How to detect wild animal pests in a windy garden?

[NeverDie]

My wife planted some bulbs and they produced some nice looking plants:

Unfortunately, the local wild animals have noticed them too, and we've sighted both skunks and raccoons which sneak in at night to dig up and eat their roots. One such victim is on the right, which now falls over, and we've had to stake it. It's dying though from these animal attacks. So, I purchased a motion triggered sprinkler (foreground) which, after detecting motion, immediately (and briefly) turns on a rapid fire sprinkler to machine gun whatever is around. The sprinkler part works well; it's analogous to the robot sentries in the movie Aliens. The problem is that the wind blows the leaves, resulting in many false detections and a lot of extra watering. Also, it will surely rot the fence if it continues this way for long. It does have a sensitivity knob, which I could adjust so that it triggers less often, but I fear that it may then not detect the pests it is meant to shoot with water.

So, what would be a better solution for this scenario?

Any and all advice/comments/suggestions/recommendations would be welcome.

[NeverDie]

Given that the animals in question are primarily nocturnal, one simple improvement would be to automatically disable it during daylight hours. That alone would cut down on the number of false positives by more or less 50%, depending on the time of year. I'm surprised that feature wasn't built into the existing product.

[mfalkvidd]

@NeverDie it would probably cut even more, there tends to be less wind when the sun isn't heating up the air.

[NeverDie]

@mfalkvidd
The funny thing is that there appears to be only one sprinkler-based pest repeller which can be selected to work only at night, and it costs twice as much as the simpler one that I acquired:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009F1R0GC/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3171424582&pd_rd_wg=bK9lx&pf_rd_r=ZFRJKK1V6JXJVM3BRQBT&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-bottom-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B009F1R0GC&pd_rd_w=bgW2H&pf_rd_i=sprinkler+repeller&pd_rd_r=DJD4YZHNMQ02WFTTQN30&ie=UTF8&qid=1503434141&sr=1

The big weak point in all of them though is that the sprinkler elevation can't be adjusted. You have to kind of angle the whole thing relative to the ground when installing it in order to get it to spray lower. Otherwise, it overshoots.

[mfalkvidd]

@NeverDie could you cut the power or the water supply during day to disable it?

[NeverDie]

@mfalkvidd said in How to detect wild animal pests in a windy garden?:

@NeverDie could you cut the power or the water supply during day to disable it?

Yes, presently I just turn off the water supply during the day and then back on after dark. Just another to-do though.

[NeverDie]

I suppose a bunch of solar powered electric eyes could be positioned so that multiple adjoining triggers close in time indicate a likely animal presence (instead of just falling leaves or something). In that case, I suppose we could replace the robo-sentry by simply activating our regular irrigation system for a short period of time. That's sure to hit everything in the yard with water, and it would be well hidden, unlike the current makeshift solution of the motion-sprinkler staked to the ground with a hose running to it.

Is that the best that can be done? I was hoping someone here might know of some kind of ultra low power proximity detector that might be deployed, perhaps more cheaply and easily--or perhaps have a different insight altogether.

[NeverDie]

I suppose if the AM612 could be made to be highly directional, instead of wide-angle in its detection, then it could be focused away from plants that move in the wind. What sort of optics would best support highly directional detection? Then its detections should have fewer false positives in absolute number. Its advantage is that it consumes very little current, so it is very well suited for use in a wireless mote that's either solar or battery powered:

https://www.openhardware.io/view/420/AM612-Passive-Infrared-Sensor-Breakout-Board

[gohan]

Is it windy at night too? Have you considered like a laser/IR fence that if it gets crossed it fires the sprinkler?

[NeverDie]

@gohan said in How to detect wild animal pests in a windy garden?:

Is it windy at night too?

Not tonight, but sometimes.

Have you considered like a laser/IR fence that if it gets crossed it fires the sprinkler?

Yes. See post #7 above. However, I don't know how energy consumptive that would be. Do you? Definitely more than a AM612 PIR sensor.

[gohan]

No idea about power consumption, but I agree it is definitely higher than a pir sensor. You could try to implement some rules about how often the pir is triggered in relation to other pir sensors, but that will require a lot of testing. About the "virtual" fence, you could use a cheap 12v lead acid battery that will give you a reasonable battery life and in case you could always add a small solar panel if the setup satisfies your needs

[Nca78]

Why not 3D print a hood like on camera lenses, that would leave view open only in the direction you want to check ?

[NeverDie]

@Nca78 said in How to detect wild animal pests in a windy garden?:

Why not 3D print a hood like on camera lenses, that would leave view open only in the direction you want to check ?

You mean like one of these?

I had thought of putting the am612 at the base of a simple tube to hopefully provide directionality, though I don't know how well that would or wouldn't work.

[NeverDie]

If these ultrasonic repellers actually work, then perhaps that would be the simplest solution.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0742J1XJC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3L23X67U0ZFFD&psc=1
Then no water would be needed, and I guess false positives would't matter.

Anyone here have any experience with them or anything similar?

According to: http://www.lsu.edu/deafness/HearingRange.html
a raccoon can hear sound frequencies up to 40,000Hz! That's clearly way beyond the range of human hearing.

[Nca78]

They work well for dogs so don't use this if you have dogs in the neighborhood.
And where is the fun ?

For the tube it should work as long as it blocks IR from unwanted directions.

[gohan]

If you want to shrink the range of the pir sensor, just put some tape on the lens. About the repeller I tried once but it doesn't work on cats and indeed it was putting out a tone around 20khz but it wasn't bothering them besides drawing a little curiosity the first they heard it.

[NeverDie]

The trouble with these consumer devices is that it's very hard to know what it is that you're getting. No datasheets. Nonetheless, I'd say the minimum features are a frequency knob that encompasses a frequency range well outside human hearing (I don't want to be annoyed by hearing it), weatherproofing (preferably IP66 or better), a large mini solar panel (I've seen some with solar panels that seem just too small), and advertising on the box which claims that the device will rid the type of pest you want excised. That still leaves one vulnerable to being scammed, though, so I filter that list by picking the ones that have both the best reviews and a large number of reviews by verified purchasers.

On top of that, it probably means getting about three different ones made by different manufacturers so that hopefully at least one will actually do the business!

Wish there was an easier way.

[NeverDie]

So, I ended up ordering this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072LW4VWV/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I'm a bit disappointed that it's only rated IP44 and not IP66 or better, but with luck it will be good enough as the near-term solution. The amazon reviews of it are encouraging that it will do the job.

[NeverDie]

There are quite a number of products on the market which are advertised as pest "repellers," and literally all they do is blink an LED at a fixed interval all night long.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KBAIGQO/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1JF0FEJIRJQ6I

The funny thing is: their amazon.com ratings are almost as high as the ultrasonic device that I ordered. Makes me wonder whether any of this stuff actually works at all, or whether by the time people receive their orders the pests have moved on to greener pastures and so consumers wrongly conclude that their newly purchased repellers are effective.

[gohan]

Actually flashing light into eyes of a night mammal could indeed blind it temporarily as the eye takes time to go back to "low light" mode, not to mention being exposed to light may give off his position to any nearby predator. Anyway cats don't seem to be bothered but maybe something else is more susceptible to these kind of disturbances

[NeverDie]

I think a "sure fire" scare tactic would be to have an RC car race out and make a rukus near wherever animal activity is detected. If it could actually chase after the animal, then even better. It would require a whole different level of sophistication, but it's no longer pure science fiction either.

[gohan]

That would be an interesting project but it is gonna be much complex

[sundberg84]

@gohan, @NeverDie - I just love the way this project evolves RC Cars and blinding leds... wonder where its going to end! I hope you get rid of the animals! And if you ever build - pictures!!!

[mfalkvidd]

It might be time to level up
Militarizing Your Backyard with Python: Computer Vision and the Squirrel Hordes – 26:24
— Next Day Video

[sundberg84]

@mfalkvidd - this is gold! Love the Sentry water gun idea!

[NeverDie]

@sundberg84 said in How to detect wild animal pests in a windy garden?:

@gohan, @NeverDie - I just love the way this project evolves RC Cars and blinding leds... wonder where its going to end!

Oh, we've barely scratched the surface. That's why I'm hoping other people will add some ideas to the brainstorm. The more the merrier!

I kinda like the idea of having a jack-in-the-box fire off in the vicinity. That's sure to scare the bejeasus out of whatever critter wants to munch the plants. It would have to be able to re-arm itself automatically afterward though, because re-arming it manually would get tiresome in a hurry.

[gohan]

the auto tracking water gun it is an "old" project but it could be an option

[sundberg84]

@NeverDie - How about something like a water pistol directly connected to a water hose? Maybe a bit to much water and a couple of false triggers and the plants will get enough water so survive a year... or drown.

[NeverDie]

@sundberg84 said in How to detect wild animal pests in a windy garden?:

@NeverDie - How about something like a water pistol directly connected to a water hose? Maybe a bit to much water and a couple of false triggers and the plants will get enough water so survive a year... or drown.

That's almost the current situation with the motion activated sprinkler (see photo in OP). To the designer's credit, it's a very aggressive sprinkler, not one of the lazy, slow moving types we're all familiar with.

[Richard Johnson]

I oder the LIGHT IT by Fulcrum 20034-104 Motion Sensor Porch Light from https://stoppestinfo.com/372-best-raccoon-repellents.html .
I used it during one month and it work well, using the light like a repeller from raccoons. So i hear about one more way it is a water repeller, but still don't know how it work (i mean good or not))
Any suggestion?

[NeverDie]

@Richard-Johnson said in How to detect wild animal pests in a windy garden?:

I oder the LIGHT IT by Fulcrum 20034-104 Motion Sensor Porch Light from https://stoppestinfo.com/372-best-raccoon-repellents.html .
I used it during one month and it work well, using the light like a repeller from raccoons. So i hear about one more way it is a water repeller, but still don't know how it work (i mean good or not))
Any suggestion?

This thing actually did seem to work quite well:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072LW4VWV/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=wwwmysensorso-20
Scared the skunk away at least a couple times. The one I bought from aliexpress was total junk though.

The water repeller thing may have helped. it's hard to know really.

[wallyllama]

@gohan do not judge anything by how it bothers cats. In my experience the only thing that bothers them is if you dont feed them or if you throw away their cardboard box.

The rc car would should work for most critters, really anything that makes a sudden motion should.

Side note raccoons are the only animal less bothered by people than cats.

[gohan]

I think I may buy a drone electric motor and propellers that will activate when PIR is fired

[NeverDie]

Cats VS Ssscat - Compilation – 03:16
— Ecaroult

[Terrence]

@NeverDie Too funny. Might have to get a can of that.

[Sergio Rius]

Nice topic.
I was gonna to say, thought it may seem Overkill, that you could setup a small zone minder system with a cheap night vision camera pointing downwards as high as possible.
Then zm allows for setting up virtual fences by drawing on the camera image, and if anything changes in the region (with configurable threshold) it fires a trigger or alarm.
You could start the sprinklers.

I would like to have a domoticz integration plugin.

[gohan]

That needs to be powered, I don't think you can use batteries

[NeverDie]

@Sergio-Rius said in How to detect wild animal pests in a windy garden?:

Nice topic.
I was gonna to say, thought it may seem Overkill, that you could setup a small zone minder system with a cheap night vision camera pointing downwards as high as possible.
Then zm allows for setting up virtual fences by drawing on the camera image, and if anything changes in the region (with configurable threshold) it fires a trigger or alarm.
You could start the sprinklers.

I would like to have a domoticz integration plugin.

I like your idea. Would that solution be immune to false triggers from the wind blowing the leaves to and fro?

[Sergio Rius]

@NeverDie Yes, it has a threshold for the amount of change for it to trigger. And by using a night vision cam I suppose alive beings should show brighter.
Well, I only had false detections at night from car lighting the garden.
Pointing from above makes easy defining the detection area at the grass.

If a camera sensor that incorporates this function could be done it would be incredible. I wonder if there's a powerful enough mcu to scan the camera images and run such an algoritm on the sequences, without being a complete rpi_with_Os-like system.

[NeverDie]

Militarizing Your Backyard with Python: Computer Vision and the Squirrel Hordes – 26:24
— Next Day Video

[Terrence]

@NeverDie Great link thanks. That guy has gone all out to fight the legions!

[NeverDie]

@Terrence You're welcome! This is the movie clip that inspired a lot of hackers to make their own:
ALIENS Robot Sentry Guns - Deleted Scenes – 00:59
— spaceoutpostearth

For instance, a number of people have made paintball robot sentries. I think that for a backyard, though, water projectiles are the best.

[Terrence]

@NeverDie I may have to dive into this, as we are expanding our garden and we have plenty of the furry devils.

[NeverDie]

Looks like it wouldn't be too hard to build something like this:
Robotic Sprinkler – 00:34
— arieluc

Then just program it to rapidly spray the entire region that you want protected. You'd probably want some waterproof motors, though. Not sure who sells those.

[Sergio Rius]

@NeverDie yeah, I think it's called sprinkler in most hardware stores and you can get the improved version with automatic movement without electricity for cheap now.

[NeverDie]

Yes, as mentioned earlier in the thread. I think you're right, though, it would be easier and more practical. Then the problem reduces to mostly just a detection issue.