Recommendations For Winter Prepping

What are the storage fees ? Any specials for us GS guy's ? lol

 

You realize that these might be two independent variables???

 

Guess you've never seen a Tyvec mouse nest? The mice destroyed my Tyvec car cover.

 

they are not tyvek, they are some thick plastic, like those blue tarps are only a little thicker.

 

Car Jacket they work great throw in some moisture bags in keeps all the dampness out, still have to put a car cover on the car to protect the paint they are only for the inside not outside.

 

I've bought pretty large quantities reasonably off of Amazon.

 

One more thing you can due if you have a detached garage is put the radio on turn it up when your not in there. It will keep them out an the thieves, they all think somebody's in there those little bastards don't like a lot of noise.. trust me it works on those little pricks.I put traps in there with peanut butter guess what the peanut butter still there the mice are gone.

 

I live in rural western Massachusetts and I tried almost all the suggestions for preventing mice from settling in and I think I finally got a solution. Strobe lights. No evidence of mice since I hooked them up.

As an additional measure of protection and a good indicator if the little villains are active I place rat size glue traps at each wheel and next to all the entry points to the garage at the corners of the doors and around the walls. Before the strobes I would catch one or two every week. Nothing since.

So why do strobes work? Mice are mostly nocturnal and have sensitive eyes. A bright strobe is going to be very uncomfortable for a mouse. I know I can't take it for long.

The only down side is you need to have power. You can buy a/c powered devices but I built my own 12v versions that run off the cigarette lighter sockets in the car. I keep a trickle charger on the battery to maintain charge. The charger will run in maintain mode and will shut off when not needed.

I did test running a pair of strobes without the charger attached and they ran for a couple of days before starting to lose brightness. So you could use them for an off grid overnight perhaps.

The strobes I use are the ones used on breakdown trucks etc. There are a ton of them on Amazon and I chose these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071LTPTK2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Went to Radio Shack and got a project box, momentary switch and a switched cigarette lighter power plug. A little drilling and mounting and soldering in the power feed and momentary switch and voila! The momentary switch changes the strobe pattern one of which is simply always on which makes it double up as a damn fine work light.

The power cords allow you to place the lights in various positions. I keep the hood up all the time and have one hanging from the hood to light the engine bay. The other sits on the bench facing forward to light the front passenger compartment. The lights are painfully bright close up and spill enough light to reach most of the rest of the garage.

Cheers!
Bob

 

Follow up to my strobe post. A couple of pictures to show how simple the build is and a link to a short You Tube video of the strobes in action guarding my Electra!

Built this one slightly differently to the originals by adding a 12v power input socket. This could be powered by a wall transformer
or from the cigarette lighter socket using a compatible connector.


The super complicated wiring!
The strobe has three wires. Red - 12v positive Black - 12v negative Yellow - mode select
In this box red and black are soldered to the correct terminals of the power socket.
The yellow connects to one side of the momentary switch and a short black wire connects the other side of the switch to the
negative power input.

When the strobes are powered on pressing the switch momentarily grounds the yellow wire causing the strobes built in circuitry
to change to the next strobe mode. There are various flash rates and a useful always on mode that makes it a handy work light.

When powered off the strobe will remember the last mode when started again.


Finally - a link to the boxes in action

 

On my Stage 2 I had mouse crawl up my open header into cylinder. Found it mid-winter when I thought I'd take the rocker shafts off to save the valve springs. Ended up taking head off in the car to find out why one valve wouldn't close. Dead mouse blocking. Not sure what would have happened if I started it.
Now I leave mufflers on over winter but I think I'll go out there now and put come plastic cups over outlets.
Cats help mouse issue but they like to piss/spray.....

 

Brett,
Looks like the car is snug as a bug for the winter. I also like the idea of glue traps around the inside perimeter of the garage. I put peanut butter and 5-6 chocolate chips in the glue (for when the peanut butter dries out). It's extra insurance. I have too many cars to use strobe lights. It would look like an entertainment venue. Go one step further to secure your storage space: put all the lights on inside at night and then go around the outside perimeter of the structure at night and look for any areas mice could enter and plug it up. Make sure there is a tight seal along the bottom of the garage door. I have no sign of critters at the car storage place or at home. All good ideas from everyone.

 

As long as the mice are not already in residence a strobe at any potential entrance point - service door, main door - should deter them from entering a larger building.

But yes - they do make a garage resemble a nightclub. Add some funky music and party on

On a more serious note. If you do deploy strobes be aware of the risk to anyone with photosensitive epilepsy.

The risk appears to be low, about 3% of those who suffer from epilepsy (https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/triggers-seizures/photosensitivity-and-seizures) but it is there.

Cheers!
Bob

 

Bob -- I loved this concept but with radio shack closed I started looking for a pre-built alternative -- spotted this on Amazon. Several reviewers used it for this purpose: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KUC2INU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A5KBC6M1KUIC8&psc=1

 

Dry off thoroughly before going outside.