Ants as a threat to electrical devices like inverters/chargers etc.

[radiantboy]

I haven't been here in awhile, hope all has been well.

I had always wanted to mention something that I have had experience with, but which unfortunately, I have yet to see mentioned anywhere in any of the literature/instructions on solar etc.  And that "something" is (drum roll) . . . ANTS!





I live in the southeast, where solar power etc. isn't yet as popular as in most other sections of the USA, but where ants are (and this may explain the above lack of info).





In any case -- to cut to the chase -- when I first put up my own solar stuff, I quickly realized (and remembered) that ants LOVE electricity -- something to do with the magnetic fields or what not.  And since I have 12-volt systems, I had a structure built away from my house to contain the charge controllers, batteries, and inverters so that the solar panel lines would not have to go very far.  That way, I have long, heavy duty AC extension cords to my house, which being AC, have less power loss.





I didn't realize or remember this fact about ants being attracted, though, until I saw the little buggers crawling into this space (which isn't airtight or anything) and had even started invading my equipment.  





Fortunately, having been a small-time organic gardener for some time, I had become familiar with a sticky-goo stuff called Tanglefoot(brand name) pest barrier.  I put this stuff around my structure (and inside it too, away from the equipment but surrounding it), and it solved my problem pronto.  If you get this stuff on your body (which I have many times), you practically have to scrape some of your skin off to get it completely off!  So it is very sticky !





If anyone else has had this problem, or knows how to solve it (without using tons of chemicals) it would be neat to hear about it.  The black ants that I almost had a problem with are very plentiful where I live, and without the sticky-goo, I cannot imagine any other solution that wouldn't entail a very toxic strategy.  Organic pesticides are very effective, but they would have to applied and reapplied repeatedly, as they biodegrade usually very quickly, and do not persist long in the environment.

[claude]

As far as I know ants are more attracted to sugar than magnetic fields. I would put some sugar on a resistive dump load. I would then watch them how they march in line to their own destruction. :-)))

side effects:

• your neighbours might come to help you making that pie eventually as they smelled how you keep burning that sugar all day long... :-)))
  
• you will also have a wireless full charge warning system. :-)
  
  

Never mind what I wrote. My grandma was using green walnut leaves all over the place and it seemed to work, they do not like that kind. But these were Romanian ants :-))))

Claude

[Volvo farmer]

Lenigan would be proud of you!

[claude]

Who is Lenigan?

[spinningmagnets]

You might try growing very hot peppers, its easy and cheap. Dilute them in some kind of spray. It won't hurt your dogs or cats like pesticides. The gardening websites have various recipies.

You can even put some of the seeds in olive oil for spicy cooking. Peppers are high in vitamin "C" and can be grown in regions where oranges can't.

[Volvo farmer]

Less than 9000 words, that can change a young man's life.

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lvta.html

[ghurd]

Sounds like a regular ant problem?

I don't recall insects attracted to DC.  The field doesn't really change much.

Very high VAC can do some strange things.  Seems like it has to do with cows & milk production.  Kids in schools under power lines. Stuff like that.

Interesting.

G-

[claude]

Thanks for the link! A great story. :-)))

[radiantboy]

Hmm -- Romanian ants, what do they look like?  The ones I get are small and black.  Most folks around here call them just "black ants."  Fortunately, I don't get any fire ants around my place.  But less than a mile away a pasture full of cows has lots of fire-ant mounds.  Apparently the ants like cow manure, or perhaps just have some bovine fixation.

I like your imagination. Frying the ants with electricity seems like a neat idea.

ghurd wrote "Sounds like a regular ant problem?

I don't recall insects attracted to DC.  The field doesn't really change much.




Very high VAC can do some strange things.  Seems like it has to do with cows & milk production.  Kids in schools under power lines. Stuff like that."




My little structure houses the inverters, so perhaps the AC attracts them.  




The thing is, however, a few years back, a woman I know who lived just down the road from me had a Hyundai car that these same black ants were always getting into.  It was both the engine and its electrical system and the passenger area. (maybe the ants just like all things korean). She was obsessive-compulsive about cleanliness, so the possibility of pastry crumbs having anything to do with it was out of the question.  In any case, it was driving her crazy.  So I suggested she use a homemade bug spray I made myself.  It consisted of d-limonine (a distillate of orange peel oil) and clove oil.  It killed the ants, but also permanently discolored the vinyl dashboard somewhat-- an effect I hadn't anticipated! She was rather upset with me about the latter effect.  I couldn't help but laugh, though.




What was interesting was that she started spraying the stuff around her car -- trying to make a d-limonine/clove oil barrier -- or a sort of moat -- to the ants.  I don't think that worked too well, but what we found out was that it killed the grass where she sprayed.  So I started calling the stuff "the REAL agent-Orange."  In fact, I still use it to edge around walks and stuff.




Anyway, as a postscript, Nat'l Geo Channel had a show on an area in south Texas where some invading ants from Mexico were getting into peoples' heat-pumps and causing shorts and house-fires.  But that was a pretty ferocious type of ant.  These black ants don't even sting you, fortunately.  

[radiantboy]

Hmm -- Romanian ants, what do they look like?  The ones I get are small and black.  Most folks around here call them just "black ants."  Fortunately, I don't get any fire ants around my place.  But less than a mile away a pasture full of cows has lots of fire-ant mounds.  Apparently the ants like cow manure, or perhaps just have some bovine fixation.

I like your imagination. Frying the ants with electricity seems like a neat idea.

ghurd wrote "Sounds like a regular ant problem?

I don't recall insects attracted to DC.  The field doesn't really change much.




Very high VAC can do some strange things.  Seems like it has to do with cows & milk production.  Kids in schools under power lines. Stuff like that."




My little structure houses the inverters, so perhaps the AC attracts them.  




The thing is, however, a few years back, a woman I know who lived just down the road from me had a Hyundai car that these same black ants were always getting into.  It was both the engine and its electrical system and the passenger area. (maybe the ants just like all things korean). She was obsessive-compulsive about cleanliness, so the possibility of pastry crumbs having anything to do with it was out of the question.  In any case, it was driving her crazy.  So I suggested she use a homemade bug spray I made myself.  It consisted of d-limonine (a distillate of orange peel oil) and clove oil.  It killed the ants, but also permanently discolored the vinyl dashboard somewhat-- an effect I hadn't anticipated! She was rather upset with me about the latter effect.  I couldn't help but laugh, though.




What was interesting was that she started spraying the stuff around her car -- trying to make a d-limonine/clove oil barrier -- or a sort of moat -- to the ants.  I don't think that worked too well, but what we found out was that it killed the grass where she sprayed.  So I started calling the stuff "the REAL agent-Orange."  In fact, I still use it to edge around walks and stuff.




Anyway, as a postscript, Nat'l Geo Channel had a show on an area in south Texas where some invading ants from Mexico were getting into peoples' heat-pumps and causing shorts and house-fires.  But that was a pretty ferocious type of ant.  These black ants don't even sting you, fortunately.  

[claude]

We have the same cute little black ones around here in Romania. Also, the red ones too. In Romanian countryside, cows are driven every day out of the village area.

I've found something interesting for you. Baby powder!

It seems to have powerful effects on ants.

http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/Current/Projects/J1923.pdf

also see

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/198393/wage_war_against_ants_and_win.html

Claude

[Burnrate]

I have recently heard that peppermint or coffee grounds will discourage ants. also if you have a fire ant problem the only product I know of that works is ortheen. Fine white powder that must be kept dry, smells like rotten shrimp! It is an acid that the ants consume, so may not really be a toxic poison? Read the label. For larger ants I have heard cornmeal works as they eat it and can't digest it. No personal testimonies on these ideas except the ortheen, which I used a lot of when I lived in Florida. I am ringing my house with the daily coffee grinds as they may help and if not they are good for the grass.

Eric

[radiantboy]

Thanks for those links, Claude -- and thanks to all of those who commented.

I don't have any experience with any of these other methods, whether it is the hot pepper method, or the baby talc method.  The clove method I would think would work -- as the oil of clove will kill practically any pest.  But as I said in my original post, the problem with clove and other natural methods is that they biodegrade fairly quickly.  I wouldn't want to come back from a trip and find ants clogging up an inverter!

So I'll probably stick to the "sticky-stuff" product that I described.  It is at least as sticky as pine sap, perhaps more.  (If you've ever gotten pine sap on your skin, you know what I mean -- it is the other primary reason that the Native Americans used it to heal wounds besides its antiseptic properties -- it is so sticky that it stops bleeding almost instantly).

Have a good one.

[ghurd]

I had a problem with ants like 20 years ago.

The hardware store recommended some $2 liquid in a 3(?) ounce bottle.  Instructions said put a dozen drops on the cardboard package, place it where the rain wouldn't get it (crawl space).  They were gone in a week and never came back.

Ask the locals about ants.  Someone knows.

G-

[elvin1949]

V F

 thanks for the link. Read that story year's ago.

It does make you think does it not.

later

Elvin