Setting up birdfeeder defense

Squirrels in particular love to munch on birdseed and they will drive you nuts with their combination of intelligence and persistence, making it nearly impossible to keep them away from your birdfeeder. Luckily, you have Vizy to help you defend your birdfeeder from these unwanted guests.

This guide will describe how to set up a “squirt defense” system for your birdfeeder.

Materials you will need:

• Sprinkler valve (3/4“ Orbit, Home Depot 557717, Amazon B01MG1VV2M)
• Hook-up wire, 16-22 AWG
• Wire nuts (Home Depot 1002748479)
• GHT to NPT thread adapter, male to male (Home Depot 878041, Amazon B08GFQTXKT)
• GHT to NPT thread adapter, male to female (Home Depot 841278, Amazon B08GFQTXKT)
• Sprayer nozzle (Home Depot 1005201349, Amazon B073Q6PBD3)
• Garden hose
• Hose clamps (Home Depot 100530)
• Teflon tape (Home Depot 178438)

Start by measuring out the length of wire and strip the ends. Attach the wires at one end to pins 2 and 4 of a terminal connector as shown (12V and B0). The polarity of the two wires does not matter.

On the other end of the wire, use wire nuts to twist and attach the sprinkler valve.

At this point, you can test your sprinkler value. It will make a satisfying click when it engages. You can fire up the Birdfeeder app and click on the Defend button to verify before deploying. Note, sprinkler valves are rated for 24V AC. We are driving it with 12V DC. Most valves should engage at 12V DC. For example, the 3/4” Orbit valve that we recommend works well at 12V DC.

Attaching the sprinkler valve directly to the sprayer as shown below is a simple solution.

The assembly of such a contraption is fairly self-explanatory. Just pay attention to some details:

• The threads on the sprinkler valve are the same diameter as standard garden hoses (3/4“) but have different threads. When attaching the adapters, the courser thread is the garden hose thread and the finer thread is the sprinkler valve thread.
• The arrows on the sprinkler valve indicate the direction of water flow. You want the water to flow towards the spray nozzle.
• The interface between the hose/adapter and adapter/sprinkler valve at the bottom of the assembly will be at full water pressure and may need to be sealed with Teflon tape to prevent them from leaking. Just wrap the threads with tape before tightening.
• The sprayer nozzle will need to strike its target, so pay attention to where it's pointing and how you are mounting it (height, angle, etc.) You can turn the actuator (the black thing) on the valve 1/4 turn to open the valve for testing.
• You need to hook the other end of the garden hose to your spigot and turn it on for it to work.

Mounting the assembly to a PVC pipe with some hose clamps is also a nice solution. You can angle-cut the PVC pipe (see below), which makes it easy to drive into the ground and stay where you want it.