Comment by LinuxBender
4 years ago
This is interesting and looks like it was a fun project, but it looks a little complicated to be practical for me personally. I currently just put a screen over a large fan and open a bottle of carbonated water to attract them near the screen. The fan/screen can kill (starve) tens of thousands of them per day and their carcasses can be used in plant fertilizer. The downside of my method I suppose is that the fan will use more power than your laser by quite a bit.
[Edit] Apologies to the parent poster. I did not mean to derail the laser discussion.
More details on this style of setup: https://youtu.be/6BhV-o77RqQ
That is really clever. I never thought to use an animal to attract the mosquitoes. Not sure what I think about spraying alcohol into the fan, at least my old fan. Maybe he's using 70%.
I the video he said 2 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol.
I wonder how it compares with something like Thermacell ? (haven't used it, but heard good things)
I think Thermacell is ok to keep mosquitos away but it don't think it really kills them, at least in masses. You can't really have it running for 24/7 because the pad that contains the poison/repellent that it diffuses will run out in 4-12 hours.
Also there are some comments on that the poison they use is really harmful for marine life, so you shouldn't use it near water. Also personally not sure I like to have poison diffuser next me all time.
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That isn't a mosquito trap, that's flying insect genocide
It might catch a few mosquitos But the majority is going to be small flying insects. But more so the “bait” is likely completely in effective
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Yeah I would be concerned about butterflies, moths, bees, etc. it’s also got to use a lot of energy.
Greenpowerscience is a great channel, was hoping their video would get linked here :D
Interesting method. I knew they were attracted to CO2, but I thought the CO2 had to be warmer & wetter to attract them for some reason.
Mosquitos use different mechanisms depending on the distance to their target.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/28/7068387...
At a distance, its CO2 (30 feet away). Closer in, its the sweat. Even closer to target, its body heat.
The CO2 itself doesn't need to be warm or sweaty. Just when the mosquito is close to a target, it switches from the general vicinity (CO2) approach to one that will give it a better lock on.
(since I can't edit my old post anymore) By chance, zefrank of "True Facts" just realized a video on "True Facts: The Mosquito".
About 10:35 into it it's about the mosquitos that feed on humans... but its zefrank, you're going to watch it all and chuckle at the humor.
Thanks for that.
How long does the the bottle of carbonated water last?
Do you just open it and leave it there?
A little more than an hour. Long enough to pull in a swarm. A 2 litter would last longer but I just get the flavored sparkling water. I open it just to the point I can begin to hear a sound.
For a longer lasting and potentially cheaper source of CO2 just add sugar and yeast to water.
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Just curious: do you notice a difference in the population over time, or is it one of those things that mostly just works while it's running?
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Just a bottle behind a screen behind a fan? Or does it blow into the screen?
About 20 feet in front of it. The gasses get pulled into the fan along with the mosquitoes. It works without carbonated drinks too, just slower. And that only helps if there is a swarm of them i.e. near a standing body of water. In standing water you can also use "mosquito donuts" that release a bacterium which is toxic to all species of mosquito larvae. A common brand is called "Mosquito Dunks"
Please only do this in artificial bodies of water. There’s an entire food chain of insects and birds and fish which rely on the larvae and adults.
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The screen is 20 feet in front of the fan?
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Also hijacking the general mosquito control discussion: What's wrong with UV light traps? Got one from amazon and the soothing placebo? effect is great.
Tried one. It increased my mosquito bites and killed 1-2 per week. Needless to say I wasn't using it for very long.
Great against insects that are attracted by UV light, like mayflies, but not mosquitoes.
Some mayflies may look like mosquitoes, but they don't bite and are mostly harmless. It doesn't mean they are not annoying, especially when there are lots of them, and if that's a problem, UV light traps work great.
UV doesn't attract mosquitoes
Oh, are German mosquitoes different or is it really just placebo?
Thinking about it:
If I leave the window open with the light on in summer there will be hundreds of mosquitoes in the room (together with ~50% other critters). Even if no one was inside.
Window open without light: a dozen mosquitoes at max (as counted by suddenly switching the light on).
Whatever is known about other species is not correct about our breed.
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I think your method would be much better for the indoor use case, but the laser method could clear your whole backyard in theory!
I wonder if you could just use something sticky, sort of like fly strips? Fertilizer becomes untenable, but perhaps you could put the energy savings toward a more efficient fertilizer approach?
Can you elaborate a bit on this? Does it work by the fan blowing them against a screen and they stay stuck on it?
mattjaynes linked a video that explains this better than I did and looks like its a better way to do it.
What kind of fan are you using? Would a box fan work?
24 inch drum fan. Box fans might work. The drum fans have higher air flow so I guess its up to the specs of the fan. Try it and see if they stick to the screen.
Thanks
> their carcasses can be used in plant fertilizer
Or fish food.
this device can be used also for weed and insect)
Have you found a tractor company or robotics company to mount your laser and zap weeds? I've seen a few prototypes on youtube but I have no idea how popular they are yet. If not I hope you find one.
this while the prototype is still needed. I've seen a few videos that do this - but the working conditions are too ideal there.