Cat Detector!

valis · Post by **valis** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:22 am

I don't know if anyone here has experience in DIY electronics, but I have a specific issue I need to solve.

Last year my wife brought home a new (cute) kitten who we named Leo, and we're attached enough to him that he's not going anywhere. He's a cute cat and overall fairly well behaved & responsive to our direction, but he has a horrible habit of jumping into my gear. He'll climb my synths, run across my soundtracs mixer, leap up onto the turntables/djm600 etc. He knows very well he's not supposed to do it, but in typical fashion for a young male, he knows that breaking the rules is a great way to get my attention. Typically he'll do it when I'm involved enough in something that I ignore him sitting at my feet demanding I drop what I'm doing and pay attention to him.

The problem is that it's impossible to do any audio work when he'll run across the mixer & push half the buttons, tweak knobs at random etc. It's impossible to play records/serato when he might leap up onto the turntable or dj mixer at any time, and I have to keep my synths rotated in the rack to an angle that makes them useless to me for anything but knobs and as a sound source (might as well have rack gear eh). He also has a tendency to walk across my gear at night, which makes using outboard gear a bit annoying between sessions.

I just want it to train him that the surfaces in my studio are not places he wants to be, because currently when I discipline him it results in him becoming more aggressive and treating me as the problem, and not him being on my gear. Outside of the studio there's no issues with my disciplining him, but I really want to short-circuit this behaviour pattern we have going because it's been progressing for the last 6-9 months and I don't see it ever going completely away. He obviously doesn't understand why he shouldn't walk across what to him appears to be a completely open surface, and it's obvious from him being on my stuff when I'm not around that the thing that dissuades him from being on my gear is me, and not him learning not to be up here. I've already tried common household things such as bits of tinfoil, plastic wrap, single sided tape laying upwards so that it attaches to his paws etc. None of it has been successful.

So, I'd like to build some sort of 'cat detector' attached to something that will bother him (ultrasonics or something). Probably 2-3 actually so that I can use one on my mixer, another across the dj setup, and a 3rd for my synths. I can imagine that some sort of simple focused infrared LED + photodiode circuit would work fine. In theory several detectors could be wired into the same circuit and attached to the same ultrasonic siren (or whatever the annoyance winds up being).

It's been about 15-20 years since I fiddled with making custom circuits of that type, and though I could still dig out a schematic and do some sort of Radio Shack diy kit project. This is an easy enough thing for me to solve on my own, but since I'm so out of touch with electronics I thought I'd pose the issue here for input from Planetz members who have electronics experience to see if you guys could help me come up with something halfway elegant.

pollux · Post by **pollux** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:12 am

probably a plain old movement detector (like those house alarms use) that triggers an ultrasound within his hearing frequency would do. You could find that in any electronics / diy shop.

There are even garden lights that are already bundled with a movement detector and that turn on on movement.

you could also try an electric fence

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:24 am

... or a BBQ

sorry, couldn't resist

Neutron · Post by **Neutron** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:47 am

you can buy them.

get the air squirting kind rather than the ultrasonic.I tried both to keep cats away from my workshop and while the ultrasonic one seems to work the air one much more amusing and seems to work better:)

http://www.lcsupply.com/Product/Puppy-S ... rrent.html

somewhere there used to be videos of cats coming near it but i cant seem to find it

pollux · Post by **pollux** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:53 am

better not to try if the pet is a hamster.. Can imagine the little furrball squashed against a wall

Post by **garyb** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:08 am

there's abetter reason to keep the cat away from the electronics. cats seem to have an affinity for unrinating on them. in the repair biz, cat pee is well known. once it gets on circuit boards, they are permanently destroyed. the pee is very corrosive.....

Fede · Post by **Fede** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:41 am

Same problem here!

I love cats, but I have to admit there aren't any good cats in a studio other than dead cats

currently my solution to the problem is a well sealed key closed door or when I'm in the room and my cat (named "ceppo") tries to get behind the guitar amp to put a paw in the loudspeaker, I solve adjusting the volume of the amp and playing a highly dramatic power chord...

but... I've heard of some spray smelling something that keeps cats away (probably humans too)... the blowing thing could be working as well...
the only thing I can tell from my experience is that cats are more sensitive to sudden high volumes or bass subsonic sounds, i.e. thunders or fireworks, rather than ultrasonic. (but neighbours too...)
...back to electronics, some sort of movement sensors are commonly sold to trigger lights on/off in rooms, they're typically positioned in wall sockets together with alarm devices too... but the problem of how to distinguish a cat from another thing? that would need some video surveillance software...or It might be possible to use more sensors/photocells at different heights with few logic ports to understand if the moving thing is a cat, just my thoughts...
anyway, good luck with the experiment!

Fede

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:52 am

We have 3 girl-cats. Sometimes, when we're not at home, they get a visit from various tom-cats.
I imagine they say to the visitors: "Come on boy, they're not at home!"
And he replies: "Nice to see ya girls, did you ever smell my new fragrance?"
And he lifts his tail, and --- psssh ---
All the tom-cats we know love electronic gear. So the video-recorder, the DVD-recorder were the preferred target.
Sometimes my DAW too.

Now I had to buy a new case. Some drops shoot thru a hole of the case and - voilà! - the 2nd STDM-port of my Scope Pro is hit. Well, I don't need it badly.
But we'll pitch a trap, bring him to the veterinarian, and - snip, snap - you know what I mean.
And the new case doesn't have holes on the sidewall.

tgstgs · Post by **tgstgs** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:19 am

a bare power cable with a tape pluged on a cloth soaked in menthol would do;

hint : use low voltage _ low current;

sorry but all other methods are a game for the cat!

electrical vibes

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:55 pm

Thanks for your hints, my friends,
but closing the door isn't possible, cos our girl-cats (they're called Whisky, Sherry, Tequila) need free entrance to ALL rooms of our flat. Otherwise our flat will be destroyed in a few hours.

valis · Post by **valis** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:16 pm

Thankfully the neither of our cats are prone to urinating where they're not supposed to. In his case he actually was house trained in a single evening, and I've never had a problem since. Well, except for a few dingleberries that he was blissfully unaware of as a young kitten (much to my wife's dismay, lol). If he took to spraying he'd be banned from the social areas of the house pretty quickly, but honestly I'm not expecting anything like that from him.

Now, I've had animals as pets my entire life and do a fair job at the whole discipline/training/affection thing. I never find cause to raise a hand at any of our other animals, usually a sharp tone and a quick look is enough to get them to correct themselves. In Leo's case I have known since he was a kitten what his 'problems' are going to be. He's smart and a natural hunter, but at hte same time he's somewhat crosseyed and 'courageous' enough that when I leave him outside for too long he always winds up injuring himself. And not in the 'I was playin with the kids' way, but in a way I can tell he missed a step 12 feet up in the air again on some adventure or other.

So what I'm after is a way to short-circuit this particular behaviour in a way that makes him associate the negative stimulus with the areas in question and not with me or my reactions to his behaviour. My guess is that he watches me sit rather still for long periods of time, and gets utterly bored and just wants to stir it up a bit. Especially after doing all he can do to roll around and play with his tail in the kittenest fashion he can muster.

Although the cans of compressed air I have lying on the shelf under my desk are particularly effective at getting him off of gear quick, it's not always in the best interests of the health of the gear. Sending a cat from being aggressively adventurous into full panic mode at the very least insures he'll hit every fader & knob in his panic to get the hell away. Intense lemon or other smells obnoxious to him are likely to annoy me as well, and although the cat-box looks cute I've actually got several places in this room for him already.

The ultrasonic sensor thing seems like the best candidate for the job, I just figured I could have some fun with a quick DIY soldering project rather than running to the local Home Depot / hardware store and buying something that's not really intended for indoor use. I'm certainly open to listening to other ideas that fall along similar lines as well.

Neutron wrote:you can buy them.

get the air squirting kind rather than the ultrasonic.I tried both to keep cats away from my workshop and while the ultrasonic one seems to work the air one much more amusing and seems to work better:)

http://www.lcsupply.com/Product/Puppy-S ... rrent.html

somewhere there used to be videos of cats coming near it but i cant seem to find it

So this is an interesting solution but it would be nice to be able to DIY it so that I could use multiple motion triggers or infrared beams (which I think is better since I work in here) for a single 'sprayer'. And again compressed air spray seems to send him into a panic which can actually make things worse (he sometimes tries to dive INTO the gear not away from it), although that device does mention some sort of warning sound that he can then associate with it.

Best idea I've seen yet on any of my forums though. For some reason I really expected people to come out weilding circuit diagrams and interesting googled images of parts...

BingoTheClowno · Post by **BingoTheClowno** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:30 pm

valis wrote: For some reason I really expected people to come out weilding circuit diagrams and interesting googled images of parts...

We can do that too

http://www.glolab.com/dp-001/dp-001.html

http://www.glolab.com/glmda/glmda.html

http://www.imagineeringezine.com/PDF-FILES/efield1a.pdf
http://www.discovercircuits.com/S/s-motion.htm

borg · Post by **borg** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:15 am

We have a workplace which we want to have micefree and went to inform myself. The most effective solution, we were told, was a high frequency emmitting device, but that would for sure scare away our cats as well.

A home made detector connected to Flexor should do the trick no?

FrancisHarmany · Post by **FrancisHarmany** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:51 am

Why not use 2 or 3 webcams ?

H-Rave · Post by **H-Rave** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 4:23 am

Of course the fundamental problem being is that cats think that any place they live in is theirs I just leave extra space around the equipment cats love wiggling round things,when my bastard cat walks over the mackie control the motorised faders fly all over the place.

valis · Post by **valis** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:44 am

BingoTheClowno wrote:
valis wrote: For some reason I really expected people to come out weilding circuit diagrams and interesting googled images of parts...
We can do that too

http://www.glolab.com/dp-001/dp-001.html

http://www.glolab.com/glmda/glmda.html

http://www.imagineeringezine.com/PDF-FILES/efield1a.pdf
http://www.discovercircuits.com/S/s-motion.htm

Thanks, this is closer to what I had in mind. I don't know anything about motion sensors but I do want to have something in here that is only activated in the actual proximity of the gear, ie by him running across the synths / mixers rather than me just sitting at my desk (as I largely need this 'deterrent' when I'm sitting here working).

valis · Post by **valis** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:34 pm

I'm either going for the ultrasonic approach with IR triggers or I might also try mating that automated air spray bottle cap in with a bit of custom rewiring. I don't think motion detection directly is the solution, looking at some of the above circuits they'll still trigger based on me suddenly standing up etc, which I think will work counter to the effect I'm going for.

Now it's just up to an IR/photoresistor combination that has a good line of site & isn't a pain to mount in various places.

radar23 · Post by **radar23** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:52 pm

This is funny cause I just posted on the ASB topic about how my cat love to jump on my synths.. so it not just me.

I found that if you can cope with totally ignoring him/her while they are on the gear, they eventually realisejumping on the gear does not get your attention.

It is hard at first because I usually have my back turned and all i can hear are the sounds of cat paws pressing buttons. But I have definately noticed that I does it less now that I don't accknowlegde him.

Cats will do anything for attention, so I find I give him more notice when he is on the floor or sitting on me, but not at any other time.

slammah2012 · Post by **slammah2012** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:27 am

Fede wrote:Same problem here!
I love cats, but I have to admit there aren't any good cats in a studio other than dead cats
currently my solution to the problem is a well sealed key closed door or when I'm in the room and my cat (named "ceppo") tries to get behind the guitar amp to put a paw in the loudspeaker, I solve adjusting the volume of the amp and playing a highly dramatic power chord...
but... I've heard of some spray smelling something that keeps cats away (probably humans too)... the blowing thing could be working as well...
the only thing I can tell from my experience is that cats are more sensitive to sudden high volumes or bass subsonic sounds, i.e. thunders or fireworks, rather than ultrasonic. (but neighbours too...)
...back to electronics, some sort of movement sensors are commonly sold to trigger lights on/off in rooms, they're typically positioned in wall sockets together with alarm devices too... but the problem of how to distinguish a cat from another thing? that would need some video surveillance software...or It might be possible to use more sensors/photocells at different heights with few logic ports to understand if the moving thing is a cat, just my thoughts...
anyway, good luck with the experiment!

Fede

A studio cat is a good thing.....
it keeps mice away from eating through wiring between studio and control rooms and editing suites...
I suggest a diversion......a carpeted wall in a hallway with a laser pointer can tire kitty pretty easily in a attentioned crammed minute.......
if it wasn't food she wanted, she will go to sleep somewhere soon after.

valis · Post by **valis** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:38 am

Yes I use a laser pointer quite frequently to distract him actually. The downside to that though is that it's a bit unpredictable as to whether it will actually leave him distracted enough that he forgets about me, as sometimes it just seems to make him go completely bonkers and tear around the studio at breakneck speeds.

The ignoring him thing is what I've been trying to do, the thing is it just gets on my damn nerves and it's been ongoing since he was large enough to jump up. I've tried all the normal modes of affection/ignoring/discipline and am now convinced I need to just break the connection between me and the methods used to dissuade him from being up there. Mostly because it's very annoying to me at this point when I'm just trying to get work done. I'm sure it will get better with age too but waiting another 1-2 years is just too much.

There are better ways for he & I to play as well...