12v or USB powered pest repellent

[Irish Rover]

Without reliving the whole experience I had a nasty smell in my boat last week which turned out to be a dead cat. The fu ---rry thing had found it's way under the moulded seats around the flybridge and was long dead and bloated by the time I found it. So I'm looking for one of those ultrasonic pest repellents to leave plugged in on the boat as cats are definitely a problem in my marina - I've seen a few quite sick looking ones around and I suspect my visitor had been looking for a concealed place to go to die as animals generally do. There are plenty of domestic plug in repellents available but I'm looking for one which will operate off 12v or a USB socket as I don't want to leave the inverter on 24/7.

 

[William_H]

I would suggest you buy a domestic repellent and try it out first. (on 240v either small inverter or mains) If that seems a good idea you could use a small inverter or open up the device to try to find the low voltage wiring from the power converter. Measure low voltage and then connect a buck or boost converter to enable it to run from ship's battery. ol'will

 

[Thistle]

What about a cat-repellent spray used in those areas where they might go to shelter or die?

 

[LiftyK]

Search on YouTube. I’ve seen tests that suggest ultrasonic pest repellents are not effective.

 

[Irish Rover]

Search on YouTube. I’ve seen tests that suggest ultrasonic pest repellents are not effective.

Yeah. Lots of really clever people on MooTube who will prove almost anything you might want them to prove as long as you keep clicking .

 

[GHA]

Yeah. Lots of really clever people on MooTube who will prove almost anything you might want them to prove as long as you keep clicking .

Artifical intelligence is cleverer Though it often gets the links wrong, it trained on a 2 year old version of the web.
From chatgpt.

is there any scrintific data to suggest that ultrasonic mosquetto repellents are effective.provide links

There have been various studies conducted on ultrasonic mosquito repellents, and the results have been mixed. Some studies have found them to be effective, while others have found them to be ineffective. Here are some links to studies on the topic:

A study conducted in 2015 found that ultrasonic mosquito repellents were not effective at repelling Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which are carriers of the Zika virus. The study can be found here: Potential role of Plasmodium falciparum-derived ammonia in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria

Another study conducted in 2013 found that ultrasonic mosquito repellents were effective at repelling Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, which are carriers of malaria. The study can be found here: Case Report: Partial priapism

A review article published in 2018 analyzed multiple studies on the effectiveness of ultrasonic mosquito repellents and found that there was not enough evidence to support their effectiveness. The article can be found here: Annoyance in Response to Vibrations from Railways

Overall, the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of ultrasonic mosquito repellents is inconclusive. While some studies have found them to be effective in certain situations, others have found them to be ineffective. It's important to note that using multiple methods of mosquito control, such as mosquito nets, insecticides, and removing standing water, may be the most effective way to prevent mosquito bites and the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses

 

[Irish Rover]

Artifical intelligence is cleverer Though it often gets the links wrong, it trained on a 2 year old version of the web.
From chatgpt.

Thanks. I could tolerate a dead mozzie on my boat. I doubt it smells as bad as a dead pussy

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Without reliving the whole experience I had a nasty smell in my boat last week which turned out to be a dead cat. The fu ---rry thing had found it's way under the moulded seats around the flybridge and was long dead and bloated by the time I found it. So I'm looking for one of those ultrasonic pest repellents to leave plugged in on the boat as cats are definitely a problem in my marina - I've seen a few quite sick looking ones around and I suspect my visitor had been looking for a concealed place to go to die as animals generally do. There are plenty of domestic plug in repellents available but I'm looking for one which will operate off 12v or a USB socket as I don't want to leave the inverter on 24/7.

You want a cat repellent device. examples below.
Why not try a solar one or if you get one with the optional mains adapter, don't get the adaptor, and it should run off the boat system. if 9volt you could use a dc-dc convertor or just stick a suitable dropping resistor in series. I have had them and they do seem to deter cats. However the ones that are advertised for foxes are a joke. I had one with flashing lights and ultrasonic sound. Fox brought his girl friend round. Thought it was a disco!!
Amazon.co.uk : cat repel garden

EDIT : The USB associated with the type in the link is normally for charging only and the unit is inoperable whilst it is in use. I have, as an aside, also played about with some of the circuitry in some of these to run them from eternal PV panels and bypass the charging to wire straight on to a couple of rechargeable PP3s. All depends on type etc.

 

[Refueler]

When we had a horse ... rats congregated in the barn - such that I used to stay quiet with an air rifle and practice my shooting ...

We tried all the Electronic units and NONE worked.

We have 4 cats ... they never batted an eye with the units either ...

Because we live next to the river - Mossies are a factor ... the only item that seems to have any effect - are the little fluid / tablet units you plug in ...
Outside of course they are no use and we resort to the oil lamps on bamboo sticks round the BBQ area ... filled with lamp oil mixed with Citronella.

Note : Citronella ..... synthetic Citronella is useless and is what many budget units have ... real citronella is not cheap.

Over here - we used to be able to buy small units to fit to the front of cars ... about size of a cigarette packet. A pair of them fitted to the grill would give out sonics to deter Deer and others from getting on road in front of car ... whether they worked or not - who knows ... but they were 12v powered. Humans could not hear the sonics.

 

[Irish Rover]

Looks like I'm snookered on this. We had a plug in unit we used to use at home to keep the cats off the terrace. It definitely worked but one of our dogs was really bothered by it. She wouldn't come anywhere within 60/70 metres of it so we had to stop using it. Anyway I located it last night and plugged it in on the boat today while I was out for a few hours and it's causing interference and static on my vhf. I'm assuming any other similar unit will do the same. Back to the drawing board. Thanks all.

 

[ChromeDome]

Dog? If you still have that, it should keep cats away?

You may consider adding to the repellant's function by feeding the cats somewhere well away from your boat, to make such a location more attractive.

Any way to prevent access to your boat - at least to make it more difficult than other boats?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Lemon scent is widely recommended, and most garden centres have scent-based cat repellants available. I have used a mixture of pepper dust and chili powder with fair success! The former to make them sneeze; the latter to sting their noses. But I second the advice about dogs - since having dogs, I haven't seen cats in my garden!

 

[pauldowrick]

Without reliving the whole experience I had a nasty smell in my boat last week which turned out to be a dead cat. The fu ---rry thing had found it's way under the moulded seats around the flybridge and was long dead and bloated by the time I found it. So I'm looking for one of those ultrasonic pest repellents to leave plugged in on the boat as cats are definitely a problem in my marina - I've seen a few quite sick looking ones around and I suspect my visitor had been looking for a concealed place to go to die as animals generally do. There are plenty of domestic plug in repellents available but I'm looking for one which will operate off 12v or a USB socket as I don't want to leave the inverter on 24/7.

I find a tub of catnip helps. ;-)

 

[Refueler]

Dog? If you still have that, it should keep cats away?

You may consider adding to the repellant's function by feeding the cats somewhere well away from your boat, to make such a location more attractive.

Any way to prevent access to your boat - at least to make it more difficult than other boats?

The OP's problem is one that I can relate to personally.

For many years we had a cat 'Fred' named after Freddie Kruger ... because he was totally independent and would show claws if he was not in the 'mood'.
He went missing and we searched everywhere for him ... but did not find.

When he was kitten ...

I was travelling a lot in those days and I had two ex Soviet MoBo's on trailers ......

My Gardener one day was working near one and noted a smell ... he lifted the cover and 'Fred' was found half decomposed ... similar to OP's ..

Basically Fred had found a quiet spot to pass away.

 

[Refueler]

Dog? If you still have that, it should keep cats away?

You may consider adding to the repellant's function by feeding the cats somewhere well away from your boat, to make such a location more attractive.

Any way to prevent access to your boat - at least to make it more difficult than other boats?

Dogs ?? Like this ?

We have 3 dogs and 4 cats ... all living under same roof ...

 

[Irish Rover]

Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions. I'll have a look and see what kind of smelly stuff might be available here. For the record I don't take my dogs to the boat. We have 5 dogs and 4 cats who all coexist happily with each other. The dogs don't allow other cats in which is just as well because my wife feeds up to 20 cats at the top of our driveway outside the gate.

 

[Refueler]

Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions. I'll have a look and see what kind of smelly stuff might be available here. For the record I don't take my dogs to the boat. We have 5 dogs and 4 cats who all coexist happily with each other. The dogs don't allow other cats in which is just as well because my wife feeds up to 20 cats at the top of our driveway outside the gate.

Blimey ... not you as well !!

My wife feeds up to 100 ducks each year that return to us ... all started when a pair came and had young ... next year they returned but so did their now grown up young ... they had young ... etc. etc.

Our dogs ignore them now and the ducks come right up to the house waiting for feed ...

 

[Irish Rover]

Blimey ... not you as well !!

My wife feeds up to 100 ducks each year that return to us ... all started when a pair came and had young ... next year they returned but so did their now grown up young ... they had young ... etc. etc.

Our dogs ignore them now and the ducks come right up to the house waiting for feed ...

Wouldn't be me, I can assure you. I'm partial to a bit of crispy duck or a bit a l'orange. Lucky for the cats I don't eat pussy

 

[Refueler]

Wouldn't be me, I can assure you. I'm partial to a bit of crispy duck or a bit a l'orange. Lucky for the cats I don't eat pussy

You can imagine that sometimes its sad ... usual number of young is from 6 to 10 per mated pair. We tend to count the young as they swim up our channel .. and its not uncommon for one or two ducklings to be missing ...

 

[AntarcticPilot]

You can imagine that sometimes its sad ... usual number of young is from 6 to 10 per mated pair. We tend to count the young as they swim up our channel .. and its not uncommon for one or two ducklings to be missing ...

I guess those reed beds make good habitat for ambush predators like pike.