and change the ultrasound to the sound of big dogs barking.

Then you would need a way to scare off the angry neighbors.

 

Perhaps I'll use the PIR to activate a relay to power a 24VAC sprinkler valve and connect it to the hose. Should some critter come in (s)he will get doused but not harmed. May think twice about coming around.

Then you would need a way to scare off the angry neighbors.

Do they make an ultrasonic people deterrent?

 

Google LRAD, Serbia. Allegedly it was used there to control crowds.

 

Had some success with the Pestbye products with cats, though with some caveats. Get the screw back version so you can dismantle and clean it (moisture ingress due to temperature changes). Ideally It has to be opposite the animal's body, in my case 6 inches from the surface (of grass etc) so I had to make up a pole as the stakes are always too short. Set to the advised frequency and maximum sensitivity. Batteries last around 4-5 months.

 

Set to the advised frequency and maximum sensitivity.

This stupid thing came with no instructions. Just a book that tells you "this is a knob". Literally!

Batteries last around 4-5 months.

This one is solar. And the wife wants to put it under a bush.

I'm so frustrated with this whole thing.

 

Can only provide some info on my Pestbue unit, which may help. You should be able to determine which knob is sensitivity (assuming there are two knobs). Right-hand knob on mine is frequency (adjusts between 19 and 45kHz over about 300 degrees of travel) and has 13 set points marked by tiny circles in the plastic. The scale is reverse logarithmic ish (the first 5 points are in the first 60 degrees of travel). Cats 3-5, dogs 3-4, foxes 3-6, squirrels 2-7, rodents 2-7, insects 2-13. A setting of 5 on mine works for cats (stops them lingering in one place). Coverage about 8metres at max sensitivity (left knob fully clockwise) and 110 degrees. Solar-powered under a bush may be problematic.

 

Wife bought one. No instructions on how to set it. Searched videos and found the unit she bought. It says the right hand knob has five settings. The delivered product, the right knob is a dial, not a rotary switch. Can't figure out how to use it. Have very low expectations.

Anyone experienced with such devices?

The short answer is: bin it (or use the parts and/or enclosure for something more useful)
The long answer is nicely covered in this document (attached) from the Arizona University Extension Service.

 

The short answer is: bin it (or use the parts and/or enclosure for something more useful)
The long answer is nicely covered in this document (attached) from the Arizona University Extension Service.

The article was an interesting read. Only, I wish it focused on pests such as cats (in particular) and maybe dog barking.

I once had a dog bark deterrent device that emitted ultrasonic sound. At first it didn't do much that I could tell. But when my neighbor mistook the device for a field camera and called the cops - upon the cops knocking on my door I explained it was an ultrasonic device to deter dogs barking. It was pointed at my neighbors yard. I had asked him three times to do something about his dogs but he never did anything. It was during the third request that I told him if nothing is done I'd be calling the police. So I ended up calling.

The complaint about what he thought was a camera led police to my door. Upon explanation of the whole situation I can only imagine what the police said to him. I imagine 'Your neighbor is spending HIS money to control YOUR dog barking. You need to address the problem.' It wasn't long after that his animals began to disappear. I don't know what he did with them but today he has one yappy dog that isn't much of an issue. And he refuses to speak to me. No problem there.

So did the dog bark deterrent work? I guess in a way it did. But dogs are not the problem. It's cats. I have cats. In-door and out-door. I had a $136.oo vet bill from an injury from a ferrel cat. I managed to trap one. I think it was the one that caused my cats harm. Ended up dousing him with the garden hose twice before releasing him. Haven't seen him since. But attempts to capture other ferrel cats and other domesticated in-door and out-door cats has been a bust. Aside from spraying water on the cat I don't want to harm, injure or kill an animal needlessly. Since it's impossible to tell the difference between domestic and ferrel cats - the best I can do is give them overwhelming desires to never venture into my yard again. It worked once. It might work again. But this also is not a scientific test.

Maybe I can modify the device the wife bought and replace the speaker with a firecracker. That should scare off any cats. I said "Should". Hopefully I'm right.

Gotta go now. Got concrete work to be done.

 

The article was an interesting read. Only, I wish it focused on pests such as cats (in particular) and maybe dog barking.

I once had a dog bark deterrent device that emitted ultrasonic sound. At first it didn't do much that I could tell. But when my neighbor mistook the device for a field camera and called the cops - upon the cops knocking on my door I explained it was an ultrasonic device to deter dogs barking. It was pointed at my neighbors yard. I had asked him three times to do something about his dogs but he never did anything. It was during the third request that I told him if nothing is done I'd be calling the police. So I ended up calling.

The complaint about what he thought was a camera led police to my door. Upon explanation of the whole situation I can only imagine what the police said to him. I imagine 'Your neighbor is spending HIS money to control YOUR dog barking. You need to address the problem.' It wasn't long after that his animals began to disappear. I don't know what he did with them but today he has one yappy dog that isn't much of an issue. And he refuses to speak to me. No problem there.

So did the dog bark deterrent work? I guess in a way it did. But dogs are not the problem. It's cats. I have cats. In-door and out-door. I had a $136.oo vet bill from an injury from a ferrel cat. I managed to trap one. I think it was the one that caused my cats harm. Ended up dousing him with the garden hose twice before releasing him. Haven't seen him since. But attempts to capture other ferrel cats and other domesticated in-door and out-door cats has been a bust. Aside from spraying water on the cat I don't want to harm, injure or kill an animal needlessly. Since it's impossible to tell the difference between domestic and ferrel cats - the best I can do is give them overwhelming desires to never venture into my yard again. It worked once. It might work again. But this also is not a scientific test.

Maybe I can modify the device the wife bought and replace the speaker with a firecracker. That should scare off any cats. I said "Should". Hopefully I'm right.

Gotta go now. Got concrete work to be done.

Other studies show mild repulsion effects on larger mammals such as cats and does with rapid habituation after that. They just quickly don't care about your silly whining after a brief concerning about how pathetic you are.

 

I've helped someone build a 555 U/S generator when I was in college, He said it worked better on people (teenagers) .

 

Yesterday I got some footage of one of my cats approaching it. When about six feet away it sounded and she turned and ran. I'll post it to YT then link it later today. So it scared her once. Will it continue to work on an on-going basis? Time will tell.

 

Yesterday I got some footage of one of my cats approaching it. When about six feet away it sounded and she turned and ran. I'll post it to YT then link it later today. So it scared her once. Will it continue to work on an on-going basis? Time will tell.

My guess is that it won't, unless it is causing actual discomfort.

One day I tied a leftover helium party balloon to my dog's collar. I wasn't trying to be mean at all, I just wanted to get a picture of her lying on the ground holding this Merry Christmas balloon to maybe use as part of Christmas card the next year. It was sufficiently deflated that it barely floated off the ground. When I first tied it to her, she was barely paying attention. Then she sniffed it and backed away from it a bit -- not panicky at all. But in doing so, she jerked it towards her, at which point she lit off across the yard. And, of course, this evil balloon was right on her tail. Now, this dog was part greyhound and she could move, but I had never seen her move like that. Back and forth across the yard (a big yard, too) a couple of times before trying to turn and nip it on the run, at which point she went head over heels. At which point the balloon caught her, and she realized it wasn't an evil monster after all. I would loved to have gotten a picture, but I was too busy laughing and didn't get one taken (this was back in the film-camera days, so the picture would have been all blurry, anyway). A couple months later I did it again (and, yes, this time it was with malice aforethought) and she didn't budge. She simply didn't care. I called her to come to me, figuring that the rebounding balloon would set her off. It just rebounded off her nose and didn't even faze her.

Having said that, you can certainly acclimate animals to fear mundane things. I grew up with a pretty fearless dog who liked to lay down in the shower stall on hot days. Being young and evil, I would turn the shower on and she would dart out. She never learned to stay out of the shower stall, but she did learn to fear the sound of a running shower. Anytime anyone took a shower, she would climb up behind someone and just shiver uncontrollably. Keep in mind, this was a 90 lb dog that didn't blink at thunder, fireworks, or lawn mowers. But showers and vacuum cleaners (that's another story)....

 

When I first tied it to her, she was barely paying attention. Then she sniffed it and backed away from it a bit -- not panicky at all. But in doing so, she jerked it towards her, at which point she lit off across the yard. And, of course, this evil balloon was right on her tail.

Had a young cat. Literally a nearly full sized cat but still a kitten by nature. Of course we had toys for her. Her favorite was a squid connected to a string connected to a plastic stick. She'd jump and bat that thing like crazy. One day she bat it and when it came down it wrapped around her tail. That spooked her. She took off down into the basement with this crazy squid chasing her all the way. We still laugh at the remembrance of that incident. She's gone now, several years.

We now have two 4 year old cats, twins practically, male and female. Named them Castor & Pollux. Castor is the male. One day a dog chased him up a telephone pole. He sat crying on the phone lines. He didn't know how to climb or to climb down. We took a bed sheet and tried to coax him to jump down. As it was, there was (is) a guy-wire that runs on about a 45˚ angle. In his efforts to muster up the courage he slipped off the wire and caught the guy-wire. Hanging on with just his front paws he slid down to the ground. I WISH I had the camera rolling. That would have been a great YT video.

Yesterday I dug a new fish pond. No small task for a guy approaching 70. A neighbor boy wanted to help and get paid. Had he been home (he was at his father's house) I'd have paid him well. So I never got back to the promised video. Maybe I'll get it up today some time. But like you said, it was more of a surprise to her than a hurtful noise. Last night I saw that cat back under the bush. The sensor did nothing. Earlier that day the wind was blowing. The motion of the bushes was setting it off so I turned the sensitivity down. (figured which knob is the sensitivity). Turned it down ever so slightly. You literally had to pass within two feet of it to set it off. Even if I jerry rig it to spray water, it'll either do nothing or be spraying water every time the wind blew. And it's possible the water itself may re-trigger it.