Stroke of car door lock solenid?

[JimG]

Can someone tell me how long the stroke might be on your average car door lock solenoid. It's just that I want one to operate as an actuator triggered by a PIR detector. Thanks

[Jethro_uk]

Are they solenoids ? The ones I worked on were motorised.

[Bob Minchin]

Got a peugeot-citroen one here and operating it manually, it has about

10mm travel. feels sloppy so maybe a bit of backlash/wear so maybe expect a bit less active travel?

hth Bob

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The most common types are actually motors - not solenoids. With a mechanism to convert the rotary action to linear. Common sort of stroke is about 1/2". However, they are designed to be controlled by a timer which switches them off after the lock has opened - say a second or so. I'm not sure they'd take kindly to being left on and stalled.

[Tim+]

Making one of these?

Tim

[Andrew Mawson]

Brilliant :)

Andrew

[Bob Minchin]

Brilliant!

Also part 2

[JimG]

lock solenoid. It's just that I want one to operate as an actuator trigger ed by a PIR detector. Thanks

Not quite. Saw that video clip long time ago and thought it was great. I wa nt to make a rat trap using a wheelie bin half-filled with water and then u sing a tilting mini gang plank so that when rattie gets to a certain point the PIR triggers the relay that gets a solenoid to either:-

1. Flip the plank down suddenly, OR
2. Release a trigger that holds off a spring that flips the plank.

If I take it to the next level of sophistication the I would want to find a relay that would close a 12v circuit, hold it closed for say 2 seconds the n flip the polarity to return the solenoid to its starting position.

Does such a relay exist?

[Tim+]

Seems unnecessarily cruel and complicated. You either want sudden death (rats are excellent swimmers you know) or live trapping for later humane dispatch. A lightly sprung trapdoor in a tunnel that drops them into the bin is all that you need. Of course you have to persuade them to use the tunnel which is why most folk don't base their designs on a tall wheelie bin.

Tim

[Bob Eager]

Trivial with an Arduino driving it. I have stuff set up like that.

[Nightjar]

Reminds me of the time we were staying in one of the Gîtes de France. I was driving a car with a British registration and, on seeing it, the occupants of another of the Gîtes waved us down to have a drink. They were obviously getting rather bored in a small French village as they had spent most of their time building a complex device to catch mice, which involved a series of improbable walks, ending up with the mouse, theoretically, being dumped into a bath of water. They didn't catch any.

[JimG]

Cruelty? They're rats ffs. They've been robbing the birds nests in our garden for the last few years. As for "complicated", that's the fun part. Lovely retirement project - a construction involving electronics, mechanical linkages and animal cunning.

Also, it keeps me from developing bad habits :-)

[JimG]

Made one of these before to scare off foxes. It worked a treat but I used a solenoid valve to start/stop the water spray/sprinkler. Problem was the cu t off on the valve was so abrupt that it caused a pressure surge that blew off one of the connections on the incoming water supply to the whole house.

I had to dig up a 4" thick reinforced concrete floor to fix the leak so I'v e been a bit wary of solenoid water valves ever since.

If I could get a solenoid valve with a progressive shut off then I would go with that for blasting Rattie off the gang plank into the drink.

[Gazz]

They may 'just' be rats, but they are still living creatures that experience fear and pain,

i know i am biased as i keep pet rats, but i am not that far gone to try and make everyone live in harmony with wild rats when they are causing problems, but surely a break neck trap would be cheaper, more successful and above all, an instant death for the animal.

What is your plan once you have the rat swimming in the bin of water? you know they can swim for upto 3 days before they finally drown through exhaustion, if that's the plan then it's cruelty to animals in anyone's book, even 'vermin' have the right to a quick death at the hands of us humans,

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A SPDT one with a suitable capacitor across the coil will do just that.

[Tim+]

An inability to empathise with animal suffering is a common trait in people who go on to become murderers.

As do cats, birds and other animals.

Well I can understand that part at least.

Torturing animals isn't a bad habit?

Tim

[JimG]

Don't worry Gazz, the kit will provide for the relay to text me when Rattie gets dunked. I will then fish him out with my landing net and despatch him quickley in a humane manner. Max 2 minutes, unless I'm sat on the toilet.