Anti-hornet plate kit with battery and solar panel

01 · THE HARPS GO SEPARATELY

First, because it is what people ask most

This kit is the electronics and their power: control unit, battery, solar panel and weatherproof enclosure. No harp is included — harps are bought separately and wired to the output, up to ten of them.

And a compatibility warning that costs money if missed: it does not fit the Tartago harp. It is not a question of voltage — it puts out the same 2,200 Vdc as the standalone board, which does fit — but of the connector. With a Tartago harp you want the standalone board or the 1,500 V modules.

02 · WHAT HAPPENS TO THE HORNET

And why to put a container underneath

A hornet crossing the wires takes the shock and drops. Worth saying plainly: it does not always die outright, many fall stunned or dying, as with most harp systems.

That is why the practice that works is setting a container of water underneath: what falls, falls in and does not recover. Without one, a share of them lift off again after a while.

03 · THE SYSTEM

Time switch, protections and the weak point

The time switch comes set from 08:00 to 21:00, the hornet's active window, and takes up to 16 on/off combinations to follow the season. The electronics sit in an IP55 weatherproof enclosure and carry short-circuit protection: if a harp leaks, the unit shuts down and retries every 20 or 30 minutes, which also helps you find the faulty one.

That point deserves attention in practice, because it is where the real trouble shows up: in rain and damp a dirty harp leaks current and consumption climbs. If that runs into several overcast days, the battery has no reserve left — and a lead battery taken all the way down is a battery lost. It is worth checking the insulation and cleanliness of the harps after every storm, and checking the charge.

There is a 12 V external input for a second battery in parallel or for charging from the mains. At the end of the season the kit is stored with the battery charged.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is the electrical half of a system, not the whole system: