uh huh
.... no point reinventing the wheel
Wheels, no, but
mouse traps... ain't electronics grand? I found a
Victor electronic trap in my back yard a few days ago with a desiccated dead mouse inside. It had four Sony AA cells inside, mostly all dead too. So I dumped the mouse and took the trap inside my house to see what else was inside (wife not at home at the time... fortunately!).
Inside the nicely made, injection-molded, plastic box, there was what appeared to be a simple circuit board with a ferrite-core transformer underneath, all secured very nicely with six itty-bitty screws inserted in plastic bosses. Really nice construction, but the elements had done a number on the electrocution electrodes, which were rusted. The real surprise occurred when I turned the circuit board over and looked at its bottom side: several tiny surface-mounted integrated circuits and an assortment of SMD resistors and capacitors were revealed. Besides the on-off slide switch accessible from the outside of the case, there was a tiny pair of contacts inside that the mouse would have brushed against and closed on its way in to the back of the trap, after passing through a simple maze. These might have been the kill switch.
There was an electrode at the entrance to the maze, and two more inside the kill chamber, but I have no idea what purpose the entrance electrode served. It might have been there to ensure the mouse couldn't somehow turn around and escape without being zapped again on the way out.
So, all of that for less than twenty-five bucks at Wally World, compared to
Victor's old-fashioned wood-plus-spring trap for two bucks, also at Wally World. I guess, for some folks, the extra cost is worth it to not have to deal with a dead mouse. My really old-school solution to a rodent problem: get a mouser (cat). Works for me and it will work for you too if you are a cat person. Only down side is my cat always ate the mouse and brought me the head. Or maybe that was an up side.