Fourmilab is surrounded on three sides by farmland. In the summer season, Zap Zone Defender System bugs are all over the place. Faced with this case, defence in depth is the one option: window screens, Zap Zone Defender System bats, Odonata on the pond, fly strips on the home windows and swatters in each room, and because the final stage of terminal defence, high voltage bug zappers with ultraviolet fluorescent lures. These aren't elegant units, however they get the job performed. The principle couldn't be easier-flying insects, whose compound eyes see lengthy-wave ultraviolet gentle that mammalian eyes do not, are attracted by the lure tube, which seems to emit a dim blue mild to humans. To succeed in the light, they need to fly between wires electrified with between 4 and eight kilovolts which, when the insect completes the circuit, kill-a-bug. The one drawback (not less than if you are not a flying insect) is that they do not seem to final very long. After somewhat more than one summer time, the bulb both begins to flash on and off like a strobe gentle or simply refuses to light at all.
Replacement bulbs are readily accessible and simple to put in, however in my expertise, a minimum of half the time changing the bulb doesn't fix the problem. With no gentle to draw the insects, a zapper is ineffective, so though its excessive voltage subsystem continues to work perfectly, most people junk it when altering the bulb doesn't make it mild up. I'm method too low-cost to be happy with such a state of affairs, so I determined to open up a failed bug zapper and see what was going on. The source of the issue proved to be so simple as I anticipated and as easy to treatment, so within the hope of saving any individual else the difficulty of figuring it out, I've scribbled these notes on how you can repair your personal bug zappers. These directions pertain to bug zappers made by the Windhager company of Salzburg, Austria, who have a dominant market share on this obscure trade right here in Central Europe.
Obviously, in case you have a bug zapper made by one other company, it is going to look completely different inside and may conceivably use an entirely completely different circuit for the fluorescent lamp. Unless you perceive what you're doing and Zap Zone Defender know enough electronics to be confident you are not going to do one thing stupid, it is best to depart issues properly enough alone and get a brand new bug zapper. Further, we're going to be disassembling and modifying a machine which, when opened up, has exposed connections to doubtlessly lethal mains present and extremely unpleasant if not deadly excessive voltage. In case you are sufficiently stupid or scatterbrained that you're more likely to neglect to pull the mains plug before sticking your hand contained in the guts of a bug zapper, Zap Zone Defender it is best to cease reading instantly and select some safer challenge, like making microwave popcorn. To start with, earlier than starting this process, be sure to try replacing the bulb and see if that fixes the problem.
If it does, you've got saved quite a lot of time and, if not, you are going to want a alternative bulb in the end, so why not have one readily available when the time comes? If a brand new bulb doesn't do the trick, the problem is sort of actually a failed fluorescent starter contained in the field, so we'll must open it up. You did remember to unplug the zapper earlier than beginning to disassemble it, didn't you? First, remove the bug catcher tray at the bottom of the zapper, taking care to not spill dead bugs all around the ground or your work space. Depending on the model, the 2 halves of the body of the bug zapper are fastened together with 4 or six screws. On "industrial" models, these are 2 mm metric machine screws and nuts, however some "consumer" fashions use infernal "split slot" screws which are meant to maintain you from opening up the gadget. You see, you're a client, so you're anticipated to eat-buy, purchase, purchase, not mend issues which break.