Easy Methods To Replace The Fluorescent Starter In A Windhager Bug Zapper
Fourmilab is surrounded on three sides by farmland. In the summer time, bugs are in every single place. Faced with this case, defence in depth is the only option: window screens, bats, Odonata on the pond, fly strips on the windows and Zap Zone Defender swatters in every room, and as the last stage of terminal defence, high voltage bug zappers with ultraviolet fluorescent lures. These are not elegant gadgets, but they get the job performed. The precept couldn't be easier-flying insects, whose compound eyes see long-wave ultraviolet gentle that mammalian eyes don't, are attracted by the lure tube, which appears to emit a dim blue mild to people. 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 only disadvantage (at least if you aren't a flying insect) is that they do not appear to final very long. After a little more than one summer time, Zap Zone Defender the bulb both begins to flash on and Zap Zone Defender off like a strobe mild or simply refuses to mild in any respect.
Replacement bulbs are readily accessible and easy to install, but in my expertise, at least half the time replacing the bulb doesn't fix the problem. With no gentle to attract the insects, a zapper is useless, so despite the fact that its high voltage subsystem continues to work completely, most individuals junk it when altering the bulb doesn't make it gentle up. I'm manner too low-cost to be proud of such a state of affairs, so I decided to open up a failed bug zapper and see what was happening. The source of the issue proved to be so simple as I expected and as straightforward to treatment, so within the hope of saving somebody else the trouble of figuring it out, I've scribbled these notes on learn how to restore your personal bug zappers. These directions pertain to bug zappers made by the Windhager firm of Salzburg, Austria, who've a dominant market share in this obscure trade right here in Central Europe.
Obviously, you probably have a bug zapper made by one other firm, it will look different inside and should conceivably use a wholly different circuit for the fluorescent lamp. Unless you perceive what you are doing and patio insect zapper know sufficient electronics to be confident you are not going to do one thing stupid, it's best to leave issues properly sufficient alone and get a new bug zapper. Further, we'll be disassembling and Zap Zone Defender modifying a gadget which, when opened up, Zap Zone Defender has uncovered connections to potentially lethal mains present and very unpleasant if not deadly high voltage. In case you are sufficiently stupid or scatterbrained that you're likely to overlook to pull the mains plug before sticking your hand inside the guts of a bug zapper, you must cease studying instantly and choose some safer undertaking, like making microwave popcorn. Initially, before beginning this process, you'll want to strive changing the bulb and see if that fixes the problem.
If it does, you've got saved loads of time and, if not, you're going to need a alternative bulb eventually, so why not have one readily available when the time comes? If a brand new bulb does not do the trick, the problem is sort of certainly a failed fluorescent starter inside the field, so we'll must open it up. You did remember to unplug the zapper before starting to disassemble it, did not you? First, Zap Zone Defender remove the bug catcher tray at the bottom of the zapper, taking care to not spill dead bugs everywhere in the ground or Zap Zone Defender your work area. Depending on the model, the two halves of the physique of the bug zapper are fastened together with 4 or six screws. On "industrial" fashions, these are 2 mm metric machine screws and nuts, but some "consumer" models use infernal "split slot" screws which are supposed to keep you from opening up the system. You see, you are a consumer, so you're expected to consume-purchase, purchase, buy, not mend things which break.