Harbor Freight Electronic Fly Swatter???

[hrhofmann]

I thought I had seen almost everything electronic, but a Harbor Freight ad in this weeks junk advertising flyer had a super coupon for a

"7.99 electronic fly swatter on sale with the coupon for only $2.49, requires two D batteries (old separately)".

It looks like an oversize tennis or badminton racquet. Not a clue if the batteries are hooked up to a grid to electrocute any fly that crosses paths with the swatter, or if you get a shock if you miss the fly, or whatever.

Does anyone know what this thing actually is supposed to do "electronically"?

[ransley]

Ia have a few of them and they work great, well the one with fully expensed wires does, the other one has grids of plastic to make it Kid safe and it's harder to get the mosquitos in, it even kills bees and horse flies , one wire must be positive and one neutral , I used to walk my dog where there were deer flies and had to stop in summer till I got the racket, mine were 15$ , if the wires are fully exposed get a few of them.

[Bill Hall]

I've had one of these for about four years. Gag gift from my Kids. IT does work, if you get the flys to cooperate. Same principle as the Outside "Bug Zapper"

Bill H.

[gregz]

Glad to hear it works. I bought one for camp.

Greg

[Jim Yanik]

gregz wrote in news:1020025579360807873.886335zekor- [e-mail]:

I saw a video on America's Funniest Home Videos where a guy tried to use the zapper-swatter on wasps,and got stung.

[DerbyDad03]

I have one. Works great...like a bug zapper.

The only thing is, you can't swing it against things like you can with a flexible fly swatter since it's hard plastic. You have to hit bugs on the fly by startling them to leave wherever they're sitting and fly into the grid. Once that happens, the sparks and crackling begin.

Just in case you're wondering, it hurts like heck if you touch the grid when it's energized. DAMHIKT

[gonjah]

There used to be another kind that worked sort of the same way. It was a fly catcher on a stick sort of thing. They worked really well. I've always wondered what happened to those. I haven't seen them since the '80s.

[Jim Elbrecht]

Kill bugs! with a loud SNAP and a big spark! Where have you been, man. They are more fun than the twitchin' tool.

That's a high price, though. I buy a couple every time I see them for $4 at the 'dollar' stores or HF.

Warning-- If it doesn't seem like it is working, *DON'T* touch the damn thing. That jolt is stronger than the buzz you get from a 110 line.

Jim

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

I laughed at my son when he told me that. Then I was testing it one day. Glad I was outside-- Happy to report the swatter will survive being thrown 20 feet in the air and landing on the lawn.

Jim

[dgk]

From two D cells? Well, I failed physics in the Rainbarrel thread, so I'll try again. How can 2 D cells produce enough voltage/amperage/whatever to shock a person?

[HeyBub]

Quite easily. The three volts is fed to an oscillator. The output of the oscillator is fed to a 10,000:1 transformer. You end up with 30,000 volts (give or take) across the transformer's secondary winding.

There's really no practical limit to the voltage output than can be had from a 3 volt input.

[notbob]

Yeah. Ya gotta get way too close, IMO. I'll stick with my can of Black Flag wasp killer. Sucker shoots a 10' stream that'll take 'em out mid-flight.

nb

[Stormin Mormon]

Oscillator and transformer.

I remember from some where, that tasers (used to shock people) might run on a 9 volt transistor battery.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

From two D cells? Well, I failed physics in the Rainbarrel thread, so I'll try again. How can 2 D cells produce enough voltage/amperage/whatever to shock a person?

[hrhofmann]

Well, with inflation they are now $2.49 on sale.

[DerbyDad03]

I didn't throw mine, but my arm was sore for a while. By that I mean several minutes (IIRC). Certainly long enough that I won't test it again.

Of course, it was nothing like the time during USCG Electronics School that I got hooked onto a 400VDC power supply, hand to hand, across the chest, until someone pulled the plug.

I came back to class the next day but 2 other guys who had witnessed the event quit Electronics School and decide on a different career path. Wimps.

[HeyBub]

I have not idea what the actual voltage in a fly swatter might be. I picked

10,000:1 as an example of stepping up a DC voltage.

I've seen the reverse, too. In making a home-made spot welder, you might use a 1:250 ratio transformer to convert 120v down to 0.5 volts at 200 amps.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Thanks-- I'll tear one apart one of these days. In the meantime, my arm says 30,000V is about right.

[I just wiki-pedia'd it. *They* say 1K-2.5K --- but I'm stickin' with 30K.] Jim

[Arthur Shapiro]

As has been pointed out, one problem is that you can't smash anything - or at least anything you value - with the heavy and hard contraption.

That aside, they're wonderful. If you luck out, the fly gets wedged in the wiring grid and will actually catch fire. If that doesn't warm your heart, you're a lot more stoic than I.

I had one stop working for no obvious reason, but given the low price it was a no-brainer to replace it. I haven't gotten so much practical pleasure out of an inexpensive purchase in a long time.

Art

[hrhofmann]

DC is worse than AC, with AC there is a momentary time when the voltage/current goes thru zero and muscles can relax and let go(sometimes), With DC there is no such chance.

[gregz]

I got 500 vdc once, no one around. High current. A fly swatter is likely to be less than 30 ma dc max peak.

Greg