Electronic mosquito zapper swatter racket, with Cree LED

Off-topic Chatter
1

Hello, i got one of those rechargeable high power eletronic swatters. Used item, 2.0 years 100% unused ( i had used it 2 years ago! ). I am realizing that it has a high performance LED with a smooth reflector, and it was indeed very very bright light back then. Amazon sells hundreds of such similar products, the more harmless variety (with D and C cells).

I am quite sure that there is at least 1 LiIon 3.7V cell in the body, including a charging unit. You can plug the swatter directly into a 110/220/230V AC plug and recharge it. Very comfortable operation.

The particular product is "Katungou BLACK KILLER, KDO-309C, Made in China, UPC:6933715312653, www.katungou.com, www.kdo.cn", and is similar to:

KDO-318, or KDO-314. I havent called them yet but i might well do so..

Question: What happens with a LiIon cell after 2.0 years of no-usage? Is it safe to recharge it?, or would i have to consider precautions (e.g. opening the product, checking the cell chemistry and voltage, recharging it slowly with a hobby charger)? One point is, i dont own any hobby charger.. and my DMM, i've place the order today (dinodirect)!!

You know what. I hate mosquitos. They are s*ckers.

2

lol, I hate them too :bigsmile: But... does that thing really work?

Well, it will depend on quality of that cell. I left my old mobile phone 2 years without charging, and now it wont charge :~ Would be better to check the voltage first. If it mark 0V, charge it for 5-10 seconds and then check the V again. If it show 0V, don't bother and toss it. Just my 2 noob cents :bigsmile:

3

Are you sure it's Li ion? What i see is Ni Cd for some of them but they do not hold much of a charge quite fast (it sucks). We sell thousands of these stuff in Indonesia. haha... Now we sell the D size versions.

Sahsix, yes they do work. For houseflies as well, but sometimes you knock them out and they buzz around in circles on the floor, then they fly off again! So make sure you zap them till they smoke.

4

The kids have had these for years and use them when camping getting rid of the mozzies and other assorted bugs. When you here the crack they make you stay well away. The kids have the upper hand with these. Bugger.

5

No, man, my old Nokia 3410 use li-ion cell, almost 8 years old mobile phone. Same li-ion technology in li-ion cells for flashlights. (please someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Hahaha, "they buzz around in circles on the floor" lol :bigsmile: Will wait new 80% offers from DD to buy one :bigsmile:

6

Thanks for your feedback.

I dont know what kind of cell chemistry inside and i rather give them a call (today?) to find out about the safety.

YES, TRUE, it loses charge (when i was using it 2 years ago) fast BUT ONLY IF i press the button for the LED light (which is insanely bright, i thought). As long as i use the zapper function only, i could use it for a whole evening/night hunting session.

And oh my God, it has to be one of the best and most satisfying electronic product in our household!! I luv it. And mine is a "high quality" product. I've seen several of these by no-name brands and with D-Cells and i would believe that mine is superior: charger inside, cell inside, Cree LED light, on/off switch, momentary on, good quality plastic feel (haptics), brand has a website and is specialized in producing such items, ..

i REALLY works and it is sooo powerful that i would NEVER EVER dare to put my finger in the racket "net". The packaging says "NEW - EXTRA POWER - 5000V", and i do believe that it is more powerful than the ones with D-cells.

Well, i have to find out about its charging safety after the 2.0 yrs. Let's try to speak English with Ch*nese phony ladies haha

7

I was able to revive the cell. The light isnt as bright as it used to be wtf (afaicr) and it means that current draw is less!, and the zapper itself doesnt seem as "explosive" (BEFORE: mosquito? poof peng!!, NOW: mosquito? frizzle-frizzle!) any more. Some degradation of the gadget must have taken place. The aging of electronic parts? The aged cell cant provide high currents anymore? I dunno. And wtf cares. It was a very cheap product, had already provided tons of fun at that time, lasted for a year, and i expected it to be dead.

Finally i opened it (3 screws, nothing was glued, yay!):

(click to enlarge!)

With my DMM i measured +4.0V with the indicated probes. The black cell is light-weight, so i assume it's a 4.2V LiPo rechargeable cell (which is similar to a 4.2V LiIon cell in terms of charge algorithm). I would have tried to charge it with my WF-188 (( i dont own a hobby charger )) but since i dont know soldering techniques and have no crododile clamps i didnt modify anything.

The built quality (cheap plastic) and the circuit design and soldering is extremely poor (and questionable). Not a safe layout/design. I did the above picture to document the soldering points of the wires. If one day a wire comes off (please no short!!), i could try to solder it back on.

I am not sure if the design has an overcharge protection -- it should! the manufacturer cant assume that every user disconnects the racket after exact 2 hours (as suggested by the "manual").

It is very instructive to open the swatter in order to get a feeling for the low quality built and "appreciate" it. Now i really know that the inner is designed very poor, that it is powered with a 4.2V block-shaped cell (lemme call it "LiPo"), and the plastic is the cheapest plastic one could image. Let the swatter fall on any hard ground (or carpet), and the handle, which is a thin plastic frame, will break into several parts.

I love such swatters, they are really awesome (and never fail to impress friends, visitors, neighbors, barbecue parties, ..). I am VERY willing to buy a new one as long as the built quality is much better than mine, e.g. with a handle made of rubber and high built quality (PCB layout, soldering, safety, ..). I dont mind LiPo's or LiIon's in a swatter since i am a proud owner of Eneloops (AA with C or D-size adapters) and C9000. The typical swatter (amazon) uses C cells or D cells; no problem with Eneloop AA's. D cells are less powerful than LiPo's but it's easier (and safer) to control their charge status and remaining voltage.

As for now, i am happy: i've revived the cell, the swatter kills mosquitos.

Just thinking that if i ever drop it (and i wont let my neighbors play with it. They can play with my (much more expensive) flashlights (because flashlights are really robust compared with this 3$ cheapo swatter!) but not with my swatter :p) i will not hesitate a second to do research on a replacement (ebay, DX/DD/MF/KD, .. or amazon because of better packaging) and buy a higher quality one. (and i would keep the LiPo cell for charge/discharge experiments with my WF-188 ;) )

Maybe there is a swatter community (similar to the existence of flashlight communities CPF, BFL, TBS) on the inet, then you'll be shot of kreisler (and some senior members are looking forward to my byebye hehe) and i found my new hobby. Flashlights were my new hobby for past winter season (because cold and dark), swatters could then be my new hobby for upcoming spring summer autumn seasons.

8)

EDIT: freshly charged, the cell comes off at 4.233V

self discharge rate:

2012-03-27, 00:05a.m.: 4.233V

to be continued...