Humbanders,
In recent years, there have been a number of new hummingbird trap designs,
and methods of remotely releasing various types of doors on some of those
traps. I have been using the newer mesh-type non-electronic traps with some
success, but at many of my locations they do not work well for a variety of
reasons. The workhorse of my traps has been a cylindrical drop-door trap
with an Owens Trap Tripper to release the door, which I've been using for
about the past 15 years. In this time, I have only had to replace the
12-volt rechargeable battery a few times, and the smaller 12-volt battery
in the key fob remote a couple of times. It has otherwise been very
reliable, until a couple weeks ago when apparently the receiver died.
According to Nancy Newfield, Mr. Owens is willing to repair receivers, if
they are repairable, but I want to report here what I was able to do to get
an essentially new tripper that functions almost the same as the Owens
tripper.
As some of you may know, the Owens Trap Tripper is basically a power door
lock from an automobile. Mr. Owens told me a few years ago that it was from
a Mercedes, which allowed the three buttons on the remote to be programmed
to run three traps from one remote. But those parts have not been available
for some time. The mechanism consists of a receiver to receive a signal
from the key fob remote, an actuator to physically move a pin that is
configured to hold the trap door open, and a generic and easily available
12-volt rechargeable battery, along with various wires, connectors, and
small hardware, all mounted on a piece of wood.
I was able to replace both the receiver and actuator with "after market"
equipment available from a local source that is mainly known for car audio,
but also provides car alarms,remote starters, and keyless entry systems.
They were willing and able to replace my receiver and actuator for only the
cost of the equipment ($90 for the receiver, $20 for the actuator), plus
tax. No installation charge! They were amused to enter into their database
field for "vehicle type installed" as "licensed bird trap". The company is
apparently only local to southeastern Michigan, with several
outlets...Mickey Shorr Mobile Electronics. Another local outlet that may
have been able to do the job was Car Tunes. I don't know if the latter does
business outside of Michigan. Because the wiring harness on the receiver
had about 20 contacts, and the battery has two, and the actuator also two,
I was not comfortable figuring out the wiring diagram, so was grateful for
the "installation" help. Surely some of you will have more of an aptitude
for this kind of thing than I do. We also tried using the old actuator with
the new receiver, but it didn't seem to function properly, which is why a
new actuator was also needed. But now to the important part...the parts
they used.
Receiver: Viper Model 211HV 1-way Keyless Entry System
Actuator: 524T Door Lock Actuator.
I have been using this new trap tripper now for about a week, and I can say
that it works like a charm. The only limitation, which I've never had a
need for, is that you cannot operate multiple traps with one remote. And
when setting the trap you have to click the "lock" button on the remote so
that when you press the "unlock" button it will release.
So for those of you who have ageing Owens Trap Trippers, there is hope that
we can continue to use something very similar into the future.
And in conclusion, I would be remiss if I didn't thank John Owens for
inventing this thing in the first place! It has helped me trap and band
thousands of hummingbirds over the years.
Allen T. Chartier
Inkster, Michigan
Email: amazilia3@xxxxxxxxx
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mihummingbirdguy/collections/
Website: www.amazilia.net
Blog: http://mihummingbirdguy.blogspot.com/
