Is this possible?

99 Bortles of Beer

I have a small handheld dog repeller that is battery powered, and emits an ultra sonic sound when a button is pressed on it.

Is it possible to alter this so that

(i) it runs off an ordinary household socket instead of a 1.9v battery, and
(ii) that it is always on, i.e. doesn't require the button being pressed to emit the sound

It would eventually be controlled by a WiFi enabled socket for remote powering, but is the above possible?

I'm not an electrician by any means, is it something I could do or is there anywhere in Dublin (or Ireland) that I could pay to get this done? Any Boardsies fancy a project? Happy to pay whatever it takes!

Thanks

jmBuildExt

99 Bortles of Beer wrote: »

I have a small handheld dog repeller that is battery powered, and emits an ultra sonic sound when a button is pressed on it.

Is it possible to alter this so that

(i) it runs off an ordinary household socket instead of a 1.9v battery, and
(ii) that it is always on, i.e. doesn't require the button being pressed to emit the sound

It would eventually be controlled by a WiFi enabled socket for remote powering, but is the above possible?

I'm not an electrician by any means, is it something I could do or is there anywhere in Dublin (or Ireland) that I could pay to get this done? Any Boardsies fancy a project? Happy to pay whatever it takes!

Thanks

Its a electronics project rather than electrical.
Answer is yes.
First thing you would do is get a transformer/adaptor that out puts something like 5v DC. Phone charger is ideal.
Next thing you need a regulator chip that outputs 1.9v (or there abouts)
very quick google showed up this
http://uk.farnell.com/on-semiconductor/ncv8152mx330180tcg/ldo-dual-0-15a-3-3-1-8v-xdfn-6/dp/2473578
Its surface mounted (intended for use in high volume production lines), you will need "through hole" (more suitable for the hobbiest).
You solder the output from the phone charger to the input of the regulator chip, then the out put of the regulator to the battery contacts of the little dog doo daa and bobs your uncle.

It will not be the nicest looking piece of kit, but doable, yes!

You might even be able to get "wall wart" power supplies that have a 1.9v setting on it - you could just solder that straight onto the battery terminals.

Edit: just read your last line... Im not offering to this by the way - but if there's an electronics/programming forum you might get someone willing to help.

Dardania

Would it not just be easier to buy an off-the-shelf product which does this? They exist - my folks had something similar for mice (not sure if it really worked or not), and also there are ones for birds and children.

jmBuildExt

Dardania wrote: »

Would it not just be easier to buy an off-the-shelf product which does this? They exist - my folks had something similar for mice (not sure if it really worked or not), and also there are ones for birds and children.

I'm sure it would

better again than my reguulator solution would be this....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-1-9V-1-4A-EU-Charger-Adapter-RE9-49-For-Panasonic-Barber-ER2061-ER-CA35-/291851842319

Just wire the output to the battery terminals.

99 Bortles of Beer

Thanks for the replies! Unfortunately we got one of the retail products that you just plug in, but they seem to be a different frequency for rats/mice/pests. The only one we know that the dog reacts to is a handheld device which is why I wanted to try this.

@JimBuild - if I wired that to the battery terminals, how would I get around the fact that there's also a push button required to activate the sound? Would just finding some way of holding the button in permanently be the easiest?

jmBuildExt

99 Bortles of Beer wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! Unfortunately we got one of the retail products that you just plug in, but they seem to be a different frequency for rats/mice/pests. The only one we know that the dog reacts to is a handheld device which is why I wanted to try this.

@JimBuild - if I wired that to the battery terminals, how would I get around the fact that there's also a push button required to activate the sound? Would just finding some way of holding the button in permanently be the easiest?

Yeah forgot to address that...
2 options
1. Tape the switch closed.
2. Open it up and solder a piece of wire across the terminals of the button to short it out.

The second one comes with the caveat that I'm assuming that the button closes to "make" a circuit connection in order to switch it on and emit the frequency.
It is possible that pressing the button "opens" a circuit which triggers the device.
Its probably the former but you would need to do continuity test with a multi-meter to be sure. If its the latter, then you might be able to find a wire/track on the circuit board to cut that will keep the circuit open.

For simplicity some way of keeping the button closed mechanically would be the simplest solution.

Cerco

All very interesting but ignores the possibility that the device is not rated for continuous use. This should be checked first before embarking on a mini project.

jmBuildExt

Cerco wrote: »

All very interesting but ignores the possibility that the device is not rated for continuous use. This should be checked first before embarking on a mini project.

he can hold his finger on it and get his dog to tell him if he hears anything.

99 Bortles of Beer

Cerco wrote: »

All very interesting but ignores the possibility that the device is not rated for continuous use. This should be checked first before embarking on a mini project.

It wouldn't be for continuous use. All I want is to be able to control the device remotely via a WiFi socket. It would only be turned on if our camera detected movement and we verified it ourselves. And only for a few seconds at a time.

ED E

An even simpler config might be to replace the light in a PIR+Light combo with the anti dog device.