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Thwarting A Squirrel Attacking My Bird Feeder

10/20/2015 Score Card

I really have no idea when or why I started to feed birds but I have not stopped since starting. It seems that in a lot of endeavors I try there crops up some element that tends to spoil the experience sometimes. For me it’s squirrels. I had no idea going into this hobby how much a squirrel can challenge my bird feeding efforts. I started putting my bird feeders in the back yard hung from a patio cover. The feeder was free from attack for a month or two but then those fur ball beasts found it and would find all kinds of ways to get into the feeder. I placed the feeder way out from anything that the squirrel could use to get to but I was amazed to see them leap great distances on to the feeders and feed themselves. I moved the feeders to the front of the house and I had about one month of non intervention before they discovered the new location. I put up a plastic shield over the top of one feeder but that only protected the feeder from rain. I then purchased a Squirrrel-Be-Gone Wild Bird Feeder (purchased at Home Depot) which has a very clever door system.

Image shows the Squirrel-Be-Gone Wild Bird Feeder label. — Squirrel-Be-Gone Wild Bird Feeder label.

There is an outer box shield that aligns to bird feeding stations if there is no heavy weight on the outer box. When a squirrel jumps on this box the outer box slides down closing all the feeding ports. Birds do not weight enough to close the ports. This outer box has a spring that allow for this action. It took the local squirrels a week or two to start opening the top lid. The top lid is held by a spring but my squirrels must work out at the local gym because they lift that door with glee.

Image shows the top of the bird feeder and the spring that keeps the lid down. — Image shows the bird feeder top lid. Note the spring that holds the lid from squirrels getting into the top of the feeder.

I tightened the spring and found that one squirrel ate the plastic down from the top. That bird feeder had to be thrown away. It was a battle of wits and I was running out of ideas.

One day I found that the bottom of the bird feeder had dropped, probably from a squirrel attack and all the bird seed fell to the ground. I drilled two holes and put screws with bolts to anchor the bottom plate.

Suddenly, one day, I thought of the perfect solution to the top being lifted by “my” squirrels. I would cut a plastic PVC pipe about 5 and 1/2 inches and slide it down the bird feeder hanging loop. I could easily remove that pipe when I needed to remove the lid and put more seed into the feeder.

PVC pipe cut to 5 and 1/2 inches slid down through the bird feeder wire. — PVC pipe cut to 5 and 1/2 inches slid down through the bird feeder top wire hanger.

The reason the pipe works is that the wire hanger comes out of the feeder at a much wider distance than the diameter of the pipe. When the squirrel tries to lift the feeder lid, the lid presses down because the lid can not go straight up because the wires are held close together by the pipe in the shape of an inverted Y. This PVC pipe system has worked for over six months now. I even removed the spring that holds the top lid down as I found that it was no longer needed and putting bird feed seeds into the top was much easier. The squirrels still try to lift the top lid to get to the seed at the top of the feeder but the wire and pipe combination is way too much for these little fur ball beasts to overcome. Finally, a humane being outsmarted a squirrel!

The Squirrrel-Be-Gone Wild Bird Feeder is not recommended unless you are willing to modify it. Now that I made improvements to my feeder, it is my favorite feeder.

Updated: 3-6-19, Squirrrel-Be-Gone Wild Bird Feeder (purchased at Home Depot) link removed because timeout error.

Some Tips To Enhance Malibu Lights For Halloween

10/19/2015 Score Card

Here are some tips to consider for lighting your Halloween lawn decorations.

Put a carved pumpkin over a light. Many stores sell plastic pumpkins that you can carve out. Just add a large enough hole at the bottom of the pumpkin so it can be placed over a Malibu light.

A very old Malibu light fixture model 8301-9300-01 which had bad electrical connector is shown hard wired to a main power line and a plastic pumpkin ready to be placed over the fixture.

The image below shows the results viewed at night.

Plastic carved pumpkin was placed over Malibu light.

Add color to some of your Malibu Lights.

In the image above is the Malibu filter kit I purchased.

As you can see in the image above, the Malibu blue glass filter fits perfectly into the 8301-9300-01 light fixture. I just laid the glass filter on top of the bulb. When I screwed in the top of the light fixture, the filter was held in place.

In the above image is a Malibu 8301-9300-01 light fixture with Black Wrap. Black Wrap is a professional black aluminum foil that is used by professional lighting people to block light. I put it partially around the lamp so the light is directed only to the Halloween decoration. I painted the inside of the Black Wrap with white paint to make more light goes toward the decoration. When Halloween is over, I only need to slip the Black Wrap off the light and I end up with perfect driveway parking lights along the side of my driveway.

Below is another example where I put glass filters into Malibu spot instruments.

In the image above, you can see how powerful the color light comes out. In the image below, you can see the results as seen at night.

Hard Wire A Broken Malibu Light Instrument Trick.

10/19/2015 Score Card

My daughter loves to decorate for Halloween every year. Her boyfriend brought over a lot of decorations that were pretty good. One category of items was plastic pumpkins. The pumpkins came with a large hole on the bottom, perfect for placing over a Malibu light.

We have a planter along the street of our house that I wired for Malibu power years ago. The main power line was sunk under the lawn and then threaded under the sidewalk from the house to the planter. I then created an electrical T network where a new Malibu electrical cable ran along the length of the planter. I purchased a connector to marry the two main power lines in the middle. Now take note that I had two ends of the top of the T wire that became important years later. Each end of that wire ended at each end of the planter and this is where I placed my Malibu lights using their squeeze and penetrate a pin method. The lights in this planter over time failed and I did not make the effort to repair them because we keep our Malibu lights on all night and I wanted to cut electricity costs. I decided to switch over to LED bulbs to save money but they were hard to find at that time and expensive. My bulb source, when I started this switch over, was charging over $20 per bulb so I only did the switch over for the most important instrument locations. This planter was not that important. The Halloween 2015 season I noticed that Philips offers a 20 watt LED replacement bulb that only uses 2 watts for less than $7.

Manufacturer: Philips
Model 9090011318
Voltage 12
G4 capsule
Brightness 195 lumens
White light
Estimated length of service: 13 + years.
Estimated yearly cost $0.24.
The problem with this bulb is that it sticks out from the socket too far for some of the Malibu instruments.

Home Depot also sold a nifty Malibu filter kit consisting of three colored glass filters and a metal clip for MR16 bulbs. I used these glass filters in other light fixtures. They really to the ambiance, the Halloween theme my daughter was trying to convey.

The main point of this post is to share with you a trick I used to save money and make a much better electrical connection to two of my Malibu lights and ensure ease of troubleshooting if a problem occurs in the future. This all started when I found out that a few of my Malibu light fixtures had bad electrical connectors where the cable connects to the main power line. I decided to hard wire this planter and not by the normal push pin method. This really works for the planter because lights were only placed at the ends of the top bar of the T. This trick only works at the END of the main power line.

In the image below I show one end of the T line that rests at one end of the planter. I separated the main power line so I could deal with each power line separately. I intentionally cut one line much shorter than the other. The reason is I do not want the two wires to ever short out. Look at the image below and in your mind see if there is any way one wire can ever touch the other. They can not. I stripped the insulation from both the main power line and the instrument. I then twisted the instrument wires to the main line wires as shown below.

Image shows the main power lines was staggered cut so the two bare ends would not short out. — End of main power line has been staggered cut so the two sides of the circuit will not short out and the light fixture wires have been twisted to the main lines.

After I twisted the instrument wires on to the main power lines, I used plastic twist wire nuts (I used “Greenie” because they might blend in with the surrounding plants). As you can see in the image below, the instrument is very old, still working though which explains why this is saving me money. I do not have to buy a new instrument.

Image shows an old Malibu light base being connected to the end of the main power line. — An old Malibu light fixture base is shown being connected to the end of the main power line. Twist connectors were used.

Below is an image of the repaired light fixture ready for the plastic pumpkin to be slid over the light.

Malibu Outdoor Lighting Installation Tips

10/19/2015 Score Card

For years our house has used a Malibu outdoor light system. I give the system an average rating, not meaning that there is anything better, just that the system comes with a significant number of problems. Let me list a few:

Trying to get a new light fixture to properly connect to the power line is not always easy.
Over time, some fixtures tend to not work and fail for good. (Trick: If the instrument end connectors go bad you can try to do a direct wire connection to the end of the main power line.)
Trying to move a fixture that has been working well in one location and moving it to another location can be very frustrating. It seems that a fixture is more reliable if left alone and not moved.

Here are some tips for maintaining a system:

Make sure the pin that penetrates the main power line is not bent. If you do see that it is bent, use a tool line a small pliers and straighten it.

Image shows a Malibu light connection pin which is bent and thus will not work. — Notice that the arrow points to the electrical pin contact which is bent. It will not penetrate the main power line.

Make sure that when you attach the two sides of the instrument power connector to the main power line that you pay particular attention to line up the pins so when you squeeze to lock the connector the pins will indeed penetrate the main power line to make a good connection.

Photo shows one of two light power pins is not properly centered to push into the main power line. — Note that the bottom electrical connection pin will not penetrate the main power line.

Targus model TA-51EB-BLK Bluetooth wireless headset review.

10/17/2015 Score Card

I purchased a Bluetooth wireless earphone, Targus model TA-51EB-BLK. The headset, after about one month, would only last about 7 minutes or less and then die. Internet reviews also seemed to complain that the headsets would easily fall out of the ear and I can confirm this.

Targus model TA-51EB-BLK Bluetooth wireless headsets are not recommended.

Blackburn Flea 2.0 Combo Front + Rear USB Rechargeable Lights review.

10/17/2015 Score Card

I volunteered to be a ham radio bicycle mobile for a city RACES event. A year prior I had purchased a Blackburn Flea 2.0 Combo Front + Rear USB Rechargeable Lights. The white front light worked, after sitting in my kit, but the red tail light failed and would not charge. The white light did not last the 6 hour event. I had to resort to using Serfas White LED Long Lasting front handlebar light. The Serfas lasted the 6 hour event and still was working.

I do not recommend Blackburn Flea 2.0 Combo Front + Rear USB Rechargeable Lights. I will never again buy a USB charge bicycle light, a seemingly silly concept.