Some of us here at Hackaday are cat lovers, but we also understand that a plethora of unwanted cats using a suburban back garden can be bothersome, and a few years ago we featured a project from Aussie YouTuber [Craig Turner], in which he created a motion-detecting water spray for use as a relatively harmless cat repellent. Now he’s back with an updated version which is a little slicker and easier to make.
At its heart is the same PIR-turns-on-water operation, but this time there is a solenoid valve and purpose-built nozzle instead of a car central locking actuator and a lawn sprayer. Doing the electronic work is an off-the-shelf PIR module, so there is no longer any need to hack a security PIR detector. Add in some pipe sections and PTFE tape with a bit of hot glue, and the result is a far more professional and streamlined device. The video gives a full run-down on construction, though we notice he neglected to emphasise the polarity of his protection diode so keep an eye out if you follow his example.
So if the thought of a continuous supply of free feline company courtesy of your neighbours is not for you then now you are equipped to send them packing. The latest video incarnation of the project is below the break, but if you are in search of the original then you can go back to our coverage at the time.
There is no justification to repel cats. They are the loveliest animals.
Cats are annoying, hair shedding, parasite carrying and bird murdering bastards that will happily eat you given half a chance.
that’s a dog hidden appetite.. small felines are just too… small
Not when you have small kids and have to regularly remove all the crap that your neighbours’ cats leave in your garden before they can go out and play.
You may not realise cats kill millions of native animals in Australia each DAY.
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/03/natural-born-killers-the-problem-with-cats/
Fluffy they may be, but efficient predators of wildlife they certainly are. I had a baby brushtail possum living in a tree in my yard killed by a neighbourhood cat, it was a sad sight.
Mmmmm, possum. Maybe we could couple this idea with a Elon Musk flame thrower and just go for fresh automated BBQ 🤔
Not so lovely when the poop in your flower beds.
ever ended up getting a cat-arse in the face when you’re on the couch? Then imagine the same in the garden, and cat’s business is no pleasant addition to the flower bed either, or lets face it,.. super-nasty much worse! possies is vegetarian already-adjusted to ground level decomposition needs, as well as being of local bacterium also-matching local leaf-litter – when was the last time a cat adjusted IT’s gut-bacterium to accellerate decomp? ha!
Go eat a turd.
As ‘lovely’ as they are, they still make me deathly ill, so having them around isn’t an option. Isn’t human life a sufficient justification?
Cats are mobile unshielded biological reactors, eating any animals that can’t escape and processing them into biohazardous waste, deliberately placed to be spread by human foots and hands. Repelling is the mildest option from the range available to us. Cats and their waste make me ill, so eleimination is the only option.
Obvious troll, but as an owner of two cats, we have a need to repell invaders, especially one bengal which seems to want to hunt and kill anything moving from flies to our cats.
I saw the little bastard sneaking up on one of ours the other day and threw my keys at it but they chinked mid air and alerted it.
I’m going to buy a catapult
1) it has more range
2) its got cat in the name
So yeah, I like cats, but mainly just my two. The rest are pests
Martin are you are volunteering to clean up all the cat shit from my flowerbeds as well as replacing the contaminated soil? I thought so.
Why does he want to zip-tie it to a steak?
He likes it medium soaked.
once they learn how to cheat the sys, prepare for a flooded garden ahah
yea cats are capable of hacking things too. there are a number of cat free zones in the house that sometimes have cats in there because they found a way in. they either use social engineering to get the humans to let them in, or they do brute force hacks by scratching their way through the drywall.
Next one – pan-tilt turret with machine vision which can whitelist/blacklist some cats.
I must admit I was hoping for OpenCV and cat recognition rather than just a PIR.
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/birdwatching-meets-a-computer-controlled-water-cannon-awesomeness-ensues/ alas, not working for squirrels.
That’s what I was looking for too. The raccoons have created a nightclub on my Grandma’s rear deck where they party all night, howling, tearing up her potted plants, and crapping everywhere.
They damage property and defecate where ever they please.
Mayhaps your inclination towards them is explained in the following article.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322594.php
way more geek:
https://hackaday.com/2016/07/08/neural-network-targets-cats-with-a-sprinkler-system/
The components cannot be had for $15.
The construction materials and methods are not durable and would not be effective for more than a few weeks in my enviroment; but ok if only for proof of concept project.
Cheap PIR sensors have no long-term reliability. ToF sensors, in my experience, are more effective and provide for more versatile/programmable data. I have ‘profiles’ for deer, coyotes, and coons – which determine response method for the various water controllers and nozzles.
Cool! Got a link to your project?
Second the other poster. I’d love to have a link to the project.
I’m no expert on accents, but he said “Sweet As” at one point, so I think he’s actually from New Zealand…
Conferred with two colleagues who are an Aussie and a Kiwi. Conclusion is that he’s an Aussie. “Sweet as” is probably a New Zealand thing, but I guess they don’t regulate it’s usage 😏
I had a commercial one for cats/squirrels/raccoons/skunks however I got rid of it because I kept forgetting to turn it off before exiting the house. enough said
5:16 in, looking at the clip, there seems to be THREE connection points to the solenoid. I’m confused.
There should only be an IN and OUT.
wires from the DC adaptor? one was the earth? just a shot of the two being joined, and the editing of the vid had the speech and the visuals a few seconds off?
Can we add cat recognition somehow so I can defend my beautiful baby from that awful bully, John?!