Meet Lexie, our three-year-old feminine Collie:
She’s very fairly (IMHO)…in stark distinction to that ugly dude looming behind her. She’s sadly additionally a barker. Round 1.5 years in the past, I had the brilliant concept to select up an ultrasonic bark deterrent machine, with a claimed 50-foot most bark-detection vary. It didn’t go effectively.
When used indoors, her barking (supposedly) resulted in ultrasound bombardment of not solely her but additionally her poor (see how unhappy he seems to be?) well-behaved, harmless older brother, Rocky:
Not that I might discern any response from both of them, thoughts you.
So, I attempted utilizing it outside within the canine run as an alternative. Did I point out that the across-the-street neighbor’s canine is additionally a barker? Each time the neighbor’s canine sounded off (together with, I believe, different similar-frequency-range sonic sources comparable to automobiles driving by, plane passing overhead, and so forth) the machine seemingly additionally activated. Though, it didn’t discourage the neighbor canine’s vocalizations both. One thing was apparently taking place although, and it was taking place typically—the machine chewed by way of 9V batteries like loopy.
What is that this mysterious, seemingly ineffective widget? The mannequin quantity is CSB19, and it’s presently offered beneath a number of firm names on Amazon and elsewhere, comparable to STUNICK and UANAX. Here’s a inventory image:
And right here’s a picture overviewing its numerous working modes:
Now for my unit which, in the event you haven’t already discovered, I’ve given up on and am now turning right into a teardown sufferer. As traditional, I’ll begin with some field photographs. I feel “Derer” means “Deter” (though I admittedly consider “derriere” each time I see it). I’m additionally significantly keen on the “Ornamental Contact” verbiage; I go away it to you to discern whether or not that snippet of the black-plastic exterior description aligns along with your explicit decorative tastes:
Look how serene these canine are! Considered one of them is even being snuggled by a kitten. And no, I do not know what the guinea pig is doing within the lineup both:
Crack open the field and the very first thing you’ll see are two items of literature:
The one on the best is attention-grabbing, albeit from a non-technical standpoint. The gist of what it’s saying is that this: “Submit good issues about us and our product on Amazon and we’ll despatched you $20!” (No, I didn’t take them up on their provide.) Not less than a few of you could already pay attention to the “nice purge” that Amazon did at the start final summer season of firms (lots of them China-based) who had been partaking in such habits.
To wit, the particular CSB19 product variant that I bought in late October 2020 from a vendor named “Wanlimaoyi,” is now not listed as being obtainable for buy…neither is anything beforehand offered by “Wanlimaoyi” for that matter. Thankfully, my order bill remains to be seen in my account: I paid $18.80 ($29.99 minus a $12.00 promotional credit score plus $0.81 in tax). And from the bill, I even have a file of the unique product itemizing title. Take a deep breath earlier than studying this aloud: “Anti Barking Management Machine, Ultrasonic Canine Bark Deterrent, Improve Mini Sonic Anti-bark Repellent 50 FT Vary, Ultrasound Silencer No Bark Coaching Management Machine Safety for Canines (Clear).” Phew!
And right here’s our affected person as seen from the highest (the 2 plastic brackets are meant for wall mounting at the side of screws), as-usual accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for measurement comparability functions:
The entrance exhibits the multi-position swap for “off,” “take a look at” and numerous sensitivity choices. It additionally exhibits the microphone, the speaker and the LED that stories each battery cost degree and (in “take a look at” mode) whether or not the proprietor’s lame makes an attempt at mimicking a canine’s bark are being detected:
Step 1: take away that battery cowl:
Step 2: Take away the 4 screws, deep inside the gap in every nook of the again panel. My traditional go-to, iFixit’s 64-bit Driver Equipment (now known as the Mako) wasn’t as much as the duty this time as a result of the bits’ lengths had been too quick. Digging into my accrued device stock, nevertheless, I discovered one other set that did the trick:
Liftoff achieved!
To get the PCB fully out of the enclosure, to show its entrance aspect to view, requires first eradicating that tiny screw you see on the prime. However that wasn’t sufficient; I additionally needed to draw back the aforementioned entrance panel multi-position swap. With that, separation was straightforwardly achieved:
Right here’s a straight-on closeup of the entrance of the PCB:
At prime are, left-to-right, the microphone and ultrasonic transducer (aka speaker). Within the center is the two-color LED. To its proper is a D882 NPN transistor, sourced by many producers (I can’t discern the provider of this explicit one). And to its proper is a transformer (make and mannequin quantity indefinite). Beneath, the LED is a ten-position rotary swap, a considerably curious selection provided that the entrance panel solely exposes the features of 4 of those place choices. And to its proper is a 680 µF capacitor.
Flipping the PCB again over…
The 14-lead IC in the course of the best aspect of the PCB, labeled “U4,” is presumably the “brains” of the system however its identification is unknown to me. The one discernable marking on it’s the squiggle, seemingly manually utilized by an meeting or take a look at worker utilizing a marker. Within the higher left nook is one other IC website, labeled “U1,” however unpopulated. And within the decrease left nook is considered one of many diodes on this aspect of the PCB, this explicit one being an SS14.
Though this machine didn’t ship on its authentic guarantees, I’m glad I used to be nonetheless capable of get one thing out of my funding in it. Let me know within the feedback in the event you discern anything attention-grabbing within the photographs and/or have some other ideas!
—Brian Dipert is Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line publication.
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