Question: How can I test and confirm my Zappicator’s polarity, to ensure the proper working of my FlexZappicator?
Answer: Some customers have been confused by a particular method demonstrated on Youtube which involves using a multimeter in the Hertz measurement setting. This video has been particularly misleading.
When everything is set up according to that video, the frequency is clearly seen on the multimeter, but the biggest problem is that the multimeter is not actually measuring any part of the FlexZappicator’s output, because the signal remains on the multimeter even if the FlexZappicator is unplugged and removed from the room.
What you are actually measuring in this scenario is the Zapper’s own output, which appears on the ground line due to a number of factors,
but primarily it’s the result of the 1/4 Volt positive offset of the Zapper’s signal interacting with the rectification circuit within the multimeter [part of the Hz measurement function]
So this method is not adequate. It’s not showing what it purports to show. And the question remains: how do we examine the Zappicator’s output, and check if the AutoZap 5’s signal is being propagated by the FlexZappicator?
We need two things:
— an AM antenna, or any other ferrite bar wrapped with wire
— an oscilloscope.
Procedure:
1. connect the 2 wire ends of the antenna coil to an oscilloscope probe.
2. connect the FlexZappicator to the AutoZap 5
3. start the AutoZap5 on either the “green” or “flashing green” modes.
With the ferrite antenna close to the FlexZappicator, the waveform induced into the coil will be visible on the oscilloscope. It loses amplitude with distance, and will show an attenuated signal depending on the antenna’s distance to the FlexZappicator. The signal to noise ratio improves when we put the antenna coil perpendicular to the magnetic field emerging from the Zappicator
You can confirm that the waveform on Ch.1 corresponds exactly to the AutoZap output, by observing the original signal on Ch.2. and comparing them together.
When you turn off the AutoZap 5 during the testing, the signal will disappear, exactly as we would expect.
The Best Zapper Support Team
