Tartago® dry harp kit: harp and solar module with lithium battery

01 · HOW IT WORKS

It attracts nothing: it sits in the flight path

The harp uses no attractant, light or bait. The Asian hornet hunts by lying in wait, hovering in front of the hive entrance, so the harp goes parallel to the entrances, across that flight corridor. With 20 mm between wires, the hornet touches two and is electrocuted, while most bees pass through without closing the circuit. If it seems not to kill, it is almost always the placement: the harp is not in the hornet's flight path.

02 · NO WATER

The hopper collects what falls

What falls does not go into a water tray: the base of the harp has a hopper that collects it dry. There is no water to top up and the harp does not need to be perfectly level. According to the manufacturer, a bee that falls in by accident can get out.

With no water to drown it, a stunned hornet may still be alive in the hopper: check it often and do not release it or carry it alive, as it is an invasive alien species.

How it compares with the water-tray harp:

Everything else is the same: 60 cm wide, 0.35 mm stainless wire at 20 mm and the same electric modules.

03 · WITHOUT SUN

The module stores energy for when the panel cannot keep up

A solar module without a battery only converts what the panel produces at each moment: at night it gives no current. This one has 8.7 Ah lithium batteries and, according to the manufacturer, supplies current from early morning until late afternoon and can keep it up for several days without sun. It connects to the harp with the same moisture-proof connector as the other Tártago modules. Face the panel south with no shade over it: the battery only stores what the panel manages to charge.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It comes as a kit, with instructions and assembly videos, and the harp goes together without special tools. Disconnect the module before handling the harp, as with any energiser. And it helps to know what it is: protection for the apiary, not eradication. It cuts attacks at the entrance; it does not remove the hornet from the area.