Posted on 06/12/2012 6:19:07 PM PDT by VA Voter
I need some help giving pest Grackles a hot foot. My wife hates the Grackles so much she wants me to take down the bird feeders altogether but I like all the other birds, so I designed an electrical hot foot for the bottom of the metal feeder that by all I know about electricity should work, but it doesn’t.
The concept is simple: two parallel 16 gage non-insulated copper wires ½" apart, 1/4” above the bottom of the feeder, and attached via wire nuts to the two wires of a modified extension cord. When plugged in, the Grackles are supposed to step on both wires at the same time and, wa’la, the hot foot and they then they aren’t supposed to come back.
It’s a little more complicated with insulation, stability and placement but not much. Definitely low tech. I have tested the wires with a light bulb that lights up when touched to the wires. I do know enough not to test it with my finger.
The Grackles have taken over the feeder for most of the day and bully all the other birds away so I only plug it in at my end when they are on the feeder.
The problem is that the Grackles walk all over both hot wires without so much as a tingle. The design inspiration is from a very similar concept from Bird-B-Gone.
This exhausts my very long ago HS electrical expertise and likewise that of the associate at Home Depot, who got a huge kick out helping with the parts: alligator clips, plastic hose for insulation, electrical tape, portable GFCI switch, wire nuts, etc.
What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any help and for all the wise cracks this is sure to attract.
You want high voltage. Try a 25v doorbell transformer wired backwards — that should give you four or five hundred volts. Or borrow an electric fence transformer.
That would do.
I'll be forwarding your post to the SPCA. Lawyer up, sicko.
;-\
You are using coal fired energy. You will fail. You must use either solar, wind, or algae based power. You do not mention it, but I presume you have gone through the mandatory 3 year EPA approval period and obtained an endangered species waiver from the Fish and Wildlife Administration?
Is the GCFI in the circuit to the bird feeder?
I'll be forwarding your post to the SPCA. Lawyer up, sicko.
;-\
The Bird-b-Gone is 800 volts.
yes.
lol
DON’T mess with transformers.
I have a BS in Electrical Engineering, but i still would never try to reverse engineer a tranformer.
You could easily burn the house down.
Your technical brief is better than your typing or spelling....
A GFCI only trips when the current flowing in the hot leg doesn’t equal the current flowing the opposite direction in the neutral leg.
DC is a better bet, but the negative should go directly to ground. DC has much higher potential per volt.
OTOH, using a hi-voltage discharge capacitor would definitely add to the entertainment value!
How do I tell which one is hot?
OK here we go....not responsible for you burning your yard down or any other part of your house down....bird may fly off on fire.
Replace board holding your feeder with 1/8” aluminum plate
Lug neutral wire to plate (white wire) to plate.
Weave bare copper wire over aluminum plate lifted above plate space and insulated from aluminum plate. Space weaving 1/2” or so apart. May have to adjust this as needed. IMPORTANT: MUST be insulated from aluminum plate
Attach black wire to bare copper wire and white wire to plug.
Turn on as needed.
Do not connect to GFCI. GFCI will trip and only administer small current shock.
My brother in law and I built a mouse trap like this for our deer camp. Use to sit for hours throwing back cool ones enjoying the light show. Yeah, sick I know....but sometimes the nights and days get long at deer camp.
Enjoy
got it.
Is the extension cord a 3 wire cord, and is the outlet it comes from an actual 'grounded' outlet? (Sometimes people put 3 hole plugs on, but don't connect the green ground to the outlet itself (or only have two conductor 'wiring' and wire the ground to the outlet case (which does no good at all unless there is metal conduit going all the way back to a real 'ground'.
The 'negative' wire is what completes the circuit (to keep it simple) back to the power plant. The third wire (usually green) is what is actually connected to a physical ground.
You may need to 'disconnect' the 'green' to get your device to work, or maybe you need to use the 'hot' wire (red or white), and the green (ground) on the device, instead of the neutral(negative/black whatever terminology you use). It seems that the problem is the current isn't flowing 'through' their bodies.
Wait a minute..... it may be the exact spacing between the pair of wires that makes the difference. If they can get to where their claws are only in contact with the wires, that might be enough insulation. I would suggest you measure the spacing on one of the store models you mentioned, and see if you have it exactly the same.
Then get them wet.
Then give them a stinger with broken off insulator.
Have them switch hands wings, grabbing the uninsulated part of the stinger.
HEY it worked on me.
Is there a SAFE, lo-tech way to test which wire is hot and which is neutral?
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