Newbie with a question about Mice removal

[blaid]

I am new here, so forgive my ignorance. I am looking for a easy to understand(and build) circuit to zap a few mice. These things seem to evade my mechanical traps so I want to use a cap from a microwave with some sort of step-up transformer. I plan to use pvc pipe for the enclosure and I would like to use a 12v lantern battery for charge-up.Any ideas, questions or info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kchriste]

The smell would be awfull! Maybe get a cat?

 

[Souper man]

see the stun gun under projects

 

[HarveyH42]

see the stun gun under projects

Think he wants to kill them, not annoy them...

You will need to step up the 12vdc, otherwise the capacitor will only charge to 12 volts. Not sure what you would need to BBQ a mouse.

 

[RODALCO]

A cat is the better and safer option.

I built one years ago, it worked well but the smell of fried mouse is awfull.

Firstly my set up was dangerous and can only be allowed aloft, or in a secure area where no kids can get in.

I used a 220 volts supply via a 15 watt lamp in series ( to limit the current )
put on insulated material, sections of phase, neutral, phase, neutral metal strips which don't touch each other. in the middle a pin with the cheese as bait. connect to phase.

Mouse walks and gets electrocuted between phase and neutral. lamp can have various shades of brighness depending upon how well cooked the mouse is.

 

[Andy1845c]

I saw plans for a simalar contraption a while back in a farm magizine. It used an electric fence charger to zap mice. Kinda hard to explain with out the drawing, but it was a copper bridge over a pail of water, the bait hung in a small cage of copper mesh, the mouse would walk out onto the bridge (connected to the ground of the fence charger) and when it touched the bait (connected to the HV pulse off the charger) it would cause it to fall into the water and, in theory, drown. I never tried making it. Seemed a little dumb, as mice like to scurry along walls, not climb over buckets of water and they can sorta swim. I suppose you could do it with line voltage (or higher), then the shock might kill the mouse, but it would be awful dangerous. Your idea of PVC pipe sounds better for the fact that you could lay it along the wall or where the mice run, but it won't allow the dead mouse to fall away from the contacts and you will end up with a really icky fried mouse, and you will have to clean the mouse out before you can get another.

We have somthing call a "tin cat" in our farm shop. Its a metal box with 2 one way doors on it. Mice go in, and can't get out. Works great, even with no bait it fills up with mice. It will hold atleast 20 mice at a time, and if you empty if often, it won't smell like rotten mice.

 

[blaid]

If I use a capacitor, wont it just zap (kinda like a furry spark plug) the mouse once? I thought about using house current with the bait attached to the neutral wire and the power wire connected to a metal foot plate, but the ending scene of jaws 2 where he fries the shark made me scrap that idea. I want something that wont bbq the critter but I dont want to see the mouse do a back flip and run away either,although that would be a little entertaining.lol. I assume I can charge a cap with 110 house current, right? if so, can I then run that though a step-up transformer to a metal plate then connect the other wire to a bait lure? So when the mouse steps on the plate and sniffs the bait...(POW) lights out. Will this work, hypothetically speaking?

 

[audioguru]

110 house current is AC. A capacitor charges with DC. A transformer works with AC.

Stepup the 110VAC with a transformer (for a neon sign?). Use the high AC voltage to give yourself a deadly shock. Use a current-limiting resistor so the shock doesn't kill you but then it also might not kill a mouse. Do you want to see mice fly?

 

[Oznog]

They make a device called a "RatZapper" for just that.

Your plan is dangerous as well as ineffective. It could cause a fire not to mention electrocution.

RatZapper keeps tabs on the plates, dunno if they have a low voltage capacitive touch sensor or charge it to a higher DC voltage and measure leakage. It has a high voltage stepup transformer connected to the kill plates though and won't energize that transformer's primaries until then. One particular reason is it's battery powered and running that inverter will drain the batt quickly even with nothing loading it.

After a few sec it will shut itself off and not fire again.

Actually, did not have great success killing rats, maybe got one. Killed a lot of cockroaches that tripped it though. Actually not a bad result in itself.

 

[things]

i really don't suggest you use microwave caps. when they are charged enough, it will kill you instantly and probably make the mice explode.

 

[ThermalRunaway]

You beat me to it things. I would advise extreme caution when using these components!!!

Brian

 

[Torben]

Dude, if you can get the mouse into a suitably sized pipe, you can trap it mechanically.

The zapping method is just asking for stink, fire, and hours of the mice sitting on the shelf eating your Oreos while you sweat over how not to have the circuit start the mouse on fire.

As a guy who does not have the training to sit here and just design a safe way to do this, but with enough knowledge to be dangerous, I can pretty confidently say that if you have to ask the question, the answer could kill you.


Torben

 

[JimB]

A few years ago I had a mouse problem.
Using a conventional mechanical trap, the mice were able to take the bait but not get caught in the trap.
The fix to this problem was to put the trap in an enclosure so that the mouse could only approach it from the "dangerous end".
Result - lots of dead "Mickeys".
No need for high tech gadgets, just KISS.

JimB

 

[bristol188]

We had a small workshop, two of us only. There where a few rats around so we set up a metal ashtray with food in it and resting on some insulation. Then just had one wire under the insulation and one under the ashtray, plugged into 240v wall socket, switched off. When one of us sow a rat at the bait we would just switch on the power. The rat would let out a squeal and a squirt of piss and turn and run away.