ULTRASONIC

PEST REPELLERS
ROBERT F. SCOTT

OVER T H E YEARS , T HERE H A V E BEEN

many art icles published that proclaimed

that ultrasonics, either in the form of
pulses or a sweep signal, can be used as an
effective insect and rodent repellent. I' ve
always been skeptical of such claims and
placed them in the same category with
those electronic devices claimed to prevent swa llows fro m ne stin g o n th e
court house roof and prevent pigeons from
defiling the Stonewall Jackson statue on
the town square. Nevertheless, I filed
tho se art icles away for invest iga tio n
sometime in the future.
Last summer, my hunting and fishing
club took possession of a farmhouse that
had been abruptly abandoned about a year
ago. The house was absolutely overrun
with mice and roaches that were bold
enough to scamper about in full daylight.
We were at a loss as to how to get rid of
them .
Ultrasonic pest repellents had begun to
appear in mail-order advert ising and our
club president suggested that we try one.
Those devices, according to the literature,
generate a signal that sweeps over a frequency range of approximately 22 kHz to
65 kl-lz, develop sound pressures ranging
from 11 5 to 152 db , and repel pests in
areas of 2500 to 3500 square feel, Power
consumption is typically 2 to 4 watts.
Prices range from $30 .00 to $70.00, plus
shipping.
.
At first, I scoffed at the suggestion that
we purchase an ultransonic pest repeller,
but agreed to try one since they were available for a 30-day trial and full refund. The
$30.00 model was available from several
sources under names that include Pest
Control, Pest-Elim 1500, and Westronix.
We ordered one and it came within a few
days. It was shipped in a plain unmarked
carton and we were surprised to find that it
did not carry a trade name or model
number. We installed ~ t in the clubhouse.
Within two weeks, mice and roaches were
nowhere to be seen--even when lights
were suddenly turned on in a dark room.
Now, we consider the clubhouse completely free of pests. Not a sign of them:
even in the darkest corners and crannies.

The claims made for those ultrasonic pest repellers seem

fantastic at first glance-but they really work. In this article,
we'll find out what makes those devices "tick".
livering 16-20 watts in the ultrasonic region and special high-power tweeters.
Certainly that little plastic box didn't contain a 20-watt power amplifier or highpower tweeters. Also, a 16-20-watt power
amplifier drawing only 4 watts from a
supply would be about as close to " per-

Now that the pest repeller had done its

work, I began to speculate on its circuit.
An early article on the use of ultrasonics
in insect and rodent control (" Electronic
Pest Control", by Lyman Greenlee, Pop ular Electron ics , July 1972) indicated that
the repeller needed a power amplifier deR1
3.3K
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15K

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R3
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R8
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R4
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555

R6
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6.8K

' SEETEXT

FIG. 1-SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM of a popular ultrasonic pest repelle r. Despite its simplicity, the device
was remarkable effec tive.

61

on the line fro m the power supply modu la te s t he ult r ason ic freque nc y. Two
Darl in gto n- connec ted NPN transistors
provide so me power amplification and
drive for the speaker.

Rl
lOOK
14
13
12

11

R3
22K

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560pF

ICI
CD4011

C2
560pF

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2
4
5

3
6

':'

T1
6.3V
1-12A

':'

R2
lOOK

TO
111VAC

FIG. 2-THIS PEST REPELLER, of French design, is built around a CD4011 quad
schematic diagram is shown in a; a block diagram of the IC is shown in b .

Sl
CONTINU OUS
RT2
47K

ICI
6

555

II~F

gate. The

+VCC

3
PULS EO

1
RT2
47K

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+ CT

NANO

C3
1

CT
':'

FIG. 3- THIS CIRCUIT IS ideal for experimenting with ultrasonic signals. It can supply either a pulsed
or continuous output.

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o
o
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a:

52

petua l motio n" as one ca n co me . Thu s , I

co uldn 't wait to pry open the repe ller 's 6 V~
x A V~ x IV~- i n c h plastic case and see
wha t made it " tick" .
Figure I is the circ uit of the device we
tested .' We were quite surprised to find
that the circu it was simply a 555 timer IC
connected as a squarewave gener ator. Its
base freq uenc y is approximately 45 kHz,
as de term ined by the values of R l , R2 ,
and C l .
The 45 -kH z "carrier" is frequ ency
modu lated by a modi fied trapi zo idal voltage wavefor m app lied to pin 5 of the 555
ti mer. Tha t mo du lating voltage is develope d by a network co ns isting of C2 ,
R3 , and R4 co nnec ted across one leg of
the brid ge rectifier. A check with an osc illosco pe showe d a sweep of app roximately 20 kHz on eac h side of the base

freq uency. Th at sweep of from 25 kHz to

65 kHz is su rpr ising ly clo se to the 22-65 kHz range specified in the ads . The speaker is a 2 inch piezoe lectric tweete r.

How the French do it

The circ uit in Fig . 2 is a pest repe ller
described in the French electronics magazine , Le Haw Parleur. In the article, the
author claims th at freq uencies in the range
of 20 to 40 kHz cause highl y uncomforta ble cavities to form in brain fluids and
blood vesse ls of mice and insects , causing
the m to beat a hasty retreat. Rad iated
power level s ca n be as low as y, watt .
Looki ng more closely at the circ uit, a
quad two-input NAN D gate is co nnec ted as
multi vibra tor opera ting at aro und 40 kHz.
With the minimum of filtering used in the
power supply, a res idual 120-Hz sawtooth

Circuit for experimenters

If you wan t to ex periment with the
effects of continuous or pulsed high-frequency signals , ' the circuit in Fig. 3 is
idea l: it ca n provide eit her a con tinuo us or
pu lsed outp ut. It was developed by Signetics and described in Electro nic Products Maga zine .
Lookin g at the circ uit. one 555 timer,
IC2, ge nerates the ultraso nic squarewave
at a reco mme nded 20 kHz . That signal
can be supplie d co ntinuously or pulsed on
and off by a second 555. ICI.
Exp erimentin g wi th fre q ue ncy and
duty cycle is easy. Duty cycle is the " on"
tim e co mpa red to the total period , and ca n
be set from slightly above 50lk to almos t
100 9'c . In the asta ble mult ivibrator circuit ,
the duty cycle is se t by the timing resis tors . RTI and RT2. and is equal to RTI
+ (RT2/RT I) + 2Rr2 .
.
The on time is close to 100lk when RTI
is chose n to be as small as pract ical while
limiting the curre nt through the disc harge
transistor to the maximu m spec ified in the
data shee t. (The discharge transistor .
whic h is on -board the 555 , is an ope ncollector NPN device with the co llector
going to pin 7 and the emitter to grou nd at
pin I. Th e maximu m curre nt through it
varies with differe nt manu facturers so you
should check the maker's data shee t'to be
sure .)
If you want a duty cycle of less than
509'c, co nnec t a ge neral-purpose silicon
diode suc h as the IN914 across RT2 with
its anode at pin 7 and cathode at pin 6.
That effectively shorts RT2 whil e timin g
ca pac itor C T is charging , and the duty
cyc le is now (RT2/RT l) + RT2 and it can
be varied from aro und 0 to nearly 1009'c.
The freque ncy of the squa rewave generator ca n be found from 1.44/CT(R T I +
2RT2 ), where resistance is in megoh ms
and capacitance in microfa rads.
If you want to vary the duty cycle of the
osci lla tor while keeping the frequency
cons tant , use the basic circu it shown in
Fig . 4 .
In that circuit, a single potentiometer is
used for the two timing resistors . In tha t
scheme, it is po ssib le to set the value of
one of the two "timing resistors" to zero .
As that is undesirable , two resistors , RI
and R2, have bee n added to set minimum
values for those timing resistors.
Use the basic circuit shown in Fig . 5
when you want to vary frequency while
kee ping the duty cycle constant at approx imately 50 % . The variable element used
in that circuit, R, a and R, b, is a twogang linear potenti ometer. Note that the
value of the two variable elements are
contin ued on page 82